I’ve known Mike since he practically started skating. As he also comes from Leer/East Frisia and my mother lives there, it was clear that I had him on my radar at some point. The duo of Mike and (Johannes) Riedel became an integral part of the East Frisian skate scene. The two were also regular competitors at the “East Frisian Skate Cups”, where you could see from their contest results that they had quickly worked their way up the ranks. Riedel also started filming at some point, so you could see even more of the two of them.

Of the two, Mike was the one who was a little higher or stood out in terms of skate level. He was also the one who won one contest after the other in the East Frisian region. I already had him on my radar to do something sponsor-wise, because he also rode for Keno’s (Ringering) former “Brix Skateshop” and Keno recommended it to me. The only problem was that Mike twice won a one-year sponsorship at the “WE Cup”, where one year he got decks for free from “Almost Skateboards” and the next year from “Cliche Skateboards”. When Mike had those deals in the bag, I couldn’t really compete with morphine. I also didn’t really have the personal connection to Mike to even talk to him about whether morphine was an option.

At some point, Riedel and Mike visited me in Hamburg. We went skating and partied in the evenings. But even at that point, I had communicated more with Riedel than with Mike. At some point, Riedel came out with the question: “Karl, what’s going on with Mike and morphine?” Basically, Riedel asked the same question I had been asking myself all along, but only Mike had the answer. I made it clear to Riedel that I was definitely interested, but that Mike would have to come to me so that we could clarify this, as I didn’t want to poach Mike from his existing deal. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and the whole thing was over.

In November 2015, Mike told me in a Facebook chat that his Cliche one-year deal had not been extended. He had also been collecting footage for a part all this time and wasn’t quite sure where and how he wanted to publish it. I seized the opportunity and made the comment: “Then why don’t you finish a part for the Morphium Welcome Clip?” His response was that it was an honor for him, but he had added that his store team rider contract with “Titus Münster” does not include any sponsorship deals with companies that are not sold by Titus. He wanted to clarify that. However, if Titus refuses, he would prefer morphine and quarantine Titus. So everything was clear and during the conversation with Titus it later came out that Titus makes an exception for Morphium and is okay with Mike skateboarding for Morphium.

Mike then delivered a great “Welcome Clip” and did the last part in the “Morphium Propaganda” clip. As an add-on to the whole thing, Mike has since moved to Hamburg and now works at Cleptomanicx, where I also have my office and the morphine warehouse. We see each other almost every day and I am glad that it has finally worked out and that he has joined the Morphium team.

With his skateboard level, it was clear that he would also get the “free deal” right from the start. Ike then took care of the “Welcome Team” video, which he created with his friend Moritz Busch. The welcome video was very well received and various people from the scene asked me about it or congratulated me on it. From then on at the latest, I knew that he had potential and that a lot of other people saw it that way too.

Over time, Ike and I have gotten to know each other better and better and the phone calls between us can sometimes go on for over an hour. He definitely has a very interesting perspective and opinion on various skateboarding topics, and he can argue well. He’s not one to talk down to people and stands his ground. On the other hand, he is also open to listening to the opinions of others. This always leads to good discussions, from which I can always take a lot away for myself. Even if he’s a bit of a screw-up here and there and gets a few things wrong, I think he’s a smart person who has a lot going for him. Among other things, he is in the process of setting up his own clothing company “Furios”, which I also find quite interesting.

Not much needs to be said about his skating. Checks the Morphium channels and his Instagram account regularly.

However, it didn’t last, as one of his best friends “Christian Roth” also had the idea of setting up a new board company called “Hessenmob” (now MOB Skateboards). As the two were very close, it was more than understandable that Philipp wanted to switch from the Morphium camp to the Hessenmob camp. Philipp informed me in good time and we parted on good terms.

The contact has remained active to this day and we both deal with each other almost every day. This applies to both business and private life.