Does skating actually get "better/more fun" as you get older?

[kook nukem]

For me, yes. I'm about to turn 31, and am just starting to skate after two years off (I quit to "grow up," which is total bullshit. Skating is in me like I'm sure it is most of you. I could never really get it off my mind, and because it molded the person I am, I was incomplete.) Coming back, I've had just as much fun, if not more than ever. I don't care about trends, going pro, etc. It's all for me. Sure, things hurt a bit more, I'm balding, and I may have lost a little stamina, but I've definitely got some "grown man strength" these days. My style, trick selection and mental capabilities are also more developed. I've been pushing myself to progress, little by little. I'm lucky enough to still have my best bud to skate with, and just yesterday we were saying it feels like we're 16 again. I'll never stop again.

[corto]

I'm 37, and this year been skating more than ever in my life. Also been learning more new stuff than ever. I've consciously made some life choices that have enabled me to skate this much.

It's definitely more fun now than when I was a teen or even in my 20's. Mostly because I don't care anymore about the high school hierarchy that exists among skaters. When I was younger I didn't understand that treating people differently according to how cool they are is a sign of insecurity and weakness. I've never been that skillful at skating, so when I was younger I often took it to heart when I got the cool guy treatment.

Also, I've made friends who truly love and value skating as much as I do. As you get older the only people that are left are those that love skating for the right reasons. No more "Fuck skating, I finally got a girlfriend".

[MeanestCleanestPenis]

The amount of fun I've gotten from the pure act of skateboarding has never really changed, I just experience the obvious differences between good days and bad days.

However skating in your 30s in the UK can definitely be a bummer. People definitely view it as strange and you have to deal with so much bullshit unrelated to actual skating at the parks. I have noticed it is way more fun when I take trips away other places. Japan in particular is a good place to be an older skater.

[tortfeasor]

personal success.  

personal progression

new ways to entertain ourselves

I definitely started to appreciate it

these all kind of nailed it (so did others but i was lazy and didn't want to keep quoting people) .

i appreciate skating way more now than when i tried it when i was younger because i now skate for myself.  I am not doing it to impress other people.  i don't even like skating in front of other people. I work tricks for me and no one else.  . as you get older opportunities to surprise yourself gets lower and lower, so landing something that seemed impossible to you less than six months ago is a great feeling.  I've already conceded that i will never be great at skateboarding, so i don't get hung up when something does not come as easy to me as it does for other people.  its also gotten a lot easier for me to be happy for other people without being jealous which can really bum out a skate day so that helps me enjoy it way more as well.   

[jomeara1]

When you're a young teen you're constantly stressing over trying to get good enough to get sponsored, but then later on in life you stress over real life worries, like bills to pay and supporting a family etc, so you eventually learn to appreciate the time you do have to go out and skate and the tricks that you are still capable of doing.

[headtowall]

way more fun for me at 31 years old. I skate occasionally, don't care what tricks I got, can cruise around a park, if i get a few tricks i'm beyond stoked. My bag of tricks is down to like a 50-50, Varial Flip, Nose slide, and Ollie.

[Turbo Taylor]

I'm 26 and writing this while laid up with my first major injury (fractured ankle...yes, while skating) and skating is even more important to me the older I get. It's been the one thing I can always depend on to get my head right and put a smile on my face for more than half of my life. It's the only thing I can say that about, really. Progression feels even more gratifying when it's on your own terms and I find that, aside from if you're lucky enough to have a few solid friends for 10+ years to still get out in the streets with, the people you meet/befriend who are closer to this age tend to be rad dudes skating for the right reasons as time seems to weed out any kookery.

[Mcfctid]

At 15 y/o: Skating was the cool thing to do, I didn't put in any effort and was basically a poser. I lived and breathed skating, but only because that's what all my friends were into.

At 22 y/o: I thought skating was in the past, I gave it up after partying and getting high became more important.

Now at 26: No one I know skates anymore, but I try to get out to cruise and mess around every day. I enjoy it more than I ever have before, I don't care about getting "good", I don't care about a "crew" or the "hang". I'll probably never stop again, since there's no childhood bullshit attached to it anymore. Its just a fun way to spend time.

Does anyone else think skating gets better as you grow? There's also stuff like: Buying shoes, decks, etc.. isn't a big deal since you have money, and wandering around a city all day is more comfortable as an adult.

Completely similar story on my end.  From 13 til I was about 18 skating was my life.  Gradually my friends either got into drugs or other interests,  or were way too competitive. I decided at 19 that it stopped being fun, and focused on other things.  About a year ago I picked up my old board and just tried to see if I could roll, ollie,  shuvit, and Like that the spark came back.  


I'm 28 now, I have no friends that skate or even friends that used to skate.  I work maybe 60 hrs a week,  and am in grad school full time.  I can still allocate maybe 20 min to one hour of skating every other day and that's good enough for me. I'm relearning things, and there's no pressure,  no politics, no anxiety. I'm finally understanding the concept of skating cause it's fun. That's something I hope to never lose.

The downside is I have noone to skate with.  All my old friends are either in jail, smacked out,  or too busy with life to session. (So if anyone wants to skate in the Houston clear lake area,  let me know!).

[billyerlife]

32. Skateboarding is still amazing. I've been skating for 21 years, just learned crooked grinds. I've done them before, but never really learned them, if that makes sense. It took a week or so but I'm starting to get them on lock. No one should be impressed by that, but I'm stoked!

I think part of why skateboarding is even better now is that as I get older learning tricks themselves seem less intimidating, and probably because of all the reasons listed already. There's no pressure, I'm not going to get sponsored, there are no windows closing.

Well...there is more pain as you get older. I'm not jumping down much. That's mostly my fault though, if I could tell young bloods anything it'd be to take care of your fucking injuries! Let yourself heal now so that shit doesn't still hurt in 15 years.

[Makaveli]

The older I got, the more I became associated with dudes "in" the local scene and dudes trying to get sponsors. Shit got really cool guy'd and about being good and stacking clips. While I had some of the best times of my life during this period, a lot of that shit takes the fun out of even just going to the park on a week day evening.

[Krombopulos Michael]

Was never really good when I was in my teens. Started when I was 12 and learnt 50-50s when I was 18 lol. Then I broke my leg and once I could skate again I just took off. Now I'm 21 and better than most of the kids I grew up skating with. I guess it's just what you make of it as time goes on.

[ChuckRamone]

Physically it gets tougher and requires more body maintenance. But mentally it gets better because there's less pressure on you from both others and yourself, and you appreciate more being able to do it at all. Also, your concentration gets a little better when you're older so you can really focus on landing a trick. I love the feeling of just skating fast and doing little ollies, 180s and powerslides. I've always had difficulty with anything backside but I'm finally getting comfortable doing backside 180s and I'm almost 37 years old, which is kind of surprising. When you're older you can really appreciate small victories like that.

[expired]

im 19 now and trying new tricks and shit more often than i ever have. not sure what got into me as of recent, but i guess i just wanted to improve. first 9-10 years of skating i never really learned too much, but hey i still had fun. now though i guess i am just really challenging myself to learn something new each week, at least over the summer. but to answer your question, for me yes it has become a hell of a lot more fun.

I can relate to this being 21, for the first 6 years of skateboarding i just practiced basic flat ground and kick flips and a couple tricks down a 5 stair, i partied to hard for a year and a half and forgot about my skateboard, now I've been back for 2 years or so and have been learning a couple new tricks a week as well as now i have a whole group of friends to skate with that i've met through the local shops, definitely more fun now but my body doesn't require to much maintenance at this age

[Harry in Your Pocket]

No it does not. Nothing beats when you have some homies to skate with and you're hitting spots skating well into the night. Those are my best memories. As we get older most skaters quit.

I'm 45 now, and more than likely done. I mean I love skating with my kids and that is the most fun that I have, but the "vibe" of skating is not there when I have so many other things to worry about. The injuries pile up, the will to go out and skate slows down, you're alone in the pursuit most likely. I mean Instagram and stuff is nice cause there's some other old fucks out there hitting in hard.

But yeah man, it gets harder, you lose tricks, you get scared, you get injured (and recovery is WAY longer when you age). Hopefully you develop other things that you are into but there's not many that give you the same satisfaction.

I'm jealous of the guys who are still out there killing it. I'm pretty much done, but I still pay attention. Just can't do it anymore and was never really all that good to begin with. Same with basketball unfortunately.

I've had a great life so far, my memories from long ago are cherished and I'm a better person for having experienced skateboarding when I was young and had homies.

Keep the wheels down fellas, keep fighting the fight.

[AitchBeeGayBuh]

Learning how to manage your time like someone mentioned earlier is real important. Havin a job and skating is easy, havin a wife and skating aint that bad, havin a newborn kid n the mix though is kinda tough but I make do n skate 3-5 times a week.

Havin the most fun I've ever had right now as a 33yr old grown ass man personally. There were a few years I was a tech dog, some years skatin gnarly gaps n rails, there was 2 years where I skated nothing but bowls and miniramps, another year where I skated nothing but bombing mountain hills, and the past 10 years have been riding a road bike around and hitting up all sorts of good and crappy spots in and out of my bubble.

Basically now, I'm well rounded an comfortable skating many things nowadays. Like someone else said get a cruiser too, get all fucked up n go bomb hills, how can that not be fun?

[Scott Case]

no...not at all.

[baravettski]

In my experience it's just always been the best thing ever, getting old and all. The shittiest part is when your body just starts failing on you because of age. I'm 40 now, right around 38 I injured my adductor pretty bad (the motion of sucking up your back leg on a kickflip felt like searing burning metal every time) and so I just surfed around and worked on manual tricks while it healed. It was actually one of the best things that happened because it forced me into skating shit out of my comfort zone. Since then I have a friend who's also a personal trainer come over once a week to work on staying strong and flexible, and she can actually see how fucked my legs are. I'm pre switch kids so I got a giant left calf and a giant, twisted right thigh. Keeping up with that shit and the fact that my homie put me on a skate every day insta challenge for this year has made it pretty easy to have some fun.

Over the years it's been fucking amazing but a lot of that has to do with your mental state, program yourself to have fun, understand that you're gonna have some bad days in order to have good ones, and be thankful that your body will let you do such a rad thing. 

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

Gonna disagree. I think my favorite age was the teenage skaterat era. I was just getting good enough to really try some difficult and gnarly stuff, and it was all still new and fresh. There were no distractions like jobs, booze, or girl problems (at least not as a teenage skateboarder in the midwest back in the 90's), it was all about the next new first and skating whenever possible with my friends who felt the same. I skated my first handrail, dropped in on vert for the first time, and had so many other firsts during that time. We'd kick the shit out of ourselves and wake up the next morning without even the slightest hint of soreness, and nobody had some nagging injury that would just randomly start acting up. Now pretty much everybody I know has a bad knee, ankle, or hip that does that.

For the record, I still think skateboarding is still far better than whatever is distantly second to it, but I see a group of teen skaterats cruising down the street, and I'm jealous as hell.

[Zimmer]

Seems like opinions are pretty much split down the middle.. Maybe it depends a lot on what your youth was like/how good you were.

More boring teenage years, or not being good = Happy old man skating

Tons of youthful fun and gnarly skating = Sad old man skating

[givecigstosurfgroms]

Older isn't early 30s. (that's a good thing, remember)

[Hairy Ballsagna]

I'm gonna be an Eeyore as well. The beginning was the most fun to me: loosening the trucks for the first time one month in, eating shit while trying to ollie up curbs. Learning to skate bowls a few years later, starting with barely being able to drop in, was another highlight.

[Frank]

i'm 30 now. it hurts much more, recovering from a hard session can take up to two days depending on if these days are off days or workdays. skating is still fun and i feel there is still some progress happening. keeping up pop is hard for me and my feet are busted, so sometimes the only way to skate is doing slappies or skating transition.

when i was twentyfive i just had kneepain and ankleproblems. by now my feet are often mad sore after long sessions, both knees are chronically busted, my back has started to ache and i actually lost weight and musclemass. as i said skating is still fun, but i have to admit i feel like i'm kind of fading out...

like the physical act is still very enjoyable, if not very painful, but my biggest problem is probably that i have started to hate hanging around with other skaters. it's probably because i'm burnt out by skateboard culture after 20 years. i'm not even bitter or thinking everything was better way back when, but i feel like for myself i lost the curiosity and general stoke level. there are some things that will probably never change in skating, for better or worse.

so i wouldn't say it's better or worse, it went from something that was once easier on the body and more social to more noticeably harmful, pnishing and solitary. like alcoholism or something. like an alcoholic, i still need to skate. i don't necessarily enjoy it  all the time, but i would feel worse if i wouldn't be able to.  

[tortfeasor]

we chose a hobby where being over 29  makes you "old"...

what the fuck is wrong with us?

[Heather Chandler]

Probably depends on the person.  If your focus is just on tricks and not on the movement skating allows, you may get frustrated the older you get.   I was never a great skateboarder and never really had a good amount of tricks, and would find myself getting down on myself when I'd skate the park and I was the 40 year old guy doing slash grinds and shitty ollies on a 4 ft qp.  I just remembered that I'm a 43 year old, overweight dude just trying to have some fun in between real life.  Pretty much what 144p said, focus on having fun at whatever your abilities allow (and push it further when you want) and stay happy and healthy. 

Bob Lake has it figured out.

[goldenbullcow]

Less fun as I've gotten older.  I've lost all my tricks other then pressure flips and it hurts way more then it used to as a younger man.  Strangely I've gotten better at surfing as I've gotten older.  I'm also better looking now and much more fit.

[Zimmer]

when I grow up I wanna skate like bob lake

[darkslideoftheforce]

short answer; no

[Main]

Anyone have more info on that Bob Lake dude's history in skateboarding? I stumbled upon his instagram awhile back and was blown away at his style in the pool. Quite possibly the best I've ever seen and that beard helps too.

[twinskates]

Nothing gets better as you get older. Nothing.

[MintySandwhich]

I've noticed that the older I get
the less I care
the more I skate
the more fun I have.

Long live skateboarding!
Lost a lot of friends, but skating is always there..