Author Topic: when did you start getting good?  (Read 8502 times)

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the snake

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Re: when did you start getting good?
« Reply #30 on: July 06, 2018, 06:35:43 AM »
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  Right away. First week I was having as much fun as I do now.  Kid you not.
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This. Since 1980.
same. since 1990.

S.

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Re: when did you start getting good?
« Reply #31 on: July 06, 2018, 08:00:50 AM »
I started when I was about 14 years old. I am 33 years old now. I've always felt like I was not very talented at it, but I have always been very obsessed with it. I feel like over the years skating has had very different functions in my life. I used to zone out and live myself out through moving on my board and trying to learn new tricks for the first few years. During those years I was very withdrawn in general. Just sort of emotionally numb and withdrawn into myself. I skated with other people, but I was barely able to talk to them. Then I left home for one year and stayed with a host family in the mountains Colorado. My host brother also skated and we built a mini ramp in the back yard. I learned my first few tranny tricks on that ramp and we took trips to various skateparks in Denver and Boulder on the weekends. That was one of my best years. When I came back to my family in Germany I was very depressed for some time, but I would cope by skating alot. The year away from my home made me way more sociable and the people I used to skate with became good friends and skating became a much more social experience.
When I started university I went through another numb phase and I skating became a more direct outlet for emotions again. I had moved to a bigger city so I learned alot of new tricks and explored the city skateboarding alot. When I had settled into student life I went on a 4 months long solo trip to South America. I skated the same bowl in Bogotá every other day for two months which really improved my tranny skills. I also skated the bowl in Quito for two weeks. One year after I was back my long term girlfriend broke up with me so I skated all the time again really pushing myself. I think at that time I skated my best. I was about 26 then. I was hurt for almost two years with arthritis in my ancle from 29 to 31. I think that happend because I would skate hung over all the time and I had pushed myslef too much, not taking enough rest between sessions.
After physiotherapy and some lifestyle changes the ancle gradually improved. I have been able to skate at a hundred percent again for more than a year now. I am almost as good as I was during my best when I was 26 years old. I get tiered more quickly and skate less street, but I am more consistent with my skating than I have ever been. Recently I have even competed in a few local contests and won some prizes here and there. I had too much social anxiety to do that when I was young. It was just way too scarry to be judged by a big group of people doing something which was so intimate to me.

I guess I gradually improved just from doing it obsessively for such a long time. The amount of time I have spent skateboarding I should be really good, but I am not. It has always been fun though and it has helped me deal with some heavy issues in my personal life.