First exposure to skating

[Technique]

First probably played thps2 and project 8.
Then my grandparents got me a shitty chinese board. At least it was actual wood.
Then watched Stay Gold and russia's Absurd "Theater of Absurd". Probably didn't watch either one till the end because got too bored after 15 minutes.
Started watching some Daewon shit on the internet as well. Daewon was probably my first favorite skater, therefore, asked for an almost complete for birthday and got it.
Skated for about a year and then kinda quit it, but got back into it like 2 years after that.

[Knox Harrington]

I had always had a little blue plastic board lying around the garage I used to butt board down the driveway on.
TMNT movie was the first time I'd seen anyone/anything stand up and carve around on a skate board.
A few weeks later I saw an oldschool style board with Raphael hand painted on the bottom, Had to have it.

Was the blue board a GT Coyote?

[Allez_Jambon]

Always wanted to skate because it looked cool. The ninja turtles were doing it and so were other cartoon mascots. Somebody I Ollied over a recycling bin at the post office and i knew it was too cool for me to understand. I wasn’t allowed to have one until I turned 10. I had no awareness of skateboard media until around thps.

I had seen a kickflip performed but had no idea of what they were. Somehow, I’d ride in the middle of my board with my front foot underneath, jump, and flip it around. Seems much harder than a kickflip to me right now.

I picked out a green nash saw blade board at 10. I got a Dynasty team model at 11 and was so psyched that it wasn’t a toy board. The spring following the release of THPS I got to pick out an element team board and got the fold out issue of Tws with tony hawk gapping a channel in the desert and maybe the big brother with vov dropping in for the 10th anniversary.

The dynasty board had clear grip tape and my dad wrote my name on it. I still have it. There’s a Christmas pic of me opening it but it’s bacl home in New York. I’m curious to see other people’s first skate photos to accompany the stories.

[MOE SYZLAK]

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I had always had a little blue plastic board lying around the garage I used to butt board down the driveway on.
TMNT movie was the first time I'd seen anyone/anything stand up and carve around on a skate board.
A few weeks later I saw an oldschool style board with Raphael hand painted on the bottom, Had to have it.

[close]

Was the blue board a GT Coyote?

I don’t recall, it was really skinny like a banana board but blue. I do have a GT coyote 2 in my poession though

[Jemp83]

My first exposure was actually bizarre. I found the city stars vhs that came out in the early 2000s at my cousins one night when I was staying over. It was on ever since. Honestly a shame Kareem wants nothing to do with Skateboarding.

[TheLurper]

First probably played thps2 and project 8.
Then my grandparents got me a shitty chinese board. At least it was actual wood.
Then watched Stay Gold and russia's Absurd "Theater of Absurd". Probably didn't watch either one till the end because got too bored after 15 minutes.
Started watching some Daewon shit on the internet as well. Daewon was probably my first favorite skater, therefore, asked for an almost complete for birthday and got it.
Skated for about a year and then kinda quit it, but got back into it like 2 years after that.

Where did you find your copy of Teatr Absurda? Have you seen Imagination or Imagination II"?

[Technique]

Expand Quote

First probably played thps2 and project 8.
Then my grandparents got me a shitty chinese board. At least it was actual wood.
Then watched Stay Gold and russia's Absurd "Theater of Absurd". Probably didn't watch either one till the end because got too bored after 15 minutes.
Started watching some Daewon shit on the internet as well. Daewon was probably my first favorite skater, therefore, asked for an almost complete for birthday and got it.
Skated for about a year and then kinda quit it, but got back into it like 2 years after that.

[close]

Where did you find your copy of Teatr Absurda? Have you seen Imagination or Imagination II"?

Somewhere on the Internet. Can’t remember where, shit was 8 years ago, so it’s probably not there anyways. Imagination II is pretty good.

[Bristol_Palin]

Before they had the xgames in Philadelphia were they skated city hall, there was an article with Ricky Oyola in the Philadelphia Inquirer talking about it. This was in the summer before fifth grade and in fourth grade we had this assignment were we were supposed to read the newspaper every day for like a week or something, but I was a pretty fucking weird kid and I just kept it going and read the newspaper everyday. I remember reading it and thinking the dude sounded crazy. There was also an awful photo of him ollieing a bike underneath 95 in south philly but the picture was almost too dark to make it out. I was in awe. I put it on my wall and I needed to get a skateboard after.

[Velvet]

My dad got me into it when I was just a youngin. He was a pretty good skater and still is to this day, got me a andy macdonald complete. Learned very fast and I was like super good at age 9 but I quit and lost all my progress.

[burn_to_live]

I like talking about this because without skating we all wouldn't be here without it. So I think I was in fourth grade, and my tweaker Papa Troy took me to the park one day, and gave me a green World complete. It was the coolest thing, green deck, Ventures, and Spitfires. I took it home the same day and my dad was like, "Oh, you finally got a board?", and he grabs it from me and does a tre first try. I was suprised, and I freaked out and bombarded him with questions, and I learned an ollie the same day.

[Omars_Dad]

The summer of 1997 I was at the grocery store with my mom and I picked up a Transworld that just happened to have a How To Ollie trick tip in it. I always wanted to know how skateboarders made it stick to their feet and boom, there it was. I'm from a small town and the only skateboards that existed in my world came from toys r us, so there I was all summer trying to ollie on this garbage Nash board with plastic trucks and spray on grip. Saved up as much as I could over the summer but still didn't have enough for a legit board. I entered a raffle at a high school football game and ended up winning around $100 which put me well over the top for a complete with all my savings. My mom took me to a shop in a town about 45 minutes away that I had found in the back of my transworld and it just went from there. That year I got my first video for christmas, Rodney Mullen vs Daweon Song (the first one). I'd use our shitty ass VCR to slow-mo almost all of Daewon's part. All my old videos were ruined thanks to a burst pipe in our storage unit, I lost a lot of stuff but my videos were the only things that really bummed me out.

[burn_to_live]

The summer of 1997 I was at the grocery store with my mom and I picked up a Transworld that just happened to have a How To Ollie trick tip in it. I always wanted to know how skateboarders made it stick to their feet and boom, there it was. I'm from a small town and the only skateboards that existed in my world came from toys r us, so there I was all summer trying to ollie on this garbage Nash board with plastic trucks and spray on grip. Saved up as much as I could over the summer but still didn't have enough for a legit board. I entered a raffle at a high school football game and ended up winning around $100 which put me well over the top for a complete with all my savings. My mom took me to a shop in a town about 45 minutes away that I had found in the back of my transworld and it just went from there. That year I got my first video for christmas, Rodney Mullen vs Daweon Song (the first one). I'd use our shitty ass VCR to slow-mo almost all of Daewon's part. All my old videos were ruined thanks to a burst pipe in our storage unit, I lost a lot of stuff but my videos were the only things that really bummed me out.

Damn, that really sucks. All of mine got stolen out of my storage unit.

[oroku1983]

Skate or Die on NES or fucking around on some roskopp face deck can't remember which came first was 5-6 years old.

[Omars_Dad]

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The summer of 1997 I was at the grocery store with my mom and I picked up a Transworld that just happened to have a How To Ollie trick tip in it. I always wanted to know how skateboarders made it stick to their feet and boom, there it was. I'm from a small town and the only skateboards that existed in my world came from toys r us, so there I was all summer trying to ollie on this garbage Nash board with plastic trucks and spray on grip. Saved up as much as I could over the summer but still didn't have enough for a legit board. I entered a raffle at a high school football game and ended up winning around $100 which put me well over the top for a complete with all my savings. My mom took me to a shop in a town about 45 minutes away that I had found in the back of my transworld and it just went from there. That year I got my first video for christmas, Rodney Mullen vs Daweon Song (the first one). I'd use our shitty ass VCR to slow-mo almost all of Daewon's part. All my old videos were ruined thanks to a burst pipe in our storage unit, I lost a lot of stuff but my videos were the only things that really bummed me out.

[close]

Damn, that really sucks. All of mine got stolen out of my storage unit.

I guess on the bright side I was able to dry out the tapes and salvage the sleeves. I have them on a shelf with other nick nacks and such these days.

[Salty Lame Ass Poosey]

Neal Hendrix

[Technique]

The summer of 1997 I was at the grocery store with my mom and I picked up a Transworld that just happened to have a How To Ollie trick tip in it. I always wanted to know how skateboarders made it stick to their feet and boom, there it was. I'm from a small town and the only skateboards that existed in my world came from toys r us, so there I was all summer trying to ollie on this garbage Nash board with plastic trucks and spray on grip. Saved up as much as I could over the summer but still didn't have enough for a legit board. I entered a raffle at a high school football game and ended up winning around $100 which put me well over the top for a complete with all my savings. My mom took me to a shop in a town about 45 minutes away that I had found in the back of my transworld and it just went from there. That year I got my first video for christmas, Rodney Mullen vs Daweon Song (the first one). I'd use our shitty ass VCR to slow-mo almost all of Daewon's part. All my old videos were ruined thanks to a burst pipe in our storage unit, I lost a lot of stuff but my videos were the only things that really bummed me out.

Dude, where are you from? Saw that photo of you wearing a greenhouse shirt back in the day on your Instagram. Just wondering because I’ve been living in Blacksburg for the last 4 years .

[99Pancakes]

First experience was THPS.... first REAL experience was the Sorry/Really Sorry DVD set. Appleyard/Bastien were what blew my mind first in Sorry.

[Omars_Dad]

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The summer of 1997 I was at the grocery store with my mom and I picked up a Transworld that just happened to have a How To Ollie trick tip in it. I always wanted to know how skateboarders made it stick to their feet and boom, there it was. I'm from a small town and the only skateboards that existed in my world came from toys r us, so there I was all summer trying to ollie on this garbage Nash board with plastic trucks and spray on grip. Saved up as much as I could over the summer but still didn't have enough for a legit board. I entered a raffle at a high school football game and ended up winning around $100 which put me well over the top for a complete with all my savings. My mom took me to a shop in a town about 45 minutes away that I had found in the back of my transworld and it just went from there. That year I got my first video for christmas, Rodney Mullen vs Daweon Song (the first one). I'd use our shitty ass VCR to slow-mo almost all of Daewon's part. All my old videos were ruined thanks to a burst pipe in our storage unit, I lost a lot of stuff but my videos were the only things that really bummed me out.

[close]

Dude, where are you from? Saw that photo of you wearing a greenhouse shirt back in the day on your Instagram. Just wondering because I’ve been living in Blacksburg for the last 4 years .

So I'm from a small town called Forest in Virginia. There used to be a Greenhouse in downtown Roanoke back in the day before that huge art museum was built. The Roanoke shop was run by a guy named Kenny and his son's Lee and Daniel would run the blacksburg shop or split their time in Roanoke too. It really bums me out that the Roanoke shop closed down, but I do plan on going to the Blacksburg shop the day after Thanksgiving since I'll be up there for the Tech and UVA game. I've been in Richmond for the past 15 years so my Greenhouse visits are few and far in between these days. I have a lot of memories attached to that shop.

[Technique]

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Expand Quote

The summer of 1997 I was at the grocery store with my mom and I picked up a Transworld that just happened to have a How To Ollie trick tip in it. I always wanted to know how skateboarders made it stick to their feet and boom, there it was. I'm from a small town and the only skateboards that existed in my world came from toys r us, so there I was all summer trying to ollie on this garbage Nash board with plastic trucks and spray on grip. Saved up as much as I could over the summer but still didn't have enough for a legit board. I entered a raffle at a high school football game and ended up winning around $100 which put me well over the top for a complete with all my savings. My mom took me to a shop in a town about 45 minutes away that I had found in the back of my transworld and it just went from there. That year I got my first video for christmas, Rodney Mullen vs Daweon Song (the first one). I'd use our shitty ass VCR to slow-mo almost all of Daewon's part. All my old videos were ruined thanks to a burst pipe in our storage unit, I lost a lot of stuff but my videos were the only things that really bummed me out.

[close]

Dude, where are you from? Saw that photo of you wearing a greenhouse shirt back in the day on your Instagram. Just wondering because I’ve been living in Blacksburg for the last 4 years .

[close]

So I'm from a small town called Forest in Virginia. There used to be a Greenhouse in downtown Roanoke back in the day before that huge art museum was built. The Roanoke shop was run by a guy named Kenny and his son's Lee and Daniel would run the blacksburg shop or split their time in Roanoke too. It really bums me out that the Roanoke shop closed down, but I do plan on going to the Blacksburg shop the day after Thanksgiving since I'll be up there for the Tech and UVA game. I've been in Richmond for the past 15 years so my Greenhouse visits are few and far in between these days. I have a lot of memories attached to that shop.

Oh wow. I’ve definitely heard the story about the Roanoke shop before, but not firsthand I guess. I kinda wish the scene was bigger and stronger here because it definitely has potential, but it sucks to see people move out to bigger cities.

[Omars_Dad]

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Expand Quote

The summer of 1997 I was at the grocery store with my mom and I picked up a Transworld that just happened to have a How To Ollie trick tip in it. I always wanted to know how skateboarders made it stick to their feet and boom, there it was. I'm from a small town and the only skateboards that existed in my world came from toys r us, so there I was all summer trying to ollie on this garbage Nash board with plastic trucks and spray on grip. Saved up as much as I could over the summer but still didn't have enough for a legit board. I entered a raffle at a high school football game and ended up winning around $100 which put me well over the top for a complete with all my savings. My mom took me to a shop in a town about 45 minutes away that I had found in the back of my transworld and it just went from there. That year I got my first video for christmas, Rodney Mullen vs Daweon Song (the first one). I'd use our shitty ass VCR to slow-mo almost all of Daewon's part. All my old videos were ruined thanks to a burst pipe in our storage unit, I lost a lot of stuff but my videos were the only things that really bummed me out.

[close]

Dude, where are you from? Saw that photo of you wearing a greenhouse shirt back in the day on your Instagram. Just wondering because I’ve been living in Blacksburg for the last 4 years .

[close]

So I'm from a small town called Forest in Virginia. There used to be a Greenhouse in downtown Roanoke back in the day before that huge art museum was built. The Roanoke shop was run by a guy named Kenny and his son's Lee and Daniel would run the blacksburg shop or split their time in Roanoke too. It really bums me out that the Roanoke shop closed down, but I do plan on going to the Blacksburg shop the day after Thanksgiving since I'll be up there for the Tech and UVA game. I've been in Richmond for the past 15 years so my Greenhouse visits are few and far in between these days. I have a lot of memories attached to that shop.

[close]

Oh wow. I’ve definitely heard the story about the Roanoke shop before, but not firsthand I guess. I kinda wish the scene was bigger and stronger here because it definitely has potential, but it sucks to see people move out to bigger cities.

Yeah, my mom and dad dropped into the Greenhouse earlier this year after a Tech game and said it seems like it might be struggling a bit. It seems like they're do a lot of screen printing to make ends meet. It's a legit shop that has done a lot for skaters and their employees. One of their old shop employees is in NYC and skating for Solace of Mind. They're solid decks, I know they get them in Blacksburg if you're ever looking for something different.

[Tommy G]

As a kid growing up in California, I was very on and off with skateboarding. I always wanted to do it, but my parents didn't really have the money to buy me a good quality board, so they got me a $30 one from Big 5 sporting goods back when I was about 8. We used to go to Mississippi once a year to see my family and my cousin had Tony Hawk Underground 2 and I used to play the Airport level with Bob Burnquist and Mike V. A year later, we moved to Mississippi and I saved my money to buy a pair of black Spitfire charred remains for that old crappy Big 5 board. Kept it until I turned 14 (2009) where I saw this dude practicing ollies at this bank parking lot and I wanted to learn. That summer I rode that old board around and learned how to ollie myself, and around September I had saved a bunch of my money to buy my own board (Flameboy World Industries). The Tony Hawk games kept me interested and I would watch the brand promo commercials all the time to get me hyped to skate until I bought Stay Gold that next year.

[woodinbrine]

I snowboard although i havent in 17 years or so.  ive seen a lot shit go down first hand and between the two skiers leave snowboarding way behind.  So fluid, im only talking about backcountry shit of course tho.  And the sickest dude I saw was on Telemark skis too. I

To me there’s just no way for skiing to feel or look better than snowboarding, except if we’re talking just sheer speed or maybe big drops, that can be decent on skis too. 

[TheLurper]

Somewhere on the Internet. Can’t remember where, shit was 8 years ago, so it’s probably not there anyways. Imagination II is pretty good.

Teatr Absurda is one of my favorite videos. I had copy that was in perfect condition and I even had the провокатор sticker in DVD case and everything, but it got lost in the mail. I'm sooo bummed.

I can't believe Emerica slept on Gosha Konyshev. He is the most amazing skater... yet another great dude that Emerica let get away.