Author Topic: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?  (Read 27926 times)

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Lowcalcium

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #60 on: October 15, 2019, 05:37:49 PM »
Skate more by yourself.

I'm older now and sometimes it's harder to meet up with friends and go to the skate park. But I should go out by myself and meet new people at the park and make friends that way. More skate friends you got, the more people you have to skate with.

offkilter

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #61 on: October 15, 2019, 05:45:54 PM »
1. Being more intentional with movements, pop, and where body weight is during tricks. I would often kind of lazily float around and lately I’ve been concentrating on things like both trucks locking in on a frontside 5050 on transition, and I’m getting way more consistent.

2. Just saying hello to everyone at the park / spot, it goes along way with meeting skate friends and I’ve been trying to break out of my isolated introverted tendencies. 
« Last Edit: October 15, 2019, 05:52:33 PM by offkilter »

Maccat

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #62 on: October 15, 2019, 05:49:50 PM »
Slappies. Really opens up available spots when you don’t feel like driving far. Now that I got em I feel dumb for not having them way sooner.

Better late than never.

themeangreen

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #63 on: October 15, 2019, 05:59:57 PM »
Awesome thread! The responses are all really informative and interesting coming from other folks!!

If I could've learned something sooner it would be consistency with flip tricks and focusing on the basics. Skating transition always came really easy to me but for some reason the same muscle memory doesn't apply to certain tricks on flatground. I can bigflip better than I can kickflip and could always do random stuff down stairs because of the drop. With skipping over tricks that gave me too much trouble years go I get S in SKATE bc my add/ adhd 12 year old self got bored with ripping my shoes trying fs flips and went to learning frontside airs.

CorneliusCardew

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #64 on: October 15, 2019, 06:32:11 PM »
If you build a rectangle with grindable edges you can figure out how to get almost anything if you just focus.  Grinds slides manuals will become easy. Switch grinds are not really hard, in fact they are a great way of building fundamental comfort skating switch. Even if it is a few pallets and plywood, it can be an entry into the way, allowing for the emergence of style that fuses deliberateness and effortlessness.


ThugWaffle

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #65 on: October 15, 2019, 06:39:37 PM »
Mostly to just not be afraid. Of anything--that includes doing tricks deemed uncool at the time, or looking worse than you really are because you need to relearn something you skipped over years before.

can't stress enough how good this piece of advice is. skating feels fresh and fun again thanks to just saying fuck it and go back to even the most basic tricks if you need to.

chris.

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #66 on: October 15, 2019, 06:45:46 PM »
Ollie into the trick, not onto the ledge.

Also want to stress being intentional with movement. I will literally repeat “be intentional” like a little mantra if the session is feeling off.

Put your arms up! I think I was afraid of looking goofy when I was younger, being a little self conscious of my lanky body, so I never used my arms to balance like I should have.

DanCorteseFromMTVSports

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #67 on: October 15, 2019, 06:48:03 PM »
I've always had problems with jumping down stairs as well as lofting over things consistently. Only recently I realized the importance of really lifting my back foot after popping as well as what I can best describe as pushing the board forward while in the air.

20 some years after starting, I now take great pride in being able to finally ollie over a overturned trash can/construction barrel.

cucktard

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #68 on: October 15, 2019, 06:50:28 PM »
I have no regrets about goofing off, not taking skating seriously, not learning bs 180 ollies until I was 39, not turning skating into a quantifiable ladder of progression with specific goals.

I had tons of fun for 35 years, no regrets about only being able to do one flip trick (badly).

What I do regret is slouching and having terrible posture. 35 years on, I’m paying the price and only know learning how to hold myself and avoid lower back pain.

Also, get into a habit of doing yoda and stretching every day, it will extend your skate life by years, if not decades
« Last Edit: October 15, 2019, 06:52:10 PM by cucktard »
I’m trying to be every mom’s favorite skater’-&&

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Xen

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #69 on: October 15, 2019, 06:56:55 PM »
Speaking as a past his prime skater (yet still skating):

Skate faster and commit. Don't half ass it.

Ollie that shit, actually fucking ollie first, pop and suck up those legs and get OVER your board, you are now in full control to just land that shit...this goes for gaps, rails and ledges.


SneakySecrets

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #70 on: October 15, 2019, 06:57:51 PM »
Ollie into the trick, not onto the ledge.

What the hell does that mean?
When nothing in society deserves respect, we should fashion for ourselves in solitude new silent loyalties.

ColinYourAssOut

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #71 on: October 15, 2019, 07:43:39 PM »
Also, get into a habit of doing yoda

Nah, man, I'm good

You can't beat cheeks with weak meat.

whatsreallygood

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #72 on: October 15, 2019, 07:51:57 PM »
Staying in my comfort zone too much. If I learned how to hold a grind really long or pop a trick over something high and it looked good I'd just keep doing that rather than try new stuff. I also wish I went out to more different spots since that contributed to me not learning as much new stuff as well.

Let your ankle fully heal before you get back out there...

Wish I had cared more about skating switch young. Now i have no will to practice tricks that have me looking like an 8 year old on his first board.

These hit me. Also wearing ankle braces. Would have saved a lot of recovery time when I was younger. Sometimes I wish I didn't take as much time off skating as I did for other stuff (school, work, medical shit) but to be fair it's probably better I focused on those things.

fang

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #73 on: October 15, 2019, 08:03:16 PM »
To not wear vans when jumping big gaps, stairs etc. My ankles hate me

layzieyez

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #74 on: October 15, 2019, 08:12:48 PM »
If I had one regret is that I wish I knew how to fix cracks and work concrete way back in my prime skate days. I should have built a little foot tall bump ramp to haul around in my car with the trash cans I skated.

The other regret is I wish I had known how to properly rehab injuries.

tranny in the streets

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #75 on: October 15, 2019, 09:53:14 PM »
Awesome post. I'll be checking in here pretty often.

For me personally I focused on flatground way too much. I have some decent flatground tricks nowadays but nothing too crazy, but I am terrible at ledges. A few shinners and slip outs and I was like fuck that. I can't do anything backside except noseslide and the occasional 5050 on lower ledges and it feels pretty crap, and even now when I'm trying to get out of my comfort zone more I'm still keeping one foot in and not fully going all out.

Rails too, I only have boardslide variations and it feels pretty lame. I can't even front board properly, so I wish I spent more time on that. And I guess following the advice in this thread about how we should re learn basic tricks even if we look stupid (people always call bullshit when I tell them I can't front board) I think I'll go out to the park and look like a dumbass and probably eat some shit first.

I am happy I started skating transition though, it rekindled my love for skateboarding after a long plateau of street skating. Now I street skate almost all the time with some mini ramp sessions in between. It's a good balance.

Whenever I feel frustrated with skateboarding, just cruising down a good street fires me up like nothing else, and I fall back in love all over again. So yeah, pace yourself, push your limits, but don't forget why you even started skating in the first place. I think too many people lose sight of the fun part of skating and it all just becomes one big competition with others and themselves, and that's when people start quitting. Sad.

KRKD1

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #76 on: October 15, 2019, 10:18:56 PM »
Appreciate the commarady you've found while you have it. I took that for granted at 14. And a 27 year old I wish I was as tight with my friends now as I was my skateboard friends back in the day.

Skibb

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #77 on: October 15, 2019, 11:00:41 PM »
1. Being more intentional with movements, pop, and where body weight is during tricks. I would often kind of lazily float around and lately I’ve been concentrating on things like both trucks locking in on a frontside 5050 on transition, and I’m getting way more consistent.

2. Just saying hello to everyone at the park / spot, it goes along way with meeting skate friends and I’ve been trying to break out of my isolated introverted tendencies.

This! I'll also add: if it's thigh high or less there's literally NO reason not to try that weird and/or uncomfortable trick that you came to think of. Like Kostons bsnbs at Hubba - start out just posing it and you'll probably get it.

Highonangeldust

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #78 on: October 15, 2019, 11:04:54 PM »
Not to go to slumber parties at Neil Hendrix’s

swordtechnique

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #79 on: October 15, 2019, 11:10:18 PM »
Transition skills. When I got into skating I exclusively skated street because of the lack of parks near me.  So as far as cruising the city goes, I'm on point but when it comes to hitting up a  miniramp I'm trash. It's hard to wire my brain to skating transition now that I'm older and stuck in my ways more. I wish I was more well rounded  about my skating when I was younger.
« Last Edit: October 16, 2019, 04:24:17 AM by swordtechnique »

imuseless

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #80 on: October 15, 2019, 11:29:29 PM »
Don’t jump down what you can’t jump up.

This.

imuseless

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #81 on: October 15, 2019, 11:52:08 PM »
Also: separate set-up for cruising is not lame.

radcunt

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #82 on: October 16, 2019, 12:03:46 AM »
Slappies. They’re fun as heck and our spot as kids had the perfect curb that my friend slappied all kinds of craziness on and I just scoffed and Ollie’s onto the ledge. Wasted years.

Sila

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #83 on: October 16, 2019, 12:14:03 AM »
Eat right, go to the gym if it's raining, and learn how to recover properly. Unless you've had major injuries and havn't taken care of yourself you should still be able to skate well and still learn new stuff in your 30's .

silhouette

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #84 on: October 16, 2019, 12:23:16 AM »
Block your insecurities telling you that there's stuff you just can't do, and give everything a try if you think it's technically in your reach (it usually is or you most likely wouldn't even visualize the trick / spot in the first place). Basically come to terms with how the little excuses we're always tempted to find not to try shit are really just cop outs for not wanting a trick that bad. Thing is if you want to see said trick go down the way you mentally picture it, then you're going to have to go and materialize it yourself because no one's going to do it for you, or do it the way you imagine it. I find that to be a great motivator to get the most out of every session.

And even when trying a trick - realizing that not coming anywhere close after dozens of attempts although you know there's a chance you could technically land it only means that subconsciously, part of you doesn't really want to land the trick right then and now (which is OK, sometimes just the process of trying itself is fun), and instead of mindlessly repeating the same mistakes over and over again you really need just one go where you actually really, really want to do it, blocking all doubt in your head and just looking forward to rolling away because, why the fuck would you not roll away? Just a bunch of mental stretching in general, but I believe those are fundamental cognitive matters that really affects how one skates.

Skating with older folks is inspiring when you're young but don't only skate with older folks in your mid to late 20's, as people in the 30+ crowd (which I'm part of) love finding excuses about not being as good as they used to be, fantasizing about their own old achievements or abilities and are basically resigned that they are past their prime like part of them is dead inside already. I skated with people like that almost exclusively for a few years and their energy had started to rub off on me, I was starting to find excuses for not doing hard tricks again and basically, technically regressing. Then I started skating with kids 10 years younger than me again and realized my fuck up, the kids have energy to spare and still more excited than jaded about skating. I quickly realized it was more fun to be in such an environment too sometimes and now that energy started contaminating me instead; got all my old tricks back when I thought they were forever lost, and started progressing like I was suddenly 17 again. Started watching what I'd eat a lot more around that time period too, probably helped. Nowadays back home I mostly skate alone though.

You don't have to skate 10 hours a day every day, your body needs the rest or you'll just ruin it. Off days are a thing and completely acceptable, you don't have to battle yourself for all the entire afternoons you spend skating shitty spots and every kickflip you do rockets. Just cruising around is amazing too.

Maybe a stupid one but, wear clothes and shoes you actually feel good skating in.

edit - was high as fuck when I originally wrote this, edited for clarity
« Last Edit: October 16, 2019, 07:09:51 AM by silhouette »

HugeBodBoyle

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #85 on: October 16, 2019, 03:47:04 AM »
I'd just want to tell 19 year old me to not quit skating just because all my crew went off to college and I got "left behind" which caused me to latch onto BMX because I was looking for something to identify with and those guys were right there.

They were good dudes, I just always sucked at BMX and it tore both my ACL's, destroyed my shoulder and gave me about six concussions.

Skateboarding is beautiful.

cosmicgypsies

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #86 on: October 16, 2019, 04:03:37 AM »
Block your insecurities telling you that there's stuff you just can't do, and give everything a try if you think it's technically in your reach (it usually is or you wouldn't even visualize the trick at that spot). Basically come to terms with how the little excuses we're always tempted to find not to try shit are just cop outs for you not really wanting to do your trick that bad. Thing is if you want to see the trick go down the way you mentally picture it, then you're going to have to go and do it yourself because no one's going to do it for you, or do it the way you imagine it. And even when trying a trick - realizing that if you're not coming anywhere close after dozens of attempts although you know there's a chance you could technically land it, then such a behavior only means that part of you subconsciously doesn't really want to land the trick (which is OK, sometimes just the process of trying itself is fun), and instead of mindlessly repeating the same mistakes over and over again you really only need one go where you actually really, really want to do it by blocking all doubt in your head and just looking forward to rolling away because, why the fuck would you not roll away? Just a bunch of mental stretching in general, but I believe those are fundamental cognitive matters that really affects how one skates.

Skating with older folks is inspiring when you're young but don't only skate with older folks in your mid to late 20's, as people in the 30+ crowd (which I'm part of) love finding excuses about not being as good as they used to be, fantasizing about their own old achievements or abilities and are basically resigned that they are past their prime like part of them is dead inside already. I skated with people like that almost exclusively for a few years and their energy had started to rub off on me, I was starting to find excuses for not doing hard tricks again and basically, technically regressing. Then I started skating with kids 10 years younger than me again and realized my fuck up, the kids have energy to spare and still more excited than jaded about skating. I quickly realized it was more fun to be in such an environment too sometimes and now that energy started contaminating me instead; got all my old tricks back when I thought they were forever lost, and started progressing like I was suddenly 17 again. Started watching what I'd eat a lot more around that time period too, probably helped. Nowadays back home I mostly skate alone though.

You don't have to skate 10 hours a day every day, your body needs the rest or you'll just ruin it. Off days are a thing and completely acceptable, you don't have to battle yourself for all the entire afternoons you spend skating shitty spots and every kickflip you do rockets. Just cruising around is amazing too.

Maybe a stupid one but, wear clothes and shoes you actually feel good skating in.

I know people like this in their early 20s and it astounds me.

Jollyoli

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #87 on: October 16, 2019, 04:13:46 AM »
Skate with the groms, they have the energy you need.
They get hyped on a session and you get to relearn some wacky trick that would never normally do.
Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

Sila

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #88 on: October 16, 2019, 04:41:29 AM »
Skate with people that are cool regardless of their ability.

jorge

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Re: What is one thing that you wish you learned sooner in your skate life?
« Reply #89 on: October 16, 2019, 05:18:59 AM »
Surprised that “learning to fall” isn’t mentioned more often.  I sprained/fractured wrists way too many times by not tucking everything in or learning to roll out out slams like Cardiel or Daewon.  Still suffer from that now that I’m old, a bruise is way better than a break.  This and skating faster are vital.