9-Year-Old Trae ”The Tank” Montgomery Ollies A 20. But What's Up With His Dad?

[Newphone]

The grooming is fucked up, but as an aging consenting adult, I could use trae’s dad on my next session.

[Lee Ralphs Dear Old Mum]

Remember when Dads were people you really tried to spend as little time with as possible?

[HyenaChaser]

Questionable parenting aside, this is boring skateboarding.

[apport]

“junkmaster” is a top tier MAGA dad insult

[SneakySecrets]

Dude she was Junkmaster.  Every last square centimeter of that bitch was occupied with some sort of Barbie doll part.

[Steely Daniel]

For some reason (probably being a parent myself) I read every last page of this thread, and what a wild ride. From Mad Dawg tatts, to knee-clapping child hucking, to TAMS, to the sick GeoCities/Angelfire Korn and Limp Bizkit internet 1.0 sites. 13 year old me was guilty of having a Limp Bizkit Angelfire fan site with stolen jpegs, corny animated gifs, and of course the obligatory hit counter and guestbook haha. What a time for the internet.

My first exposure to this Trae kid was a recent edit in the photos/video section and lately, I've tried to subscribe to the old if you have nothing positive to contribute, then say nothing at all mindset. But man it just seems like a sad case of high-pressure parent involvement in an outdated high-risk/low-reward style of skateboarding his ballplayer jock father has little idea of. I'm sure if this kid lived elsewhere he'd learn some more interesting tricks or skate some more original spots more creatively. The NKA 'big pedo vibes' Nigel videos are weird and creepy and sad. His dad having his own Thrasher interview without any input from the kid himself was embarrassing too.

I've never witnessed this kind of parenting in person around skateboarding but there was a scooter kid's dad pulling this shit once at our local park and I had to bite my tongue so hard not to step in and defend this poor little guy. He was mocking him for being a "wussy" and praising other kids in front of his son while chastising him for needing to try harder, go faster, try again etc. It was in the summer and it was hot as fuck, like 36 degrees C and this kid just wanted to go swimming and pops keeps saying shit like "5 more tries." After 10 minutes I was the only other person there, sitting under a shade tree and watching it all go down. After 20 minutes of his dad beaking off, the kid muttered angrily under his breathe "I'll show you my real self!" and aggressively pushed towards our big pyramid trying his best to clear the top (didn't even come close as it's pretty big and steep and the ground is really rough) and it broke my heart a little hearing how frustrated it was making him. It's pretty kooky but if the kid was a skater I probably would have said something since I'm a fairly confrontational guy in person. Shit sucks to see in any hobby or sport though. Kids deserve to figure things out themselves and have fun with positive reinforcement and only slight encouraging 'pushing' at best to get them to try something different if they're getting frustrated and not enjoying themselves or let them know it's okay if you don't get it, just keep trying if you're having fun and we can always come back another day.

My 6-year-old wanted to try skateboarding so I put together a complete out of old parts and told him tricks aren't important, just learn how to push and roll around and turn and tic tac a bit. Even that was too frustrating for him compared to riding his mountain bike or scooter so I just encourage those activities instead despite it also breaking my heart a little buying him a 'pro' style scooter for Christmas to replace his shitty little toy razor one but I'm not going to be a dick about it. I still bring his board out with us often or let him steal mine and practice pushing or just get some good buttboarding in. I might give another gentle nudge toward skateboarding when he's older if he still shows interest in it but I don't know how anyone could be as overbearing as some of these lunatic rad dads as you all call them.

[manysnakes]

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hucking is cut, no one even likes that shit anymore.

[close]

That's the tragedy aspect of the whole thing. He's training his kid to be the biggest hucker just after all the hucks have been done and no one cares anymore. It'll probably be enough for a career as an Instagram skater, though.

[close]

but doctor, i am trae "the tank" montgomery

Actually laughing out loud at this.

[donkey]

yeah the whole trae shit is gay and stupid but that kid taking his dirtbike off the cvs roof was bad ass as hell, mad props to that kid

[Lord Viper Scorpion]

it's a motorbike with shocks, not impressed kid

[MusclesMarinara]

My 6-year-old wanted to try skateboarding so I put together a complete out of old parts and told him tricks aren't important, just learn how to push and roll around and turn and tic tac a bit. Even that was too frustrating for him compared to riding his mountain bike or scooter so I just encourage those activities instead despite it also breaking my heart a little buying him a 'pro' style scooter for Christmas to replace his shitty little toy razor one but I'm not going to be a dick about it. I still bring his board out with us often or let him steal mine and practice pushing or just get some good buttboarding in. I might give another gentle nudge toward skateboarding when he's older if he still shows interest in it but I don't know how anyone could be as overbearing as some of these lunatic rad dads as you all call them.

I had one of those shitty sims boards with the plastic trucks growing up and didn't get my first complete till I was about 8 years old but I was more or less in the same position as your son. But no one was trying to force it on me, the board was just there and I finally picked it up out of my own self interests after a while. I also messed around on razor scooters too, but it was just that early 2000s time period, who didn't as a kid. I think what made me really get into skating was going to the skate shop and picking out my own complete. But I wouldn't invest in a new complete until he shows some sort of real solid interest. I know picking out my first deck and complete really set the fire for my skating interest as it just clicked that "this was my skateboard!"

[BootsWithTheFerg]

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Nyjah 2.0

[close]

At least nyjah actually liked skating. Not sure trae does.

[close]

Nyjahs dad was likeable in the beginning.  I heard he was the “connect connect” for ganja for Davis area skaters.

Nyjahs dad got to be a problem AFTER nyjah was sponsored and making some good money

I know this old af and really useless to add but wasn't Nigels dad owner of skateshop/park?

Obviously dude gets a bad reputation and much deserved but always wondered about that stuff. Pretty impressive for a father of 3, skateboardr who never made it into the industry, especially the time period. Recession era. Ganga connect a separate economy. Makes sense.

Makes you wonder what kinda life they would have had as a family without element. Dad gets bad wrap but up until element he dosent sound like that bad a guy. I mean dude was always a rasta but how much did he play that shit up for element. The vibe at the time on element was much more in tune with the tituaral element/nature feel.

Honestly one of the only interesting things about nyjah.

[Steely Daniel]

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My 6-year-old wanted to try skateboarding so I put together a complete out of old parts and told him tricks aren't important, just learn how to push and roll around and turn and tic tac a bit. Even that was too frustrating for him compared to riding his mountain bike or scooter so I just encourage those activities instead despite it also breaking my heart a little buying him a 'pro' style scooter for Christmas to replace his shitty little toy razor one but I'm not going to be a dick about it. I still bring his board out with us often or let him steal mine and practice pushing or just get some good buttboarding in. I might give another gentle nudge toward skateboarding when he's older if he still shows interest in it but I don't know how anyone could be as overbearing as some of these lunatic rad dads as you all call them.

[close]

I had one of those shitty sims boards with the plastic trucks growing up and didn't get my first complete till I was about 8 years old but I was more or less in the same position as your son. But no one was trying to force it on me, the board was just there and I finally picked it up out of my own self interests after a while. I also messed around on razor scooters too, but it was just that early 2000s time period, who didn't as a kid. I think what made me really get into skating was going to the skate shop and picking out my own complete. But I wouldn't invest in a new complete until he shows some sort of real solid interest. I know picking out my first deck and complete really set the fire for my skating interest as it just clicked that "this was my skateboard!"

Thanks for sharing your perspective that's quite helpful. My boy is kind of spoiled so I think trying to also get him to learn how to value, respect, and take care of his possessions first is probably a good idea too.

You also made me remember a lot for things I probably haven't thought about in 20+ years haha...

I toyed around with a neighborhood friends 'street sucker' shaped board, complete with big chunky tail guard when I was around 7-8. Just butt boarding down small hills. It wasn't until I was maybe 10-11 when my friend got me really into skateboarding, letting me try his Mad Circle Moses Itkonen board out and telling me about his older skater cousin from Richmond who he'd get cool hand me down clothes and shoes from. We called them double enders since skateboards having both a nose and tail were still new to us even though it was the early going on mid 90s in our bumfuck town lol. I still remember weird details around getting my first complete, like how shocking all the world industries and prime gear was to a sheltered kid. Lots of swear words and offensive images and all that good stuff. I of course wasn't allowed to pick any board out and went with the safe choice of some Powell slick. I remember the guy who gripped and set up my board said "sweet" about one of the parts of my complete I picked out and later on my mom asked me "what did that guy say? Sugar or something?" It took me many months to learn how to ollie and despite being the first our of group to learn how to kickflip, nothing ever came natural to me. I think my son has my same shit genes in that regard but just doesn't have the persistence yet to stick through the early battles.