Any complete wussies get pretty good at skateboarding?

[tacotime]

Nothing wrong with the urge to protect yourself, it’s part of what keeps us alive. Your post is probably directed more towards the guys but as a female skater I can understand what you’re saying. I had fear for sure and still have some but I learned to work around it.

When I first started (typing that I realize it was almost 30 years ago … crazy) I never saw anyone around my town who skated and there wasn’t an actual skate park I could get to, so I was mostly on my own to figure stuff out. There was a skate shop in another town that I would pass when driving through with my parents, I got interested from seeing it but could never really get over there except for when I bought my first board and once in a while after that.

The biggest things that helped me were learning to be the first one to laugh at myself (a good life lesson in general), wearing extra layers of clothing for padding, and ramping up super slowly with tricks. For the first couple of years I just tried to get really comfortable on the board on flat ground, except in the winter before the snow fell so I could wear a big coat and not look like Stay Puft. The main thing was that the more time I spent skating at all, the more comfortable I felt. Also helped to do tricks without the board (jumping stairs and obstacles, rotating in the air, etc) to get used to moving in space and landing before wheels were involved. Some young kids where I live now do parkour and say it helps them.

More than anything I would say to someone who wants to up their bravery: just try to focus on having fun with whatever it is you can do, you’ll get pumped to take little risks here and there, take advantage of that when you feel it then over time you’ll likely surprise yourself. I think more than I got braver exactly, I got more confident in how to handle myself so I wouldn’t get too fucked up. There are still things I wouldn’t attempt but I love doing what I can do, that’s enough for me. Stick with it and in time you’ll be able to do more than you can now,. Everyone’s not meant to skate the same style, but you can still get a lot out of whatever suits you as a person. Regardless of when you started, it will be rad to look back in 5 or 10 years if you keep going.

[Uncle Jeffrey]

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nah i just became the filmer

[close]

Lol. Some filmers are actually nice with it tho.

There's that tall skinny metal head looking dude who does crazy transition following and shit. I think he's sponsored by Blood Wizard? Rad

[Uncle Jeffrey]

i watch snelling footage and realize you can live through anything

Lol or you watch the "people failing" compilations and realize I can have my femur snap in half trying to ollie a two stair....

Sorry for the double tap

[Mean salto]

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i watch snelling footage and realize you can live through anything

[close]

Lol or you watch the "people failing" compilations and realize I can have my femur snap in half trying to ollie a two stair....

Sorry for the double tap

See that video of Tom segura trying to dunk. He breaks half his body an inch off the ground.

[Crusty Grundle]

I still hate this moment, because I knew within a week that "the fear" had gotten me and I would never return to my previous self (please read this in a "Wonder Years" narrative voice).

This hits so good when read as Daniel Stern.

[tranny in the streets]

Actual wuss here. By no means am I amazing at skateboarding, but decent enough to the point where I've gotten some free gear, etc. and also to the point where sometimes my friends and other people would be legitimately wondering why I was being such a little bitch not committing to the simplest things like a back 50 on a ledge (I'm terrible at ledges and rails only because I slammed pretty hard on certain tricks doing them at some point in my life) because given my relative confidence and aptitude in other aspects of skateboarding (flat, banks, minis) it seemed very incongruent.

The annoying part is sometimes I have a terrible day skating just because I feel so out of it and disconnected with my body, which might have something to do with the massive amount of drinking, cigarettes and drugs especially in my late teens and early 20s. I know I could easily do those tricks I've been bailing 2901302130 times if I just stopped being a wuss and committed. More often than not I get a little frustrated spending so much time filming a line that I know I could've done within a few tries. I have this habit of visualizing the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen trying something (like hitting a stone I can't see going down some stairs then scorpioning and breaking my spine in seven places, that kind of thing) which puts me in a pretty bad zone.

It was a lot worse for me when I felt like I had something to prove to other people. I just came back from almost a year of not being able to skate and have just been trying to keep it low, just chilling, and it's been a lot more fun. I'm in my mid 20s now and whatever dreams I've had of being an actually good skater with some future have been shoved into a corner in the deep recesses of my little mind and that's fine with me. I'm having a lot more fun now and I have to say when I'm in the zone and just messing around doing tricks for myself, sometimes I skate and feel a little better. Having fun = better skating, IMO.

Just work your way up. I did a whole bunch of flatground as a kid/teenager and got pretty decent with it and throwing down tricks at the local pyramid/hip has been mad fun. Street skating is still pretty hard for me but it's also pretty entertaining just going to random spots and seeing what I can work with.

I was filming a line the other day and it was just a pretty simple line with 'quick feet' and I was joking with my homie saying I had to channel my inner (younger) Tom Knox (who has crazy control and confidence on a board) and he told me I was more of a Max Palmer (obviously I'm not even CLOSE to his skill level, that guy is amazing!) but in that I wasn't super clean and calculated as hell like Tom but more of a winger like Max. That made me take a step back and evaluate just how much my idea of good skateboarding was influenced by the media or whatever. Like playing a game of SKATE we all naturally subscribe to the idea of Berrics rules, but I mean what's stopping us from playing in a way where, say, even if we bail and land primo and eat shit, then the other person has to bail the exact same way?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there really aren't any rules to it other than the ones we give ourselves.

But I totally get the idea of wanting to be a great skater like the skaters you see all the time. Sometimes I wish I was that good too, like a homie would bust out a 5050 on a fat rail and I'm like, 'man I haven't 5050'd a flatbar in like 5 years!' but I am where I am and I can only work with what I got for now. That being said, I do try to consciously be better at skateboarding than I was the session before but I'm a lot more forgiving of myself when I have a crappy day out. Skateboarding remains a major part of my life but it's not the only thing I do anymore and I try to branch out and focus on other creative projects.

Skateboarding is awesome man, it is whatever you want it to be. Don't get sucked into an idea of what 'good' skateboarding is, whenever I see someone skating and they just look comfortable and natural cruising on their boards I already feel like they're a good skater. Doesn't matter much what tricks you can do, tricks are just that, tricks. Just my two cents, and anyone can get to that level where they can just have a great time cruising down the streets or ripping a mini with just basic but beautifully executed tricks, and whatever fancy thingamajigs you can learn are just a bonus.

Have fun with it yo!

[JB]

More than anything I would say to someone who wants to up their bravery: just try to focus on having fun with whatever it is you can do, you’ll get pumped to take little risks here and there, take advantage of that when you feel it then over time you’ll likely surprise yourself.

At my best I was a wuss who was decent enough to keep up on low impact stuff. I probably peaked around 22, then faded away from skating all the time at about 25. Had a few years in my late 20s where I skated like twice a year, so felt like I had to relearn everything. Was almost too embarrassed to skate in public then. I think it sparked again when I hit 30 and my son was old enough to come to the park with me, and at that point it just became about finding something that was within reach, and doing that. I completely lost any sense of embarrassment because I felt so far removed from whatever the cool guys at the park were into. I just wanted to have fun, and a lot of things came back pretty naturally. Lately I've been landing some things that used to be kinda difficult when I was younger, so I'm pretty stoked on that. For me, popping anything higher than like a tall curb seems irrationally scary still. I used to have a decent bag of frontside tricks on rails and ledges, but now it's like I've got to get a back noseslide and back crook before I event try a front 5050. The crook will take me 20 tries sometimes, and the 5050 is usually first, if not second, but for some reason I'm a wuss when it comes to frontside now. What's so discouraging is that back crooks used to be really hard and I've only had them good for a few periods of time. Front nosegrinds were always easier and I could do them going pretty fast. Now they're absoltely terrifying, but I'm confident jumping on a back crook, even if the ledge is a bit taller.

[tacotime]

I think it sparked again when I hit 30 and my son was old enough to come to the park with me, and at that point it just became about finding something that was within reach, and doing that. I completely lost any sense of embarrassment because I felt so far removed from whatever the cool guys at the park were into. I just wanted to have fun, and a lot of things came back pretty naturally. Lately I've been landing some things that used to be kinda difficult when I was younger, so I'm pretty stoked on that.

That’s awesome you got back into it. A great example for your kid too. Same with putting the time in even if some days a trick takes you 20x. My mom is the kind of person who you’ll never catch doing anything if she can’t be flawless at it. Thankfully I was able to not get stuck in that way of thinking.

I think what’s easy/hard ebbs and flows over time, so I try not to get too hung up on how things used to be. Especially if didn’t do something for a while, when I start again I try to cut myself slack as if starting from new. Who I am now isn’t the same person I was 5/10/20 years ago, but that’s a good thing. We all learn and do so much that we often don’t give ourselves real credit for. If you didn’t stay up on something, it’s because you were putting yourself into something else.

[hotdogsweatpants]

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I picked up skateboarding in my 30s after following it since I was a kid. And even just learning to cruise and pop little gimped ollies helped my confidence a bunch. But I feel I won't progress because I let sketchy shit get to me.

[close]

the good guys started when they were 10. you won't progress because you're in your 30s and your brain has become a wooden block. your body is no good anymore either. give it up 

I can't tell if this is a serious post, but if it is, what a depressing mentality.  I started skating when I was 30 and within two years I am doing frontside 5050s to fakie and fakie backside pivot fakies on 4ft transitions.

I can only speak on transition skating, because that's what I do, but the key for me to get over the fear of certain tricks is working up to them.  That, in my opinion, is part of the beauty of transition.  I can learn a scary trick on a 2ft transition where the consequences are just not that severe.  Then, when I can do it every try on the 2ft, I take it to a 3ft.  Then, to a 4ft etc.

Of course, this requires some dedication in hitting different parks that have these different sized transitions, but without motivation and dedication this whole topic is moot and you will never overcome your fear.

Patience, confidence and self-belief are key.  Tricks that I found terrifying several months ago, I can now do without qualms. Find an incremental approach for the tricks you want to learn and trust the process.