When's the last time you focused a board?

[IpathCats]

Had a session where nothing felt right on my board, I had only skated this deck once before, shorter WB steep kicks, the whole thing just felt wrong. I got mad, focused, went home. Hadn't done that in probably 6+ years, and I immediately felt pretty ashamed, guilty, and wasteful. I normally hook the kids up at my local with old gear, and this board had only been skated once before. I felt like a big baby afterwards, I turn 30 this year, I'm too old to act like that. I don't intend on doing that again, but it did feel damn good in that split second, focused while riding and just walked away into my immense guilt.

So, when was the last time you focused a board? How old were you? How did it make you feel? How frequent does that happen?

[pdknox]

never.  big waste of resources.  good on u for recognizing that.

this local skater/rapper, who is actually quite talented at skating, casually let me know he carries a gun.  he also always focuses his board every time I see him.  I tell him "hey if you want to impress me take out ur gun and focus your board using bullets".

[IpathCats]

never.  big waste of resources.  good on u for recognizing that.

this local skater/rapper, who is actually quite talented at skating, casually let me know he carries a gun.  he also always focuses his board every time I see him.  I tell him "hey if you want to impress me take out ur gun and focus your board using bullets".

Yea, the wasteful part of it got to me the most. I'll get over the embarrassment lol, but a kid could've really used that deck.

Gun focus needs to be done for a video part though, the entertainment value offsets the waste. Also, that guy sounds like a fucking top tier skatepark character, what a joke.

[roba]

last time was on go skate day but i broke the nose of that board on a trick and it pissed me off because i set up a new deck for that day and it broke at the first spot

before that 2015

these were the only boards i broke purposefully tho

[johnes]

I had to search my Instagram for the date of a trick, I didn’t post the focus but it was august 17 2020.
I tried a trick for almost 3 hours and it was a nose slide 270 shuv the easy way and I did it in 10 min at the skate park (I hadn’t done the trick in years) and when we went to the curb spot, the curb has a slight angle to it and it was just throwing the trick off. Eventually I gave up on it and laid on the ground huffing and puffing and decided to just try one more time and I landed it. I broke my board as a celebration. It was super hot outside and I was dehydrated and exhausted after the first hour.
This was the trick

[JugeL]

My ankles are so fucked that i would be afraid to even focus board

[Skatebeard]

Never done it on purpose to an otherwise functional board tbh... I've only actually snapped one deck in 20+ years of skating and that was because it was a second hander and the kid before me cut a design in the grip near the bolts after it was applied, so the ply was scored.

[JugeL]

Also, i have snapped more trucks than decks during my skateboarding years.

Before you ask, all Thunders

[pizzafliptofakie]

I've only focused a board out of anger once.


We were skating a really crusty bank spot on the side of the road where we kept competing with traffic, even though the building was seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Despite that being kinda frustrating, I started getting closer to the trick and more comfortable with the spot when all of the sudden, a car of randos decides to just pull over and just stand among our crew to watch, not saying anything to any of us. I wasn't particularly stoked about it, but I was confident enough to just do the trick and leave.


Next try I run as fast as I can, throw down switch, then as I'm about to get to the curb cut my truck skidded from the dirt on the ground and I got tossed full speed backwards. I hit my head on the bank so hard the VX mic picked it up from across the street, and I broke my wrist trying to shield the fall. In that moment I was so mad that I totally forgot that the group of strangers was just standing there watching and I stomped my board in half and threw it aside to go examine the bird egg sized lump on my head. Apparently after it happened they were just like "ooh, thanks", then left lol.




Made for a good clip though.

[IpathCats]

Also, i have snapped more trucks than decks during my skateboarding years.

Before you ask, all Thunders

I believe it.

I've only focused a board out of anger once.


We were skating a really crusty bank spot on the side of the road where we kept competing with traffic, even though the building was seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Despite that being kinda frustrating, I started getting closer to the trick and more comfortable with the spot when all of the sudden, a car of randos decides to just pull over and just stand among our crew to watch, not saying anything to any of us. I wasn't particularly stoked about it, but I was confident enough to just do the trick and leave.


Next try I run as fast as I can, throw down switch, then as I'm about to get to the curb cut my truck skidded from the dirt on the ground and I got tossed full speed backwards. I hit my head on the bank so hard the VX mic picked it up from across the street, and I broke my wrist trying to shield the fall. In that moment I was so mad that I totally forgot that the group of strangers was just standing there watching and I stomped my board in half and threw it aside to go examine the bird egg sized lump on my head. Apparently after it happened they were just like "ooh, thanks", then left lol.




Made for a good clip though.

Fucking lurkers man. the worst.

[pizzafliptofakie]

Expand Quote

Also, i have snapped more trucks than decks during my skateboarding years.

Before you ask, all Thunders

[close]

I believe it.

Expand Quote

I've only focused a board out of anger once.


We were skating a really crusty bank spot on the side of the road where we kept competing with traffic, even though the building was seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Despite that being kinda frustrating, I started getting closer to the trick and more comfortable with the spot when all of the sudden, a car of randos decides to just pull over and just stand among our crew to watch, not saying anything to any of us. I wasn't particularly stoked about it, but I was confident enough to just do the trick and leave.


Next try I run as fast as I can, throw down switch, then as I'm about to get to the curb cut my truck skidded from the dirt on the ground and I got tossed full speed backwards. I hit my head on the bank so hard the VX mic picked it up from across the street, and I broke my wrist trying to shield the fall. In that moment I was so mad that I totally forgot that the group of strangers was just standing there watching and I stomped my board in half and threw it aside to go examine the bird egg sized lump on my head. Apparently after it happened they were just like "ooh, thanks", then left lol.




Made for a good clip though.

[close]

Fucking lurkers man. the worst.

I can generally rationalize it by simply being in public and doing an activity out of the norm, but this instance was so weird cuz they actively pulled over and just gawked at us like we were circus monkeys or something, haha.

[mattchew]

It’s been about fifteen years. Around 16 or 17 I just realized that skating is supposed to be fun and make me happy so I haven’t done it since. A few years ago I kicked my board into a fence because I couldn’t do some dumb manual trick and that’s really the only time I can recall getting pissed at my board since.

[IpathCats]

I can generally rationalize it by simply being in public and doing an activity out of the norm, but this instance was so weird cuz they actively pulled over and just gawked at us like we were circus monkeys or something, haha.

Yea, deff seems weird. Imagine pulling your car full of homies up next to a basketball court and just posting up, not saying anything. weird.

[rawbertson.]

few months ago but the board was already cracked along the baseplate and the tail and nose were absolutely soggy. i just put 1 foot through it and it went through sooo fucking easily. it was like stomping through a giant Triscuit cracker. it felt great actually and i already had a new board so i was excited to dump that piece of shit. i skated it for 4 months almost every single day on the worst ground imaginable. it felt like popping off a piece of wet cardboard and it hardly made any sound.

there was one other time i remember doing it out of rage, would have been about 15 years ago at least now. Fetus was filming me front board this tiny handrail and he kinda filemd it shitty and i just couldnt get it again for some reason and i wasted all the time before work we were meant to smoke weed. we were both pissed. after that i remember never wanting to focus one again and realized i should have been happy with that clip. who cares if the filming sucks, you arent pro.

[GlenSuggittsflexfit]

Smith stop  on an extension. Front foot came off on re entry and I fell backwards onto my head. In a blind rage I focused a brand new GT Anti Hero. I have never been hooked up so as soon as I did it my body flooded with regret. That was in 2014.

[EdLawndale]

I fell bad at 18, hurt my leg, then tried to focus out of anger with my good leg and hurt that focusing (didn't actually focus). Never again.

[ok boomer]

I've only focused a board once to be cool and i'm still mad at myself for it. It was a Plan B Rick Howard (clown graphic) 1992. Blasphemy

[IpathCats]

I fell bad at 18, hurt my leg, then tried to focus out of anger with my good leg and hurt that focusing (didn't actually focus). Never again.

Lol gnar'd for honesty.

[Bupstop]

I’ve never focused a board before unless you count focusing an already cracked deck. I did used to throw my board but I’ve learned my lesson after I threw it and hit some businessman. I remember his hand bleeding a little bit and he was actually more angry that the board hit his hand that was holding his turkey sandwich. He made me buy him a new one. I was much younger back then and I feel a little embarrassed for my younger self. I was an asshole.

[PuffinMuffin]

Never, too poor, probably couldn’t focus a deck if I tried, plus I like to give them out to the kids.

I’m more of a Kerry Getz-take-of-your-right-shoe-and-beat-your-head-with-it kinda person. It’s more of a spectacle for onlookers, and harkens them back to better times. Not to mention all the money you save.

[beatifk]

I'm actually surprised by how many people haven't focused. I thought I was one of the few.

I've broke one board on purpose but it wasn't a proper focusing... I hung up a crooked grind on a crack and was pitched forward superman style onto the ground. The board somehow got upside down on the ledge with just the nose resting on it. I karate kicked that fucker and then broke it the rest of the way over my knee and then walked home in anger. I didn't even really get hurt from the fall, it was such an overreaction.

I've always been afraid to hurt my foot or ankle by actually stomping a deck.

[manysnakes]

I was having a bad day at work, feeling pretty down. I decided to eat while I was working, and use my lunch break to hit the slappy spot down the street. I was skating for ~5 minutes when I feel something squishy under my shoe - when I stepped off into the grass on a trick, I landed in a pile of dog shit which I had smeared all over the grip of a brand new deck.

What was I going to do - take the skateboard home (on my bike, mind you), get out the heatgun, blast the shit covered griptape off, and re-grip it? Come on, that's not happening. Facing this reality, and the fact that my shoe was covered in shit, and my day had thus far been a total disaster, I focused the board right there. Broke the trucks off and threw the scraps in the dumpster. You would have done the same thing.

[Letsfilmavideo]

Focus focusing

[IpathCats]

Focus focusing

Focus for the culture.

[35mm]

Had a pretty bad skate day and my knee was hurt. I was going back home, hit a pebble and ate shit hurting my knee even more. I was so pissed I got up and focused my board. There was no people around and the deck was due for a change. No regrets.

[SATIVA HYBRID]

never done it, considered it a few times but growing up poor and having a mom with a temper suppressed those thoughts quickly. at this point i dont get that mad at skating anymore

[IpathCats]

Had a pretty bad skate day and my knee was hurt. I was going back home, hit a pebble and ate shit hurting my knee even more. I was so pissed I got up and focused my board. There was no people around and the deck was due for a change. No regrets.

probably those 35mm's that did you in.

[DISTANT RUMOURS]

I was poor growing up so I never did that. I was known to make boards look "good" and made them last ages.

Got bullied because of that too.

When I hate a board now, I give it away to a young kid ...

[augustmoon]

Couple of months ago just for fun.  I almost always drop of my used boards at the park, and they almost always get snagged up by the same ungrateful 30-somethings that can afford to buy their own boards, so I don’t feel bad in the slightest for focusing this one. 

[Verdugo]

Haven’t done it in over 10 years. I have attempted though once or twice but I only weigh like 140 pounds so it never works out the first attempt and, after that attempt I’m usually laughing and relieved that I wasn’t successful. There’s no way in hell I’m focusing a board with $60 plus price tag nowadays either. Plus I’m too old to get that stressed from skating.