Teaching kids to skate

[George Lucius]

Have any of you taught your children to skate with any success (competition wins, sponsorships etc.)? Any advice would go a long way. I longboard but want my son to be a street or vert skater and the sooner I start them the better I thought? Going to get them a coach soon but will also help with training myself so I’m all ears. Thanks so much.

[Frank and Fred]

The  only way to do it is to send him off to skateboard academy at age 5. Don't worry you'll see him for two weeks in the summer.

If your child doesn't have an energy drink sponsor by age 12, it is all over and time to pursue soccer full time instead.

And for the love of God, please don't let them actually drink that piss.

[scab]

@IpathCats do you already have your burner troll account set up?

[Plan9Customs]

[George Lucius]

@IpathCats do you already have your burner troll account set up?

No this is not me but I said goodbye to him. He made good posts.

[George Lucius]

The  only way to do it is to send him off to skateboard academy at age 5. Don't worry you'll see him for two weeks in the summer.

If your child doesn't have an energy drink sponsor by age 12, it is all over and time to pursue soccer full time instead.

And for the love of God, please don't let them actually drink that piss.

Which skate acadamies are the best? I have a solid budget for training but not infinite.

Do energy drink sponsors find you or do you need to send them footage and photos etc.? Wondering how I make sure they take notice (when he is ready of course)

I will keep him on water (and mother’s milk) but that is good advice ha.

[Frank and Fred]

You're ok George. You're on the right track.

[j....soy.....]

Not having parents around was one of the best parts of skating….

[George Lucius]

Not having parents around was one of the best parts of skating….

Were you coached? And did you compete?

[cucktard]

Why the emphasis on competition?
That is such an incredibly tiny aspect of skating.

[George Lucius]

It has always been a dream of mine to have a world class athlete in the family. I was not able to achieve this goal myself, but my wife comes from a long line of Olympic qualifiers. So it seems fated.

How would a young person go about achieving their goals in the sport without competing?

[cucktard]

Depends on the goal.
Some skaters manage to get famous through video parts. Some through Instagram. And a very small percentage through contests.

Most contest skaters nowadays need to start very young, have facilities nearby, and go to skate camps.

But there is a lot of competition in that route. Plus, you basically run the risk of destroying what makes skating so fun and appealing in the first place.
You reduce it to points, and a focus on that kills any kind of spontaneity and creativity  that makes the majority of skateboarding interesting.

The vast majority of legendary skaters are not ‘contest skaters’. Skateboarding, unlike other sports, has evolved to allow all types of expression, despite the efforts of capitalism to make it a bland and uniform point system.

As such, you probably won’t find a lot of positive advice on these boards.

If the kid truly loves skateboarding, he/she will pursue it. Help them by giving them as many chances to skate as possible.
And if they love something else, help them with that.

It’s not about you.

[Plan9Customs]

I’m guessing you’re just trolling, but if not:
https://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=109300.0
And take @cucktard’s words to heart. ITS NOT ABOUT YOU.

[George Lucius]

Depends on the goal.
Some skaters manage to get famous through video parts. Some through Instagram. And a very small percentage through contests.

Most contest skaters nowadays need to start very young, have facilities nearby, and go to skate camps.

But there is a lot of competition in that route. Plus, you basically run the risk of destroying what makes skating so fun and appealing in the first place.
You reduce it to points, and a focus on that kills any kind of spontaneity and creativity  that makes the majority of skateboarding interesting.

The vast majority of legendary skaters are not ‘contest skaters’. Skateboarding, unlike other sports, has evolved to allow all types of expression, despite the efforts of capitalism to make it a bland and uniform point system.

As such, you probably won’t find a lot of positive advice on these boards.

If the kid truly loves skateboarding, he/she will pursue it. Help them by giving them as many chances to skate as possible.
And if they love something else, help them with that.

It’s not about you.

I wanted to say thank you for this response. It is a tough pill to swallow that I shouldn’t project my own goals on others. I can see how that could be wrong. My son is still quite young (12 months), so I will see where his passions lie when he is a little further along in his physical development. Until then I will try to learn more about skating so I can help him progress (if that is something he wants).

[goodatmeth]

Please be a troll. This is disgusting behavior.
Once I got my first skateboard, my parents greatly helped me learn skating by giving me freedom and letting me go do my thing and have fun with my friends.
If you try to force it, your kid might get sick of it (and you...) pretty quickly.

[j....soy.....]

12 months?  Here's a better plan..why don't you get off your longboard and start skating so then maybe you can do it together? 

[JANUS]

Expand Quote

Not having parents around was one of the best parts of skating….

[close]

Were you coached? And did you compete?

Nah, but I learned to mix a passable brass monkey and smoke weed from a truck.

[switchfakie]

i dont teach kids how to skate anymore because the kids who really want to learn will do it themselves

the only time i teach kids is if they ask me trick tips for something, the only caveat is that i wont spend more than 10 minutes trying to teach them, especially if its teaching them how to drop in. i cant conquer your fear and cant force you to understand that shoulders and footstance are everything

[layzieyez]

If anything, I teach by doing.

I ask kids if I can try tricks with them (I think being a gray haired skater looks less like I’m trying to one up as it genuinely is me struggling alongside them).

It’s so rad when you can hype a kid up to land something and back them up even if my version is low/barely popped. I always thank the youts for pushing me past my limits and making our session fun. I still have fun skating alone but seriously enjoy being part of a silly/productive time with dudes decades younger whenever possible.

[thetrashisright]

But there is a lot of competition in that route. Plus, you basically run the risk of destroying what makes skating so fun and appealing in the first place.

You reduce it to points, and a focus on that kills any kind of spontaneity and creativity  that makes the majority of skateboarding interesting.

Yeah, and "points" at this point also feels a lot like social media likes and comments and subscribes. It's just a new form of competition score. I'm realizing I'm turning into an old crank, the "back in my day, we didn't have online video or many skate parks and we LIKED IT," type. But yeah, the weird monetization/attention-economy/ability to go to the OLYMPICS is a weird shift that... I can't imagine is good for someone who just wants to have fun and ruin some private property.