Have you ever walked down the street and in the blink of an eye, a person riding a skateboard whooshes past you? Thinking to yourself, “Wow, that looks so fun”, wishing you had a skateboard of your own. What’s stopping you from getting one? Seems dangerous and expensive? You might fall and scrape your knee to the bone just trying to do a simple ollie? Might get teased about not knowing how to balance yourself and considered to be a beginner?
Everyone starts from somewhere, whether it’s riding a bike, or driving a car, or even drawing. Skateboarding is a little dangerous if you’re a beginner but there’s protective gear in case you fall to reduce the pain. If you fall once, you are going to eventually do it again. You just have to pick yourself up everytime in order to learn from your mistakes.
Now, let’s talk about the pricing for a new skateboard. If you want a custom skateboard where you can customize it at the store, it’s going to cost you around 300-400 dollars(depending where you get it from). I customized my first skateboard at Zumiez with custom wheels,board,decal, and grip tape. It will only take about an hour and a half for it to be assembled so you can either stay and watch or come back to pick it up. The staff at the store will give you some stickers to customize the bottom of the board.
When you first start riding you have to find out which foot you want to start with. There’s different ways to ride a skateboard based on which hand you are more skilled with. Some people are ambidextrous and can steer with both feet but just use whichever you are more comfortable with. Be sure not to jump on the board with both feet at the same time and start one foot at a time. Also, make sure your hands are at your sides and not flapping like a bird because you can lose balance and concentration easily.
Always have fun when riding. It will be frustrating at times but can be really fun when you practice hard enough. It takes about 10,000 hours to fully master something but if you pace yourself and devote your time to practicing, you can see good things from the outcome. Whether you learned your first trick or your 54th trick, the amusement of learning something can make your brain sharper and easier to learn something new.
Ian Blair – Lindblom Math & Science Academy – DMSF