Tag: Blog
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At the Skatepark: The Average Skater
If you’re at the skatepark early in the morning, you see a few types of skateboarders. One group of skaters is made up of those either young or new to it—it seems like most are brought by their parents or have the day off from work. Among them are a handful who try to find…
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Is Skateboarding a Sport?
Skateboarding is like dance. There are competitive dancers, performative dancers, and people who just like to dance. At the beginning and end of it, the ultimate goal of dancing is just dance. Right? We can’t define dance as a sport or a competitive activity or as something we only do in the living room on…
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Competitive Skateboarding
Although the world has brought skateboarding as a competition sport to the foreground, for me, skateboarding is about personal harmony and connectivity. No matter your preference and style, skateboarding isn’t about smashing, out-racing, or submitting an opponent. Although there may be an enemy within, skateboarding, like surfing, is about connection and flow. There is, firstly, the…
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In Defense of the Mall Grab
A brief reflection on the mall grab and the inherent ‘who cares’ associated with skateboarding.
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Off Days
While my bicep continues to bother me, I thought I’d share this entry from July I’ve been holding onto. Till next time. –D Today, 11 July 2023, was an off day for me. My body felt good—where I’d been sore, I stretched both sides, and I warmed up from bottom to top. My breath was…
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Books about Skateboarding 1
Check this out for books about skateboard history, culture, and evolution.
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The feedback loop, the lack of the feedback loop.
That there’s no feedback loop, and when there is, it is probably unsolicited or hard to understand. When learning how to skateboard, there is rarely a coach around to tell you what you’re doing wrong, to give you exercises for building the elements of tricks, or anything that could develop talent into skill. Back in…
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What am I Doing Here?
I’ve been reading about skateboarders as written by skateboarders, and I sometimes feel conflicted. Am I a skateboarder? Am I enough of a skateboarder to call myself a skateboarder? Do I call myself a skateboarder or say that I skateboard? For me, the most important sense is the one in which none of that matters…
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Don’t Care
As I reflect on skateboarding this past year, adulthood seems to make my approach to skateboarding take on… it’s different. The fun is more well deserved. The freedom realized and relished. But there’s something else. At 17, my only goal was to be the best…right now. Trying to figure out your place in the world…
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Did You Actually Land It?
What counts and what doesn’t? Some obvious boxes to check for a make include accomplishing the intended trick (no slop accidents) and landing with two feet on the board. But then there come to be questions like, did they really roll away? Does one have to roll out at least n number of feet/meters before it counts…
Average Skater 