I wanted to post about this in the Resetera official skateboarding thread... but much to my surprise, there doesn't seem to be one! For all I know, it's a dead hobby with the explosion of online gaming.
I used to skateboard around 1998-1999. More specifically, I was a 'skater.' What that means is that I tried to make skateboarding part of my identity, like many youths did in the 90's and I presume still do after all these years. I forged a lot of good friendships with some interesting characters, most of whom admittedly became criminals and drug addicts by the time they graduated high school. It was kind of a bad element to hang around with for someone like me who had been a bit of a choir boy, honestly, but man we had some great laughs.
The reason I quit skateboarding was because I was entering high school and I just didn't want to be apart of that 'culture' anymore. I kinda wanted to be a new me. I came to detest the 'culture.' In particular, how so much of the culture was obsessed with the idea of being a 'poser/poseur' and how to avoid that designation. In reality, the only thing worse than being a poser was being so wrapped up in fears of being a labeled one that it consumed everything you did with the hobby. Not to mention how it's so insidiously consumerist, as being good but with a Walmart board would get you made fun of just as fast as having good gear but no skills, oddly enough.
This is why kids get their boards and immediately start trying to do stationary 'tricks' rather than riding around, getting balance, control, and comfort with the board. It's why kids obsess over trying to do a 'kickflip' within the first month and meanwhile they wobble while trying to skate in a straight line.. We wanted that validation, basically to earn the right to adopt the fashion without shame or mockery. Kickflips are damn hard and they tire you out... you shouldn't try one until you are extremely comfortable and loose, if for safety if nothing else!
None of that stuff should matter... if you like riding in a straight line down the street then that's what you should do. Tricks should just be for extra fun, not because of peer pressure to get you to do something with which you aren't comfortable, which is dangerous. Timidness is the best way to get hurt or discouraged. Much akin to how they say a dull blade is more dangerous than a sharp one... a lot of the time it is safer to go faster than slower, particularly with grinds/slides.
Anyway, it seems obvious now I'm in my early 30's but when you are 13, life isn't that simple. You are too young to be treated like an adult and too old to be treated like a kid and it wears on ya... makes you frustrated and prompts you to rebel against what must feel like an unjust world to suburban American kids who lack experience to understand how much worse things could be.
That brings us to last week when my old car finally got towed away to the shop. I cleared out my car of valuables and among them was my old skateboard! The bearings were in poor shape, but everything seemed pretty solid.
Just for the hell of it, I said "I wonder if I can still olly?" And amazingly, 20 years later the muscle memory was still there, although it wasn't the most graceful landing. lol
I just went back and forth getting my balance and before long I was riding this incredible wave of nostalgia. I was out of breath and working up a sweat.... and when I almost ate it trying to see if I could still do a heelflip (spoiler, nah) I started laughing with child-like joy. You know, that nervous psycho laughter you do when you have to bail. I missed this! If you strip away the culture and the peer pressure and just ride for YOU, it's an incredibly fun and healthy activity.
I've skated about 5 days in a row now... if I can regain a crisp olly and a clean 50/50 then, shit, I'm set. Don't know how much longer I will keep with it, but if I still keep going I might even try to replicate my first real quality board, although I don't even know if the companies I used still exist anymore. Shout outs to World Industries decks, Independent trucks, Lucky bearings, and spitfire wheels if they still exist. :)
So, anybody else used to be a skater? Have you tried it since or have you always kept up the hobby? If so, what has changed in the culture since I left it for good in late 1999?
For other people, have you have returned to an old hobby years later? What was that like?
TL;DR: I found my old skateboard and started using it again. I was wondering if anybody else had come back to an old hobby after years away, why they quit, and what their feelings on the experience are?
I used to skateboard around 1998-1999. More specifically, I was a 'skater.' What that means is that I tried to make skateboarding part of my identity, like many youths did in the 90's and I presume still do after all these years. I forged a lot of good friendships with some interesting characters, most of whom admittedly became criminals and drug addicts by the time they graduated high school. It was kind of a bad element to hang around with for someone like me who had been a bit of a choir boy, honestly, but man we had some great laughs.
The reason I quit skateboarding was because I was entering high school and I just didn't want to be apart of that 'culture' anymore. I kinda wanted to be a new me. I came to detest the 'culture.' In particular, how so much of the culture was obsessed with the idea of being a 'poser/poseur' and how to avoid that designation. In reality, the only thing worse than being a poser was being so wrapped up in fears of being a labeled one that it consumed everything you did with the hobby. Not to mention how it's so insidiously consumerist, as being good but with a Walmart board would get you made fun of just as fast as having good gear but no skills, oddly enough.
This is why kids get their boards and immediately start trying to do stationary 'tricks' rather than riding around, getting balance, control, and comfort with the board. It's why kids obsess over trying to do a 'kickflip' within the first month and meanwhile they wobble while trying to skate in a straight line.. We wanted that validation, basically to earn the right to adopt the fashion without shame or mockery. Kickflips are damn hard and they tire you out... you shouldn't try one until you are extremely comfortable and loose, if for safety if nothing else!
None of that stuff should matter... if you like riding in a straight line down the street then that's what you should do. Tricks should just be for extra fun, not because of peer pressure to get you to do something with which you aren't comfortable, which is dangerous. Timidness is the best way to get hurt or discouraged. Much akin to how they say a dull blade is more dangerous than a sharp one... a lot of the time it is safer to go faster than slower, particularly with grinds/slides.
Anyway, it seems obvious now I'm in my early 30's but when you are 13, life isn't that simple. You are too young to be treated like an adult and too old to be treated like a kid and it wears on ya... makes you frustrated and prompts you to rebel against what must feel like an unjust world to suburban American kids who lack experience to understand how much worse things could be.
That brings us to last week when my old car finally got towed away to the shop. I cleared out my car of valuables and among them was my old skateboard! The bearings were in poor shape, but everything seemed pretty solid.
Just for the hell of it, I said "I wonder if I can still olly?" And amazingly, 20 years later the muscle memory was still there, although it wasn't the most graceful landing. lol
I just went back and forth getting my balance and before long I was riding this incredible wave of nostalgia. I was out of breath and working up a sweat.... and when I almost ate it trying to see if I could still do a heelflip (spoiler, nah) I started laughing with child-like joy. You know, that nervous psycho laughter you do when you have to bail. I missed this! If you strip away the culture and the peer pressure and just ride for YOU, it's an incredibly fun and healthy activity.
I've skated about 5 days in a row now... if I can regain a crisp olly and a clean 50/50 then, shit, I'm set. Don't know how much longer I will keep with it, but if I still keep going I might even try to replicate my first real quality board, although I don't even know if the companies I used still exist anymore. Shout outs to World Industries decks, Independent trucks, Lucky bearings, and spitfire wheels if they still exist. :)
So, anybody else used to be a skater? Have you tried it since or have you always kept up the hobby? If so, what has changed in the culture since I left it for good in late 1999?
For other people, have you have returned to an old hobby years later? What was that like?
TL;DR: I found my old skateboard and started using it again. I was wondering if anybody else had come back to an old hobby after years away, why they quit, and what their feelings on the experience are?
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