PATHWAYS INTERVIEW
boarding because the first thing that comes to a lot of people’s minds would be tricks, and these dangerous maneuvers, and other miscon- ceptions like that. And it’s not all about the tricks. I teach anyone who wants to learn. I get the question “Oh, am I too old?” or, “Are they too young?”, because I’ve had parents with toddlers wanting to sign up as young as three years old. And I just tell them if they have a desire to learn, they could just mimic my movements. And I even teach people older than me that don’t want to do tricks. They just want to go from A to B, and they want to feel the wind in their face, their hair blowing, and feel the control it brings. Because once you get to the point where you can go down a mellow hill and not die, that does bring you a lot of self-fulfill - ment. Skateboarding can also bring you a sense of power. Once you learn how to use the board, how to turn, etc., it’s very empowering and a natural high — an individual natural high. Noone is passing you the ball, no one is relying on you to win, except yourself. You think, “Wow, I alone managed to control this thing.” There’s a power that comes — a self-powered gratification instead of trying to impress someone on Instagram. And it’s almost like meditation, where you finish and it’s like, “Wow, I feel better. I was stressed out earlier, and now I don’t even know what I was stressed out about because I got into this Zen, ‘don’t die’ place, where all that matters is focusing on what I need to do, looking ahead, and I did it.” And then you want to do it again, and again, and start looking forward to it. Learning to skateboard is ongo- ing and can be really fulfilling. The pursuit of personal fulfillment is always a great reason to learn something new, and you are passionate about skateboarding being that reason. How would you describe your teaching philoso - phy? A lot of people are turned away from skating because they think it’s so dangerous, and it’s rebellious or extreme. For me, it’s all about what you want to do with it. So I always check in with my students first and ask, “What is your goal? What is your vision of where you want to be at the end of these lessons? Or after a year? Do you want to be at the skatepark, cruising on the ramps? Do you want to fly off ramps or drop into a vert ramp? Do you want to go down a big hill? Do you want to be healthy? What exactly do you want to do?” I have the experience to teach pretty much all disciplines of skating. Once I have an under- standing of their vision, their goals, then I can guide them, support them on their path, and help them succeed. Next, my philosophy for what I teach is safety. The big catchy slogan is skateboarding is all about fun. And I do agree with that to a certain degree. But if you don’t know what you’re doing, meaning you’re not prepared, it can become very not fun super quick. It’s very common to hear, “I used to skate,” and it comes from a lack of preparation. Your first day of skating does not happen at the skatepark. That’s not where you learn. You don’t learn with ramps. You learn on flat ground. You learn maybe not even on pavement. You put the board on a rug or on the grass, somewhere where the wheels don’t roll. Before fun is safety, so that you’re able to have fun. And I go back to the question of wanting to be healthy. It seems counterintuitive if someone thinks skateboarding is dangerous, “What do you mean healthy when you’re telling me to do something danger - ous?” But once you know all the foundational things of how to stay safe, and be resilient, and have this forward-looking vision and pre- paring, then it can give you so much health, physically, mentally, and then ultimately tapping into the spiritual side, and the natural high, even if you don’t initially grasp what’s going on.
It sounds like there are many mind-body-spirit parallels between skateboarding and mindfulness practices. Many people only feel really alive by being close to death. Skate - boarding isn’t necessarily putting you close to death, but you have to be present, focused, and it wakes you up in a way, much like Yoga. And this is something that’s super humbling, especially for example, when skating in the elements. I know how to skate, but once you have wet pavement, and leaves, and little twigs, and loose gravel, then all of a continued on page 60
Shreddie at Lansdowne, “The Downer,” located in Baltimore, MD, and one of the oldest skateparks, built in 1978. Photo by Geoff Graham, courtesy of Skate School (NM).
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PATHWAYS—Summer 23—59
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