New summer Interest
New summer Interest
It was almost the end of the school year, and that meant summer break was right around the corner. At the time, I thought it would be the usual summer break: Play video games, hang out with friends. That was up until I was at home scrolling through YouTube when I saw a skateboard highlight video. I decided to watch it because it had been a long time since I had seen skateboarding let alone stood on a skateboard. The second I clicked on the video, I was immediately amazed by these crazy stunts being performed that had probably taken days to land successfully. What grabbed my attention was not only the skills but the free nature of it, and having the outdoors as your big playground where you could be creative only with a piece of wood with wheels. Then, I was more excited than ever for summer, with this very new interest in skateboarding.
The second that summer came around, I asked my mom for a board, which kind of went like this: “Hey mom, so you know how you want me to get more active?” Thanks to her, I got my first board from Arbor Skateboards, size 7.75 inches horizontally. At the time, “Thanks mom!” Was not enough to describe how grateful I was. The second I hopped on the board, my interest completely sparked. Even though I was no good, I was willing to learn and get better. I asked my dad where he thought the best place to take my board was and he told me that I should ride my board on Bryant Street behind the car barrier, so I would not need to worry about vehicles trying to put an end to my short lived skating journey.
Learning the basics was not too hard. I already knew how to push and balance on the board while moving from previous experience when I was only 8 years old. There was one problem though. I was finding it hard to get power from my push, causing me to gain less speed. I watched a few YouTube tutorials and found my problem. When pushing, you want to be balanced, allowing you to do bigger pushes with your pushing foot. What I mean by this is, if you are off balance, it is hard to get a full push if you have to retreat back to your board after a tiny little kick. If you are comfortable standing on only 1 foot on the board, the one not pushing. You will be able to raise your knee up near your chest. This grants you a bigger swing with your leg, which extends out behind you after the push, getting you the best possible force against the ground for optimal speed. Soon enough I was very comfortable with pushing, thanks to the blocked off open road I had.
Eventually, I got a little bored of the same thing, push, balance, push, repeat. I decided it was time to learn my first trick, which would give me so many new things to do on my skateboard. So, the next morning after my decision, I took my board out to the backyard to start my not-so intense skateboard ollie session!
When I first started, I had NO IDEA what I was doing. So I hopped on YouTube, the answer to all your questions. First, when ollieing, the key is in the way you pop your tail. On a skateboard, the tail is the back of the board, which normally has a lower curve, and the nose is the higher curve in the front. To pop the tail means to snap the tail on the ground with your back food really fast. The best way to do this is while jumping. The second your feet lift off the board is when you want to pop your tail with your back foot. This way the front of the board will rise off the ground under your feet, bringing the back wheels off of the ground as well. This is way harder than it seems though, because it takes a lot of precision and timing. Guess what! That's only step 1.
The second step is to roll your front ankle on its side, and slide the side of your front foot up the grip of the board while the board is slanted upwards, and while you are off the ground. This levels out the board as your front foot catches the nose of the board, and then you land. See, as a beginner at the time, my only goal was to get off of the ground even slightly. So I got to it.
After many attempts at the park and in my house, it happened. It was around mid -ay when I was attempting ollies in my backyard. With each snap of my board on the ground I could tell I was getting closer. Then I thought to myself, “I should be recording right now just in case.” And what do you know, my back wheels lifted off the ground for the first time. I did not know I did it until I checked the footage, and there it was, my board in the air. My first ollie. I bolted inside where I found my dad. “Look look look! I did an ollie look!” I wheezed as I showed my dad the footage. I was so in shock because I had been practicing for that moment for what felt like a long time. “Are you proud of me dad?” My dad answered with
“If you are happy then yes.” And I was. I was also more motivated than ever to continue skateboarding.
Yes, its climactic that I landed my first ollie, but as I look back on the experience, I realized that the work I put in, the fun I had doing it, and the way I dug deep and found out how to fix my mistakes was really the thrill of it all, and where I really grew.
