Learning new tricks and getting old
I've been in a slump off late. Maybe the corona weather has slowed my motivation for living (skating). The more I think about it I can’t remember when was the last time I learnt a new trick. And I don’t mean some new variation of a trick I already know. I mean a new trick which is gonna take maybe a few days with hundreds of tries and maybe some injuries as well. This whole year has gone by making me really feel the plateau of flatness on the uphill climb to learning different stuff in skating. Every session I make the same runs and try the same safe tricks where I know I don’t have to eat any ground inhabiting bugs or microorganisms.
There is this new group of kids coming to my local DiY. They are just so……I don’t know the word for it but it means -me ten years back. They show up almost everyday with a giant can of water (they prefer this to filling bottles from our giant can cause they don’t want to finish it all and feel bad), a packed lunch so they don’t have to leave to find food and the only attitude which matters in progression. That you go out there and give it your all, if you want something in life you need to show it, you need to put your life on the line if you have to. These kids might be around 17-18 which means they have no fear of injuries cause that shit heals in a trice. They are new to skating but their progress is quick because of “The Attitude”. Watching them really makes me wanna go out and try something new. So I joined their sesh and started cruising around to get warmed up. And then something amazing happened. I realised I have been focussed on this plateau I am on that I never stopped to think that these thoughts completely leave when I skate. All I really want to do is just have fun and is that a bad thing? I mean after you cross a certain age you can just choose fun over the next few days being unable to walk (definitely not fun). These kids are the future for sure but that doesn’t mean I am the past, skateboarding is and always has been about fun (at least for me). That’s what the older guys need to leave for the next generation of skaters, fun because there are less and less funny things in life as you grow older and you need to grab that sweet goodness wherever you can.
There is this new group of kids coming to my local DiY. They are just so……I don’t know the word for it but it means -me ten years back. They show up almost everyday with a giant can of water (they prefer this to filling bottles from our giant can cause they don’t want to finish it all and feel bad), a packed lunch so they don’t have to leave to find food and the only attitude which matters in progression. That you go out there and give it your all, if you want something in life you need to show it, you need to put your life on the line if you have to. These kids might be around 17-18 which means they have no fear of injuries cause that shit heals in a trice. They are new to skating but their progress is quick because of “The Attitude”. Watching them really makes me wanna go out and try something new. So I joined their sesh and started cruising around to get warmed up. And then something amazing happened. I realised I have been focussed on this plateau I am on that I never stopped to think that these thoughts completely leave when I skate. All I really want to do is just have fun and is that a bad thing? I mean after you cross a certain age you can just choose fun over the next few days being unable to walk (definitely not fun). These kids are the future for sure but that doesn’t mean I am the past, skateboarding is and always has been about fun (at least for me). That’s what the older guys need to leave for the next generation of skaters, fun because there are less and less funny things in life as you grow older and you need to grab that sweet goodness wherever you can.
