As I get older, one of my more juvenile activities that I just can’t quite leave behind is skateboarding. My nan bought me a Bart Simpson board when I was really young and from then I was hooked; embracing my fear of heights at the top of a half pipe, falling over a lot, playing Tony Hawk games, and watching skate videos whenever possible. In my teenage years, skateboarding was both a great community to make new friends, but also to find freedom and escape the horror of my GCSE’s and A Levels.
However, one of the greatest things that skateboarding taught me is around personal growth and perseverance. I’d always played football in a team, and loved the comradery; winning, drawing and losing as a team. Skateboarding helped me develop self-motivation… in this case, the ability to get up from the ground and try a heelflip again and again over weeks until you finally land one.
I was inspired to write this after watching this video of skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. Aged 51, and 37 years into his professional skating career, Tony learns and eventually lands a new trick on camera. His face at 4:36 shows really shows how much this still means to him, and how the journey of learning and practicing never really stops being rewarding.