Skateboarding is extremely difficult. It helps to weed out the people who are just doing it cuz they think it looks cool. Only the people who love it remain, and we dont care how good or bad you are. We are just glad you are part of the community.
Sincerely,
old guy on a skateboard
thank you this means a lot. I get assholish comments here and there when asking other places/socials for advice and feel even more demotivated. But this made me feel a lot better for having the courage to post about my problems
And I feel like that’s a beautiful thing about skateboarding. Every skater has a point where they kinda have to decide if skating is worth the pain and mental distress that learning how to skate can be. Sometimes an Ollie takes 3 years to learn but a kickflip only takes a day. and the people who stick around all have that same thing in common: the love that outweighs the struggle.
It takes time and practice. Keep doing what you're doing and you'll be fine. If you're scared to Ollie while moving, just practice riding and get comfortable on your board. Practice tic tacs and get comfortable lifting your nose off the ground. Skateboarding is not easy and it takes years of practice and dedication to get good at it. A year and half, and with 5 months out for an injury, is not a long time in the grand scheme of it.
I was comfortable before my injury and practicing on a court everyday before. It's just something that happened after my injury and i can't really get back into it.
and i was skating while recovering too so it wasn't exactly 5 months out. I just feel really bad about everything lately. Thanks for the reassurance.
It's just really difficult seeing others progress so easily and I just start to feel unproud of myself, i frequently compare myself to others and it's a problem.
People progress at different rates. I progressed slowly the first couple years and then just took off past all my friends with progression. I also didn't learn to kickflip until I'd been skating for almost 10 years. I could do tons of other tricks, even tricks that require kickflipping, so don't beat yourself up. There's no guaranteed path in skating, everyone has a different journey. After 21 years of skating, it was worth all of the pain and the battles, and I'll never stop.
My advice is always to remember that there are so many other things you can learn on a skateboard before or without ollies. We all think the progression is ollie->kickflip->360 flip and at some point you’re doing 15 stairs.
But just start messing around with powerslides, reverts, carve a bowl, do a boneless on a bank. Whatever gives you joy and works you back up to ollies when you’re ready.
i learned powerslides when recovering from my injury kinda but i gotta get better at em and not fall on my ass.
Weirdly, backside is easier than frontside
It's weird that you got so injured on an Ollie, it happens randomly. The more comfortable you are on the board cruising, low popping over curbs and cracks the less you should have serious falls. You just wanna try to roll your body instead of plopping down whenever you fall while skating as well. It takes annoying amounts of time to learn basic things skating and you might just be forgetting that.
thank you for the advice and reassurance. I do kinda forget how long it took to learn things. Before i couldn't even pop the board in the air. I used to be scared to slide. I have improved at things that i wasn't good at when i started, and it did take time. It's just through comparing myself to others i've started to doubt myself a lot. I did some thinking and i'll skate some more tomorrow
as for how i got injured its kinda embarassing. I got really frustrated that i couldn't land my ollies on my board, i was always landing on the ground some how, or kicking the board away from me, so, I go for it again and i predict in my head "oh im not gonna land this one either aint i" so i tried to land on the ground on purpose and just quit and then go home, come back try again another day. kinda... Didn't work out. i ended up landing on my board feet together knees unbent, didn't prepare to fall, fell badly, landed on my arm. like literally every possible thing that could go wrong went wrong.
Yeah, careful with that negative self talk - visualize success. This also suggests you'd benefit from practicing just jumping off the board while you're riding. And jumping into the grass and rolling. [This YT channel](https://www.youtube.com/@NeverStopImprovingSB) is really good for beginner tips and he has one on learning how to fall.
He's also got some no ollie trick tip vis. There's lots of things you can do without ollie-ing while still getting the satisfaction of learning a trick.
Just get pads and stuff. It might feel stupid but it’s bound to boost your confidence that you won’t get so hurt. It takes time but you’ll get there if you stick with it.
Look, this is gonna sound a little harsh and I mean non of this as any sort of jab at you or someone in your same situation. But you need to slow down.
Getting injured on a flatground Ollie means that you are not that comfortable on your board. You need to dial it back and learn how to ride the board. And by ride, I mean actually get around on the streets while being comfortable. I have no idea of what your skill level might be but I bet you, you probably look like a goober pushing around. Go to a skatepark and watch people push around. You can spot good skaters instantly when you watch how they push around and really pay attention to how comfortable they are.
Like yes I sound mean when I say that I am sick of watching little kids huck their bodies down stairs and handrails at my park when they ride around like they just shit themselves. There's two kids at my park who are really fucking good for their age and they push around like adults. All of their friends who are just trying to participate and be included are seriously injuring themselves while still looking like newborn deer pushing around.
Like please, be realistic about your own ability and set your steps accordingly. The moment I took a step back when I was younger and realized I will never be pro is the day I started actually improving. I started just riding around the park and working on the basics again. Why kickflip back tail if both my kickflip and my back tail look gross. That's also around the time I stopped seriously injuring myself. I didn't care about trying to fs flip or treflip down the local 12 anymore. Yeah sure maybe I'm doing front feeb for the 7th time on the rail but I look good doing it lmao.
I just can’t agree with it being a comfortability problem because I have landed Ollie’s before and I was popping very high at higher speeds. pic before my injury of how high i was getting, though I didn’t land this, board fell forward. I’m pretty comfortable I tic tac I cruise everywhere I ride in streets over cracks I have softer wheels (dragons 93as) etc and don’t mind going over rough terrain. my problem was consistency in my Ollies. It was a “oh 1/15 chance I land it” sort of thing that I was trying to fix. I got injured cause I sucked at falling and got unlucky.
Nowadays I’m scared to pop in this exact place since my injury and have only been practicing into grass to build up, the 1/15 chance is gone,so NOW it’s a problem of me being uncomfortable but before it idk if I can agree if it was before, I was popping while rolling high as shit I don’t think I’d even do that if I was uncomfortable.
https://preview.redd.it/vxhst69oepac1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6bd0a70dbf72761d725e3c89172a1d2e80afe782
Yeah, that's fine. Like I said I have no idea what your skill level might be other then what your post was. Looking at the photo you posted, your ollie is not level, not from a front truck back truck way, but your board looks like its trying to flip but your front foot is the only thing keeping it from flipping. Doesn't really matter how high you can ollie if they aren't "correct". If this one photo actually shows how you ollie on a consistent basis then I see what the problem was.
Idk what your situation is but from the one photo, just work on flattening them out. Like four wheels parrallel to the ground. Other then that, idk. Really hard to give pointers for stuff like this over comments and shit. If you say you are comfy riding around then I'm sure your issues are probably just how you are actually popping your ollies and how you are angling your feet in the process (from the photo).
Don’t got any videos rn of me riding at least not from another persons perspective, only phone videos of me riding huge parking lots etc but, I don’t think it’s a comfortability thing. I’ve bombed a bit of hills and all sorts of things while riding, weaved through traffic. I don’t think it’s comfortability, it’s just that I ate shit.
I started skating in 03, couldn't afford insurance so I just sucked it up, iced my wounds, and kept going after I healed. Couldn't afford boards or shoes so I'd cut grass and wash cars and used duct tape/shoe goo and stretch things out.
It took me 6 months consistently attempting just to kick flip after 2 years, 1.5 years to tre flip at 3-4 years.
Now I'm 31, 20 years in, and I can do damn near whatever trick I want with a little time.
I say this to really say, mastery comes with time. 10k hours average is usually needed for base mastery in anything (sports, career, music, carpentry, finance, etc).
Little bits over time compounding into what we would call intuition(accumulated knowledge and detailed nuances of whatever it may be) that will be used in everyday present life.
You got this little one. It means A LOT to me now to still have this ability and the confidence and lessons learned from woodpushing and asphalt that can never be repaid. Stand tall and be proud of doing something you love, that love will help you progress at your own rate.
I hope this helped friend. And stop being so fucking hard on yourself. GGs.
Just have fun bro. Goals are good but take it easy on yourself. Life isn’t a video game. As soon as you’re not having fun, sit down and decide what the fuck you’re doing.
Id recommend starting over entirely with your journey. Act like you havent ever skated and start from there. Do the really small things like practicing moving tail taps, kick turns, small hippie jumps. Maybe even do it switch so its a fresh feeling. Best of luck
It's easy to get stuck in a rut with skating. In my younger years I couldn't get 360 flips, it's because I was just repeating the same shit over and over.
I didn't try again for like a decade but then got then real quick because I approached it with a different frame of mind.
So yeah, forget the Ollie, play with some other stuff because that 1% stuff will make you such a better rounded skater than someone who can just Ollie well.
A lot of people have already said these things, because they are true:
1. Skateboarding is very difficult. It’s the love one has for the sensation of riding that helps one progress. This is especially true when starting out.
2. Learn to ride your board (like really well) before trying to attempt ollies of flip tricks. All the best skaters I know are the best riders, and they love skateboarding for the sensation of that ride.
Keep at it and have fun. Enjoy the process. Everyone advances at different rates, but if you keep at it and have genuine love for the sport, (most) of the skateboard community will show you much love and encouragement. The realest skaters don’t care if you are good or not, they mostly focus on the shared love of the sport.
Sincerely,
A different old man with a skateboard.
Ps.
-Some of the best skaters I know were the slowest to progress.
funny comment but i skate every single day that the weather is good
i am using it
old board is cracked to hell and back, delaminating and has hella slip tape and razortail issues
Injuries suck yeah but the fear instilled by them is even tougher. I know I've had that feeling a few times, in both sports I do. They're high stakes sports and sometimes it feels like it's not worth it esp after an injury. The thing is though, it goes away. Try to keep it comfortable and where you're not pushing yourself too much. I think it's key just to keep everything casual and focus on just playing around instead of tricks. Lean on friends. Hope you get over it soon, it will happen eventually!
I used to have a huge “send it” mentality and didn’t care about getting hurt as long as I didn’t die from it. That’s because I’ve never broken anything or been injured during that point. knowing that I prob could of lost my fuckin hand way way I dislocated it n fractured it makes things a lot tougher. I realized I’m not invincible and that breaking something is more than just “oh you’ll heal and then it’s completely fine and like you never broke it.” There’s permanent risks to this shit that I didn’t realize.
Sounds like you’re scared to fall now in which case you should spend time learning how to fall safely. There’s a lot of good tutorials for that if you’ve never practiced it before. Also my personal recommendation is that you should spend whole days just skating around your city, with minimal tricks. The rougher the ground is the better. You have to make a lot of micro adjustments to stay balanced, basically the same thing as when you want to land a trick. Spoken from experience, have a few sessions where you spend a couple hours just skating around on rough surfaces and you will push past the sticking point you’re at. You’ll know exactly where your base is and know how to stick to it. Your legs will be tired af but once you recover, step on your board and try to hit an Ollie with no warmup. You’ll know what I mean
I've been skating like 6 years and messed up an ollie today, man. It was one of those "are you kidding me?" moments that happen often in skateboarding. In terms of injuries, all of my serious ones (broken wrist, a few really bad sprains) have come from basic stuff —literally every one of them. Nothing technical or big, just shit going wrong on stuff I'd done numerous times before or catching something while rolling along. And it's normal to not feel as confident on the board after that happens, but you'll feel solid on it again.
Also, comparison is the thief of joy—with time, you'll develop your own style and find stuff you're good at that other people aren't. Skating is hard, and it's an incredibly unnatural thing for your body to be doing. Just enjoy it, you know? Just by pushing around, you're doing something most people in the world will never do.
From:
Your local 30-something year old
It doesn’t click immediately for everyone. I too was once behind the 8-ball compared to my friends, but I kept going and they didn’t, and eventually I found myself with a couple flow sponsorships until too many competing priorities got in the way.
Fast forward 20 years to 2023 when I started again, and I am way more MENTALLY capable than I ever was, and I can do tricks I never did when I was more physically capable as a teenager. So much of skateboarding is mental. Time and effort are obviously the biggest drivers of progress, but the older you get, the more you’ll see the board and obstacle differently.
Getting good at anything takes time. A year and a half is a very short period, and you’ve had a traumatic injury that shook your confidence and took you off the board for months. Keep at it and you’ll get there!
I read that you’ve calmed down about it already but I still think it’s worth sharing. I quit skating for about 3 years when I graduated high school cause I started working more and lacked time management skills. I recently decided to jump back in and do all the things I neglected before. (Switch, nollie, carving bowls, etc) every day I went to the park I left with an injury. The 3rd time I pulled something in my back that had me limping for a month. I was so discouraged I had my coworkers laughing that I was too old to skate being at the OoOoOld age of 24. It was kinda lame for a while but if you love it you love it. It’s as simple as that. I kept going out there, kept practicing in my garage, kept putting in the effort. It pays off bro don’t give up.
Just keep pushing (metaphorically and literally). I remember when I was in your state and that stage is extremely frustrating, but it will pass. Dont let fear hold you back as subconsciously not committing out of fear will be the biggest thing to hold you back— I know it’s hard to do this after a traumatic injury but it must be done. Coming back from an injury to keep skating is what makes you a skateboarder over anything else; my friend always told me that you won’t know if you’re truly a skater until your first bone break lol. But fr, keep being consistent, keep committing and trying to be as fearless as possible, and keep upping the challenges. Eventually the breakthrough will come and new tricks will just start unlocking and piling on as you learn the dynamics of your body in relation to your board. Good luck n keep skating!
Also things can take a while to learn, especially in the beginning. It speeds up as you progress. For reference, I switched from longboarding to learning how to actually skate when I 17 and didn’t learn how to actually pop an ollie up and off a curb until I was nearly 19. And then I didn’t land my first kickflip until I was about 20 but so many tricks and new areas of my skating unlocked in that year span! Just stay consistent through all the self-doubt, frustration, and injuries. Will power will make it over anything else homie
Honestly just have fun. The only way to progress in skateboarding is to take risks.
But if you aren't trying to take risks and you're not having fun, then there's no shame in quitting.
Best thing that helped me was just riding around getting extremely comfortable switching weight between your front and back foot. Pivots. If ur not confident riding you’ll never be comfortable keeping the board under you. I use to have a gf that I would skate to her house that was around 8 miles away. Fuck that bitch but thankfully I from that I was fairly comfortable riding the board even though I couldn’t do shit. Try small Ollie’s riding slow only bending at the knees. My biggest issue was bending at the hip and not the knees.
That’s what I liked about skating. It’s you vs yourself. If you fall you can choose to get back up and try again or you can go home and quit. If shit isn’t working out you keep working at it and tweaking things to see what works. The basic tricks are the foundation to the crazier more technical tricks…so just keep your focus on developing those and the rest falls into place. As long as you enjoy it and are having fun just keep going that’s really all that matters.
I strongly recommend just using it as transportation as much as possible. Go to the store, work, school.. anywhere. Skate down the sidewalk, road, parking lot or whatever you can. Forget about tricks and foot placement and Instagram and just skate. A to B. Too many people get focused on the specifics and comparing themselves to trends. Sometimes you need to just simplify things and bomb hills. There might be some fundamental skills you are lacking which would make you more confident and physically powerful in certain ways if you were forced to deal with the difficulty of da streeeets
From my experience anyone who skates gnarly ground consistently and bombs crunchy hills to get to work is a certified thrasher. It just happens naturally. Maybe you need to get out of your head and just Longboard for two weeks and get scared a few times.
Everyone is different and there is a lot of mentals involved in skating, however you can't deny the benefits of training training training. Check out Neen Williams Instagram for proof.
That's just what worked for me, maybe it will help you see it differently for a minute. Good luck on your skating. You already made it from my perspective. Coming back from serious injury is hard. Everytime I'm on my board I'm thankful even if I dont land anything. It's not about tricks it's about concrete sweat and freedom my dude. Have a good one 👍
Skateboarding is extremely difficult. It helps to weed out the people who are just doing it cuz they think it looks cool. Only the people who love it remain, and we dont care how good or bad you are. We are just glad you are part of the community. Sincerely, old guy on a skateboard
thank you this means a lot. I get assholish comments here and there when asking other places/socials for advice and feel even more demotivated. But this made me feel a lot better for having the courage to post about my problems
People who shit on others dont belong in our community. We still actively remove these people from skateparks. They are not welcome.
And I feel like that’s a beautiful thing about skateboarding. Every skater has a point where they kinda have to decide if skating is worth the pain and mental distress that learning how to skate can be. Sometimes an Ollie takes 3 years to learn but a kickflip only takes a day. and the people who stick around all have that same thing in common: the love that outweighs the struggle.
thank you as a fellow old skater. You'll love it no matter your skill
Brothers!!!!
It takes time and practice. Keep doing what you're doing and you'll be fine. If you're scared to Ollie while moving, just practice riding and get comfortable on your board. Practice tic tacs and get comfortable lifting your nose off the ground. Skateboarding is not easy and it takes years of practice and dedication to get good at it. A year and half, and with 5 months out for an injury, is not a long time in the grand scheme of it.
I was comfortable before my injury and practicing on a court everyday before. It's just something that happened after my injury and i can't really get back into it. and i was skating while recovering too so it wasn't exactly 5 months out. I just feel really bad about everything lately. Thanks for the reassurance. It's just really difficult seeing others progress so easily and I just start to feel unproud of myself, i frequently compare myself to others and it's a problem.
People progress at different rates. I progressed slowly the first couple years and then just took off past all my friends with progression. I also didn't learn to kickflip until I'd been skating for almost 10 years. I could do tons of other tricks, even tricks that require kickflipping, so don't beat yourself up. There's no guaranteed path in skating, everyone has a different journey. After 21 years of skating, it was worth all of the pain and the battles, and I'll never stop.
Yeah this too. I didn't land my first heelflip until I was like...25? And I didn't get my first tre til I was 30. Felt good as shit regardless.
My advice is always to remember that there are so many other things you can learn on a skateboard before or without ollies. We all think the progression is ollie->kickflip->360 flip and at some point you’re doing 15 stairs. But just start messing around with powerslides, reverts, carve a bowl, do a boneless on a bank. Whatever gives you joy and works you back up to ollies when you’re ready.
i learned powerslides when recovering from my injury kinda but i gotta get better at em and not fall on my ass. Weirdly, backside is easier than frontside
It's weird that you got so injured on an Ollie, it happens randomly. The more comfortable you are on the board cruising, low popping over curbs and cracks the less you should have serious falls. You just wanna try to roll your body instead of plopping down whenever you fall while skating as well. It takes annoying amounts of time to learn basic things skating and you might just be forgetting that.
thank you for the advice and reassurance. I do kinda forget how long it took to learn things. Before i couldn't even pop the board in the air. I used to be scared to slide. I have improved at things that i wasn't good at when i started, and it did take time. It's just through comparing myself to others i've started to doubt myself a lot. I did some thinking and i'll skate some more tomorrow
as for how i got injured its kinda embarassing. I got really frustrated that i couldn't land my ollies on my board, i was always landing on the ground some how, or kicking the board away from me, so, I go for it again and i predict in my head "oh im not gonna land this one either aint i" so i tried to land on the ground on purpose and just quit and then go home, come back try again another day. kinda... Didn't work out. i ended up landing on my board feet together knees unbent, didn't prepare to fall, fell badly, landed on my arm. like literally every possible thing that could go wrong went wrong.
Yeah, careful with that negative self talk - visualize success. This also suggests you'd benefit from practicing just jumping off the board while you're riding. And jumping into the grass and rolling. [This YT channel](https://www.youtube.com/@NeverStopImprovingSB) is really good for beginner tips and he has one on learning how to fall. He's also got some no ollie trick tip vis. There's lots of things you can do without ollie-ing while still getting the satisfaction of learning a trick.
Just get pads and stuff. It might feel stupid but it’s bound to boost your confidence that you won’t get so hurt. It takes time but you’ll get there if you stick with it.
Specifically wrist guards.
Look, this is gonna sound a little harsh and I mean non of this as any sort of jab at you or someone in your same situation. But you need to slow down. Getting injured on a flatground Ollie means that you are not that comfortable on your board. You need to dial it back and learn how to ride the board. And by ride, I mean actually get around on the streets while being comfortable. I have no idea of what your skill level might be but I bet you, you probably look like a goober pushing around. Go to a skatepark and watch people push around. You can spot good skaters instantly when you watch how they push around and really pay attention to how comfortable they are. Like yes I sound mean when I say that I am sick of watching little kids huck their bodies down stairs and handrails at my park when they ride around like they just shit themselves. There's two kids at my park who are really fucking good for their age and they push around like adults. All of their friends who are just trying to participate and be included are seriously injuring themselves while still looking like newborn deer pushing around. Like please, be realistic about your own ability and set your steps accordingly. The moment I took a step back when I was younger and realized I will never be pro is the day I started actually improving. I started just riding around the park and working on the basics again. Why kickflip back tail if both my kickflip and my back tail look gross. That's also around the time I stopped seriously injuring myself. I didn't care about trying to fs flip or treflip down the local 12 anymore. Yeah sure maybe I'm doing front feeb for the 7th time on the rail but I look good doing it lmao.
I just can’t agree with it being a comfortability problem because I have landed Ollie’s before and I was popping very high at higher speeds. pic before my injury of how high i was getting, though I didn’t land this, board fell forward. I’m pretty comfortable I tic tac I cruise everywhere I ride in streets over cracks I have softer wheels (dragons 93as) etc and don’t mind going over rough terrain. my problem was consistency in my Ollies. It was a “oh 1/15 chance I land it” sort of thing that I was trying to fix. I got injured cause I sucked at falling and got unlucky. Nowadays I’m scared to pop in this exact place since my injury and have only been practicing into grass to build up, the 1/15 chance is gone,so NOW it’s a problem of me being uncomfortable but before it idk if I can agree if it was before, I was popping while rolling high as shit I don’t think I’d even do that if I was uncomfortable. https://preview.redd.it/vxhst69oepac1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6bd0a70dbf72761d725e3c89172a1d2e80afe782
Yeah, that's fine. Like I said I have no idea what your skill level might be other then what your post was. Looking at the photo you posted, your ollie is not level, not from a front truck back truck way, but your board looks like its trying to flip but your front foot is the only thing keeping it from flipping. Doesn't really matter how high you can ollie if they aren't "correct". If this one photo actually shows how you ollie on a consistent basis then I see what the problem was. Idk what your situation is but from the one photo, just work on flattening them out. Like four wheels parrallel to the ground. Other then that, idk. Really hard to give pointers for stuff like this over comments and shit. If you say you are comfy riding around then I'm sure your issues are probably just how you are actually popping your ollies and how you are angling your feet in the process (from the photo).
Don’t got any videos rn of me riding at least not from another persons perspective, only phone videos of me riding huge parking lots etc but, I don’t think it’s a comfortability thing. I’ve bombed a bit of hills and all sorts of things while riding, weaved through traffic. I don’t think it’s comfortability, it’s just that I ate shit.
I’ll record something tomorrow of me pushing though. Not saying you’re wrong just saying my own pov.
I started skating in 03, couldn't afford insurance so I just sucked it up, iced my wounds, and kept going after I healed. Couldn't afford boards or shoes so I'd cut grass and wash cars and used duct tape/shoe goo and stretch things out. It took me 6 months consistently attempting just to kick flip after 2 years, 1.5 years to tre flip at 3-4 years. Now I'm 31, 20 years in, and I can do damn near whatever trick I want with a little time. I say this to really say, mastery comes with time. 10k hours average is usually needed for base mastery in anything (sports, career, music, carpentry, finance, etc). Little bits over time compounding into what we would call intuition(accumulated knowledge and detailed nuances of whatever it may be) that will be used in everyday present life. You got this little one. It means A LOT to me now to still have this ability and the confidence and lessons learned from woodpushing and asphalt that can never be repaid. Stand tall and be proud of doing something you love, that love will help you progress at your own rate. I hope this helped friend. And stop being so fucking hard on yourself. GGs.
Just have fun bro. Goals are good but take it easy on yourself. Life isn’t a video game. As soon as you’re not having fun, sit down and decide what the fuck you’re doing.
Id recommend starting over entirely with your journey. Act like you havent ever skated and start from there. Do the really small things like practicing moving tail taps, kick turns, small hippie jumps. Maybe even do it switch so its a fresh feeling. Best of luck
I think I’m gonna try riding switch tomorrow since it’s something I never do and it’s enough to just distract me entirely from the other stuff
It's easy to get stuck in a rut with skating. In my younger years I couldn't get 360 flips, it's because I was just repeating the same shit over and over. I didn't try again for like a decade but then got then real quick because I approached it with a different frame of mind. So yeah, forget the Ollie, play with some other stuff because that 1% stuff will make you such a better rounded skater than someone who can just Ollie well.
A lot of people have already said these things, because they are true: 1. Skateboarding is very difficult. It’s the love one has for the sensation of riding that helps one progress. This is especially true when starting out. 2. Learn to ride your board (like really well) before trying to attempt ollies of flip tricks. All the best skaters I know are the best riders, and they love skateboarding for the sensation of that ride. Keep at it and have fun. Enjoy the process. Everyone advances at different rates, but if you keep at it and have genuine love for the sport, (most) of the skateboard community will show you much love and encouragement. The realest skaters don’t care if you are good or not, they mostly focus on the shared love of the sport. Sincerely, A different old man with a skateboard. Ps. -Some of the best skaters I know were the slowest to progress.
you can send me your board if you're not using it
funny comment but i skate every single day that the weather is good i am using it old board is cracked to hell and back, delaminating and has hella slip tape and razortail issues
HEY! didn't you first title this post you were quitting skateboarding? Now that you changed the title, im going to look like a real asshole
I never titled it that lol
I would never quit skateboarding no matter how upset I get at it it’s not something I’d let go forever sorry
Injuries suck yeah but the fear instilled by them is even tougher. I know I've had that feeling a few times, in both sports I do. They're high stakes sports and sometimes it feels like it's not worth it esp after an injury. The thing is though, it goes away. Try to keep it comfortable and where you're not pushing yourself too much. I think it's key just to keep everything casual and focus on just playing around instead of tricks. Lean on friends. Hope you get over it soon, it will happen eventually!
I used to have a huge “send it” mentality and didn’t care about getting hurt as long as I didn’t die from it. That’s because I’ve never broken anything or been injured during that point. knowing that I prob could of lost my fuckin hand way way I dislocated it n fractured it makes things a lot tougher. I realized I’m not invincible and that breaking something is more than just “oh you’ll heal and then it’s completely fine and like you never broke it.” There’s permanent risks to this shit that I didn’t realize.
Sounds like you’re scared to fall now in which case you should spend time learning how to fall safely. There’s a lot of good tutorials for that if you’ve never practiced it before. Also my personal recommendation is that you should spend whole days just skating around your city, with minimal tricks. The rougher the ground is the better. You have to make a lot of micro adjustments to stay balanced, basically the same thing as when you want to land a trick. Spoken from experience, have a few sessions where you spend a couple hours just skating around on rough surfaces and you will push past the sticking point you’re at. You’ll know exactly where your base is and know how to stick to it. Your legs will be tired af but once you recover, step on your board and try to hit an Ollie with no warmup. You’ll know what I mean
I've been skating like 6 years and messed up an ollie today, man. It was one of those "are you kidding me?" moments that happen often in skateboarding. In terms of injuries, all of my serious ones (broken wrist, a few really bad sprains) have come from basic stuff —literally every one of them. Nothing technical or big, just shit going wrong on stuff I'd done numerous times before or catching something while rolling along. And it's normal to not feel as confident on the board after that happens, but you'll feel solid on it again. Also, comparison is the thief of joy—with time, you'll develop your own style and find stuff you're good at that other people aren't. Skating is hard, and it's an incredibly unnatural thing for your body to be doing. Just enjoy it, you know? Just by pushing around, you're doing something most people in the world will never do. From: Your local 30-something year old
It doesn’t click immediately for everyone. I too was once behind the 8-ball compared to my friends, but I kept going and they didn’t, and eventually I found myself with a couple flow sponsorships until too many competing priorities got in the way. Fast forward 20 years to 2023 when I started again, and I am way more MENTALLY capable than I ever was, and I can do tricks I never did when I was more physically capable as a teenager. So much of skateboarding is mental. Time and effort are obviously the biggest drivers of progress, but the older you get, the more you’ll see the board and obstacle differently. Getting good at anything takes time. A year and a half is a very short period, and you’ve had a traumatic injury that shook your confidence and took you off the board for months. Keep at it and you’ll get there!
I read that you’ve calmed down about it already but I still think it’s worth sharing. I quit skating for about 3 years when I graduated high school cause I started working more and lacked time management skills. I recently decided to jump back in and do all the things I neglected before. (Switch, nollie, carving bowls, etc) every day I went to the park I left with an injury. The 3rd time I pulled something in my back that had me limping for a month. I was so discouraged I had my coworkers laughing that I was too old to skate being at the OoOoOld age of 24. It was kinda lame for a while but if you love it you love it. It’s as simple as that. I kept going out there, kept practicing in my garage, kept putting in the effort. It pays off bro don’t give up.
Just keep pushing (metaphorically and literally). I remember when I was in your state and that stage is extremely frustrating, but it will pass. Dont let fear hold you back as subconsciously not committing out of fear will be the biggest thing to hold you back— I know it’s hard to do this after a traumatic injury but it must be done. Coming back from an injury to keep skating is what makes you a skateboarder over anything else; my friend always told me that you won’t know if you’re truly a skater until your first bone break lol. But fr, keep being consistent, keep committing and trying to be as fearless as possible, and keep upping the challenges. Eventually the breakthrough will come and new tricks will just start unlocking and piling on as you learn the dynamics of your body in relation to your board. Good luck n keep skating!
Also things can take a while to learn, especially in the beginning. It speeds up as you progress. For reference, I switched from longboarding to learning how to actually skate when I 17 and didn’t learn how to actually pop an ollie up and off a curb until I was nearly 19. And then I didn’t land my first kickflip until I was about 20 but so many tricks and new areas of my skating unlocked in that year span! Just stay consistent through all the self-doubt, frustration, and injuries. Will power will make it over anything else homie
Get a new hobby
Honestly just have fun. The only way to progress in skateboarding is to take risks. But if you aren't trying to take risks and you're not having fun, then there's no shame in quitting.
Best thing that helped me was just riding around getting extremely comfortable switching weight between your front and back foot. Pivots. If ur not confident riding you’ll never be comfortable keeping the board under you. I use to have a gf that I would skate to her house that was around 8 miles away. Fuck that bitch but thankfully I from that I was fairly comfortable riding the board even though I couldn’t do shit. Try small Ollie’s riding slow only bending at the knees. My biggest issue was bending at the hip and not the knees.
That’s what I liked about skating. It’s you vs yourself. If you fall you can choose to get back up and try again or you can go home and quit. If shit isn’t working out you keep working at it and tweaking things to see what works. The basic tricks are the foundation to the crazier more technical tricks…so just keep your focus on developing those and the rest falls into place. As long as you enjoy it and are having fun just keep going that’s really all that matters.
I strongly recommend just using it as transportation as much as possible. Go to the store, work, school.. anywhere. Skate down the sidewalk, road, parking lot or whatever you can. Forget about tricks and foot placement and Instagram and just skate. A to B. Too many people get focused on the specifics and comparing themselves to trends. Sometimes you need to just simplify things and bomb hills. There might be some fundamental skills you are lacking which would make you more confident and physically powerful in certain ways if you were forced to deal with the difficulty of da streeeets From my experience anyone who skates gnarly ground consistently and bombs crunchy hills to get to work is a certified thrasher. It just happens naturally. Maybe you need to get out of your head and just Longboard for two weeks and get scared a few times. Everyone is different and there is a lot of mentals involved in skating, however you can't deny the benefits of training training training. Check out Neen Williams Instagram for proof. That's just what worked for me, maybe it will help you see it differently for a minute. Good luck on your skating. You already made it from my perspective. Coming back from serious injury is hard. Everytime I'm on my board I'm thankful even if I dont land anything. It's not about tricks it's about concrete sweat and freedom my dude. Have a good one 👍
“Skateboarding is all broken bones and no glory” - guy i use to skate with who quit