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Skate "I saw some other California kid struggling to ride his mid 1970's wood black knight skateboard w/ clay wheels in California. I tried it too, couldn't stop...neither could my friends. Then came the urethane revolution from the East Coast, Cadillacs. Stokers, kept riding all the way through my parents divorce & then throughout the world (I was a pro...at least in my mind). I returned to California to a Dogtown style wood fish shape Oak St board & then onto Sims 10.0 (inch) wide w/ Sims snakes, Lazer trucks. I rode it out in the East Coast at the Cherry Hill, NJ skate park where I grinded my trucks for the 1st time in my life (yeah, post Dogtown/Tony Hawk pool equipment which someone eventually stole in our Hoboken apartment). My parents & family convinced me to pursue H.S education, went on to lots of college... first architecture, then became a male nurse...But even during that educational journey, I stopped to admire during the mid 80's, the teenagers taking the current board doing “Ollies”, flirted briefly with the current board but pretty much dropped the sport. Currently, I marvel at the current street skaters & their awesome footwork, “Shoves, Shifties”. This 43year old will head to my local NJ skate park & grind my trucks again before I head to my 9-5 office cubicle job....I think I'll buy an old school Santa Cruz to do that. (hope I can find one amongst the Chocolate & Trooth boards). Eventually, I'll take that last board to the very end & die a Surfer, Shredder, but at my very core-a Skater who also got radical....(The website owner's answer to the question, Why do you skate?)"
INJURY PREVENTION
Skateboarding injury prevention…involves protecting the important body parts including the head, hip, & wrists. Skateboarding history shows the Dogtown skater & Bones Brigade skaters using protective equipment. Their style, vert style however, differs from street skating style.
Body parts with their medical bone names include:
- skull/cranium-use helmet
- hip greater trochanter –use padded pants
- knee/patella-use knee pads
- wrist-carpal metacarpal bones-use wrist guards
In addition, protection pads for the elbows & leather gloves for the hands. Since street skating is more the focus now, would recommend the above numbered body parts.more than the others.
As for the helmet, I am recommending something many young skaters may not like but I’ll say it. Rail grinding down a slope can result in a fall face first. Tooth/dental injury is a risk. Until, a skater manages good grinds, I suggest helmet w/ face cage & chin guard. May look corny, but if it prevents a multi thousand dollar oral surgeon/dentist bill for skater parents, then it’s something to consider. |
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