Over the last couple of weeks I've been trying to do at least an hour of skateboarding after work each day. The road outside is smooth and flat, very good for practicing flatland stuff. The kid two doors down from me, Jake, joins in sometimes too, and as he's about the same level we get on well and push each other to do better. All this regular skateboarding has started to attract the interest of several kids that want to begin skateboarding. Jake, being a fairly typical teenager, doesn't have the time of day for them, but I find it quite interesting trying to teach them. That got me thinking about the absolute basics and how to go about learning them. The problem with these kids is they want to run before they can walk. They haven't yet got the dedication to learn how to ride properly, because they always want to learn what I'm doing instead (which at the moment is a kind of 360 railstand). Even though skateboarding is a very individual sport, or art, if you're an absolute beginner and you've never set foot on a skateboard before then there is probably a certain way you should go about doing things, and that is not to think ollying is what you have to learn first. Instead, over the coming weeks I will be writing a series of 'lessons' starting today with the most basic thing you can do - ride your skateboard. Your only aim for now is going to be getting comfortable just riding up and down your street, trying to get to a decent speed and to be able to turn your skateboard as and when you need to. Forget about ollying and all other tricks! SET UP YOUR SKATEBOARD Get your skateboard sorted out. If you don't know what the different bits of your skateboard are called then start here and read from there. The chances are that the one you've got is pretty slow, with Abec 'A' bearings and a thick, heavy deck. Your deck won't have much concave (meaning it won't be very curved) but this type of board is less likely to slip away from you. However, bear in mind that you will at the very least want new bearings in the near future, and try and budget for this (or start badgering your parents now)... Continue reading 'Skateboarding For Beginners, Part 1' at Board Crazy Skateboarding |
