I discovered that I could roll over on my stomach. I was very amazed because I had never really learned that trick before. Once I was able to roll over, I did not know what to do next. I just kept skating forward and trying different things. Eventually, I landed on an overhead kickflip and it literally made me jump out of my skin.
Now, I am not saying that I did not work hard or that it was easy. What I am saying is that once I mastered the basics, learning the more advanced tricks was a piece of cake. It takes a while to learn how to skateboard at my older age. It was just a matter of spending enough time practicing.
Why do I think people fail when they try to learn something new? It is usually because they set goals without a plan of action. When you do not have a goal, it is easy to get sidetracked. The reason why people get bored with learning something is that they do not see the point of why they are learning it in the first place.
So many people say they want to learn how to skateboard in their 30’s but never take the time to do it. They spend months practicing, but nothing seems to work. They are constantly told that they need to keep going and that they will eventually master it. But what they do not realize is that eventually everything is mastered if you dedicate yourself to it.
Many times skateboarders fall into the trap of learning the most popular tricks. That’s the way that most people see you. They see your abilities on the skateboard and immediately form an opinion of you based on that. They fail to see the fact that there are other skills that you can develop that are also important. These other skills may not be as flashy as those learned in the past but they can be just as valuable.
Learning how to skateboard in my early years was through trial and error. I was lucky enough to be taught by a mentor who kept me motivated. Others who are not so fortunate have to do it themselves. I spent a lot of time trying different moves until I came up with a routine that worked for me. As I got better I tried harder until I had mastered it. Then it was time to get back to skating and build my confidence.
The best part about this whole process is that it does not take much time at all. If you spend a couple of hours a week working on your craft, you will be doing it for the rest of your life. If you are committed, you can go out and get a job in an outdoor store or anywhere that needs people to man the skate parks. Once you have gained enough experience you can even turn that experience into a business. A lot of times younger people learning to skateboard will get sidetracked because it seems so complicated.
All I had to do was follow the simple steps everyone else was teaching me. I learned the basic moves and then worked on mastering the advanced moves. After that, I was ready to go out and show the world what I had learned. Learning to skateboard in my early days was hard work, but once I started I just kept at it. I learned to be patient with myself and work hard. Those people that didn’t give up and stayed at it, are the ones I look up to the most.
