Love Of Skateboarding Research Paper

Sergio Sigala
Period 7
14 October 2013
For the Love of Skateboarding
I believe that the thing about skateboarding is that it is such a creative sport. Skating does not have a time limit, no scores, no referees. I do not owe my coach a certain performance, I do not owe my team a certain performance, and there is no pressure when I skate. That's why I love to skateboard as much as I do. There is no one telling me what to do or when. I just skate when I feel like it. I can go pick up my board and just flow the streets or go to the park. Skating means so much to me, and I feel I try so hard to improve quickly, that it has become no fun. It felt like pure business to me at the beginning. But as time passed I did not care about trying to be the best. I was never really the best skater to begin with and I really started doing it for just the love of skateboarding. I started doing tricks I thought would look cool and feel cool. That is when I discovered that it isn’t really about how good I am. It is about the fun and good times I get out of
skateboarding. The feeling of being yourself on your skateboard, skating the style I want to skate, doing the tricks I want to try. I'm 15 and it is funny because sometimes even some friends tell me I suck or my parents tell me to focus on school instead, and I tell them I am just going to have one more year of skating and then I will probably stop. But, it's so funny because I know clearly that I have no intentions to stop. It's kind of like an addiction I have, I don't want to stop and I know I won't.
“Riding a skateboard doesn’t make you a skateboarder, being unable to stop riding a skateboard is what makes you a skateboarder” -Lance Mountain.
I love going to the park with my friends and meeting new people. I love to interact with people that share the same interests as me, with the same style and with good vibes. I think the thing I love most about skateboarding are the people who do it with me. The family feeling you get at the skate park and how even if you just met them you can trust them all. My parents somewhat support me with skateboarding by buying me what I need for my skateboard like my entire board and clothes. However, they aren’t fully supportive of it. Constantly, they tell me that I need to focus more on school than always wanting to skateboard. They limit the time I can skate like not during the week, which I really hate. They would never sit and watch the hours of videos I watch and they always push me away when I try to show them.
Skating is a reflection of who you are.
When I’m upset, I just get on my skateboard and skate and all my problems disappear. It relieves me of all the pain and anger. I don’t know what I’d do without it, I’d be so depressed. When you land a new trick, you get the best feeling in the world. I couldn’t imagine looking at skateboarding from an outsider’s point of view because they don’t and never will know what it’s like to skate. Skating has made me who I am. Skateboarding saved me. If it weren’t for skateboarding I would be worse off. There’s just something, a specific personality that skaters have. It's the ability to stand up after many, many slams and then get up and try it again and again, no matter how painful the fall was. To endure so much pain while falling off a stair set or slamming face first on the floor, I just keep going because I would do anything else than skateboarding. It's the danger versus the
victory.
“Skateboarding isn't just a hobby. Skateboarding is a way to show emotion. You could be poor/rich, bad/good, weird/popular. It doesn't matter when you’re skating.” –Dylan Rieder, Pro.