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3.29.98 Fear Riding on the train can be pretty neat. Lazily slouching on the comfy seats, going through the worst parts of every town from where I live in NJ to my college experience in Washington, DC. I don’t know about you, but there always seems to be this lingering skate spot search in the back of my mind no matter where I am. On the train, I see the craziest spots. We always pass this rooftop that has an incredible cement launch ramp thing that, with enough speed, could be used to clear the 5 foot gap to the next rooftop, which gets me to the point of this column. Fear. Unlike many sports, skateboarding is near-centered around conquering your fears. For instance, I’m pretty confident that I could ollie this 12 set of stairs near my dorm room in DC, I know I can go fast enough, and I know I can ollie high enough to land it. Why haven’t I gone out and done it? Fear, of course. Every time I try, I kick out way before I come even close to landing it. How does one conquer something like this? One (hyphenated) word, self-confidence. Jamie Thomas isn’t some fucking psycho when he ollies that handrail and drops 15 feet, he’s confident that he’ll have some chance of landing it, or, at least that he won’t injure himself too badly in trying it. So, self-confidence, how does that work? For me, it’s all about practice, and working up to things. I would never be able to get down five stairs if I first wasn’t doing three, or, to go back further, rolling off of a curb onto the street, and feeling that sensation of falling with my board. For a long time, I was looking for some magical, all-encompassing realization in skateboarding that would have me kickflip board sliding in no time, but I’ve come to realize something like that doesn’t exist. In working up to my goals, I make small discoveries, like where exactly to place my feet when I ollie up to a 50-50, or how much to bend my knees when trying 5-0s. To get on a motivational trip, there’s nothing holding you back from doing something, your board doesn’t suck, I’ve seen kids blowing minds with the nose of their board completely broken off, and held together with duct tape. Your excuses aren’t valid, face up to what you can and can’t accomplish and try to slowly add more to that ‘can’ list, that’s what skateboarding is for me. Addendum: My mistake, Jamie Thomas is a fucking psycho. |