How to Get Good at Skateboarding

Photo illustration by Omer Khan | VOX Staff

By Reuben Buchanan | VOX Staff

WARNING: When becoming a good skateboarder you may begin to see an increase in your popularity with the opposite sex, experience long nights of partying, find a strange urge to throw yourself down large flights of stairs and begin to uncontrollably gain cool points.

OK, I’m only joking. But contrary to what many people who don’t get skating believe, becoming a good skater takes a lot of hard work, creativity, willpower and years of practice. It isn’t just an easy hobby kids pick up and master overnight. Skating is both a sport and an art form, and those who do it take it very seriously — even though at the same time it’s a lot of fun.

If you’re considering picking up a skateboard you need to first decide whether you’re going to dedicate yourself to becoming good at it, or if it’s just something you’re going to play around with. Be careful, because veteran skaters will make fun of you if you don’t know what you’re doing; believe me, we’ll know and we’ll call you a poser.

You also have to take into consideration that skaters usually have to endure a great deal of pain and injuries because you can’t learn new tricks without repeatedly falling on your butt first. Even the pros fall and hurt themselves. So, if you’re not willing to take a hand rail between the legs, shake it off and get right back on your board, this sport isn’t for you.

And remember, not every onlooker is going to understand us skaters and why we do what we do. Lots of people — especially adults — shake their heads at us for our obsession with pushing this wooden toy down sidewalks and parking lots. They can’t understand why we constantly put ourselves in harm’s way to feel that rush of adrenaline we get from flying down a set of stairs. And they definitely don’t get why we try 100 times to land that one new trick long after the sun has gone down.

Despite all the hours of practice, physical dangers and negative attitudes, I couldn’t imagine my life without skateboarding. I’ve skated for several years and it lets me be creative and express my individuality in ways nothing else can. So, if you’re still with me and want to learn how to be a good skater, then read on.

Here are my top 10 tips to putting yourself on the path to becoming a skater:

1. Get a Good Setup: A lot of newbies make their first mistake by not investing in a good board. Something from Target is just not going to work well or last long — they’re made out of cheap materials. Go out and buy a decent board either off of a top skateboarding Web site (I recommend www.activemailorder.com or www.ccs.com) or from a serious local skate shop. Some of the most popular board brands I’d consider when starting out are Toy Machine, Element, Habitat, Zero, Alien Workshop and Baker, just to name a few. You may want to buy a blank deck — which is a good quality board without the big brand name and costs a lot less. If you can’t figure out the way to go, ask skaters you know; they’ll steer you in the right direction and may even let you try out their boards. My personal setup includes a 7.75 Toy Machine deck, Krux low trucks, mystery wheels, super Swiss six bearings and Shorty’s hardware. You can get a good setup for about $100.

2. Protect yourself: Although you may not see very many pros or veteran skaters wearing safety equipment such as helmets or kneepads, it’s a good idea to wear them when you’re learning how to skate. A helmet will protect your most important skating asset – your brain – and the knee pads will help prevent road rash. Again, go to a good skate shop or Web site to get these items. A lot of skate parks require skaters to wear helmets these days. And we long-time skaters won’t laugh at you for protecting yourself, because we all remember the bad falls we took when we first started.

3. Learn the skateboarding language: Skaters have our own little language that may sound strange to outsiders. So if you want to learn what terms such as ollie, bail, primo and more mean, do your homework.

4. Get familiar with the parts of your skateboard: This can come in handy if you run into complications with your board and need to fix them quickly. The main parts of the board are: the board itself, called the deck (usually seven plies of hard maple wood glued together); the trucks (which are the metal structures under the board that the wheels are attached to); the wheels (if you don’t know what these are for ... you’ve got a lot of work to do); the bearings, the metal balls inserted in the wheel that allows them to roll (bearings are rated by the ABEC based on how fast they’ll let your wheels roll); and lastly, there is the hardware (the nuts and bolts that hold it all together).

5. Get to know the skateboarding world: Pick up a magazine and read about today’s skaters and what makes them unique. A couple of my favorites are Skateboarding and The Transworld Skateboard Magazine. You can pick up a lot of cool info on skaters and maybe even find a few trick tips.

6. Get inspired: Go rent a skate video or search for some skate clips on the Internet to see what tricks look like. Some of my favorite DVDs are “Zero New Blood” and the “Baker 3” video.

7. Find a crew: It’s always more fun to skate with a group or with a friend than by yourself. Not only is it more entertaining and a chance to form life-long friendships, but you also learn a lot from each other. It’s easy to find someone to skate with — just be observant of the skaters in your area and ask them if you can tag-along. We’re a friendly group and we almost always like to mentor newbies.

8. Find sponsorship: OK, this is perhaps one of the things you won’t do until you’ve mastered skating, but most people don’t know that one of the best parts about it is that you can get paid or get big shop discounts by showing off your skill. Stores will sponsor you because newbies will watch you and want to get setups just like yours.

9. Have fun and be yourself: Don’t be afraid to take risks and be inventive. Making up tricks and combinations of your own is one of the great rewards of skating. We skaters love to show off and stand out — and we’re also extremely understanding when others mess up or just look weird. It’s all about growing and learning.

10. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE: This is the most important tip. Never give up, and you’ll be amazed at how good you can be, no matter how difficult skating seems at first, no matter how many falls you take that first month.

Reuben is a junior at Tri-Cities.