The first time I got on a skateboard I was in high school. Moved from an all-black school in Detroit to a predominantly white school and learned to navigate a new cultural landscape – hacky sack, field hockey, acoustic guitars – led me to Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 and later to a group of kids playing outside ” SKATE “.
The rules were familiar enough – not unlike the HORSE and PIG I was used to on the basketball court – and when they told me an ollie was easy to learn, I trusted them. However, when I stood on the deck and tried to jump, the board flew away from under me and I landed on one side. I couldn’t breathe and injured my ribs. I never touched a skateboard again.
When resident Lifehacker health genius Beth Skwarecki organized our monthly Lifehacker Fitness Challenge Series that year, I realized I wanted to use it as an opportunity to address something I was scared of; My logic is that if I decide to do something I’ve always wanted to do but was too intimidated, I make it public so I can’t resign. (That was probably the logic behind our parenting editor Meghan. decide to become a runner.) And so here I am, closer to 40 than 30, and I decide to overcome my fear of skateboarding.
Skateboarding is a physical hobby that will get me injured. It’s practically inevitable. When I learn a new language, my tongue may be tied up, but it won’t make my mouth bleed …
Why I’m Afraid of Skateboarding
Learning new things rarely scares me because I’m not scared of making a fool of myself. I have so much in my favor: adults are often poor at learning because we’ve become so used to being competent in our jobs, hobbies, and interests that we resist looking or feeling stupid, but I can laugh well at me. Like many adult learners, I am inspired by the endless quotes, such as how Vera Wang didn’t start designing clothes until she was 40, how Toni Morrison didn’t publish her first book until she was 39, or Ava DuVernay didn’t take her first camera off until she got her first Takes camera in hand.
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However, skateboarding differs in that it is less of a mental than a physical one. Skateboarding, in particular, is a physical hobby that will injure me. It’s practically inevitable. When I learn a new language, my tongue may be tied up, but it won’t make my mouth bleed; my fingers won’t hurt if i play the wrong piano keys.
So I’m scared of the pain and long-term injury that can take me out of the game for longer than this challenge is supposed to last. I’m scared of what I felt when I played SKATE and landed on my ribs and the instant failure that injury can bring. To allay those fears, I am probably exaggerating a little.
I bought enough pads to protect myself from a two-story fall, let alone a normal one.
How much will my beginner skateboarding equipment cost me?
Lifehacker’s author Sam Blum wrote about how to start skateboarding as an adult, so of course I followed his advice to buy a skateboard (I bought from a local NYC skate shop called Uncle Funky’s Boards), find a beginner-friendly surface to practice on (I chose a local basketball court in Harlem), and let other people inspire me Watching skaters (my Instagram feed is now full of skate accounts).
What Sam didn’t mention, however, was the safety gear I needed to be confident enough to step back on deck at my age. I bought enough cushion to protect myself from a two-story fall, let alone a normal one – enough to make Sam laugh when he saw me engulfed in cushions. Did i go overboard? Probably. In the interests of complete transparency, I didn’t rummage around or make price comparisons either.
Here’s what I bought and how much I spent:
- Schönwetterstraße 8.5 Completed: $ 175.00
- Triple8 certified Sweatsaver helmet: $ 60
- 187 elbow pads: $ 38
- 187 wrist guards: $ 25
- 187 knee pads: $ 45
Add $ 30.44 for the 8.875% New York Sales Tax and my grand total was $ 373.44 to resist my fears. Anyone else who learns to skateboard will probably get by a lot cheaper if they shop around, but my decision was a race against my fear and I was happy to support a local skate shop that patiently answered the many questions I asked them .
You could also buy a lot less. As I have found out so far – officially a week after the start of my trip – I could only have gotten by with the wrist guards and without the other pads. These are only required at my local skate park, and while I have taken some hard falls, luckily none have been hard enough where I felt the pads were critical.
How the Skateboard Community Can Help a Beginner
Since I started learning to skate, I’ve had some tips and support from helpful friends and strangers, asking everyone the same question, “What is a reasonable trick for beginners?”
(The first question I actually asked the staff at my local skate shop was if I could learn Ollie in a month, to which the salesperson replied, “That depends … how dedicated are you?” Since then, I’ve been around many different opinions on whether or not ollies are a good “beginner’s trick” so I changed the question from “can I learn Ollie in a month” to what trick I should try.)
What I know for sure is that I need a goal to achieve it, and I could use some help there. I found my own answer to the Ollie question pretty quickly: Here’s my first baby ollie after skating almost every day. What’s next? Better Ollie? Tic-taks? Something else? I take the advice of what constitutes a reasonable, achievable goal – and I also take the encouragement. I’m still scared – but I won’t let that stop me.
