Skate Videos

[jholz]

Not sure if anyone around here has skated or currently skates - but there's much akin in skateboarding and golf.

 

I still skate at 49 and help build skate parks in my local area. Although, I do find that it is much more difficult to seriously injure oneself on the golf course.

 

Having said that, the skate scene is crazy these days. We've had two recent pros come out of our local scene. Things that I barely dreamed of landing have become commonplace.

 

These kids are crazy good:

 

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by jholz

[84425]

Nice! I didn’t/don’t skate but enjoy seeing people ‘surf the pavement’. Like nice turns and ‘effortless’ little tricks more than big/technical tricks. Lots of respect for every trick though, big / small and by a pro or a beginner because i’ve seen how much effort/practice/determination it must have taken the person to master the trick. 

[PedronNiall]

Still love going back and watching the OGs.

 

 

 

[TiScape]

13 hours ago, PedronNiall said:

Still love going back and watching the OGs.

 

 

 

The OG!

[jholz]

13 hours ago, PedronNiall said:

Still love going back and watching the OGs.

 

 

 

 

Yeah, this was a rather dark time in skateboarding in my opinion. Rocco had washed most other companies out of the water through the mid-90's - but he still supported established talent.

 

Rodney is clearly a giant in skateboarding. We owe him for most modern tricks. But, he's also a complete weirdo, and I've never been able to figure out where he's coming from.

 

But, Daewon is the man. If you've never heard the story of his ankle - you should look it up. It's been blown out since like 97' - never went to the hospital, never had it treated. And he's been skating on it ever since. The guy is unworldly.

[jholz]

15 minutes ago, TiScape said:

The OG!

 

This was the first legit skate video I ever saw. But this was the era of Vert - and I didn't live near any ramps or parks. Loved watching them, but it wasn't until these two:

 

 

 

that I found something that really resonated with me. Street skating is all I ever wanted to do.

[PedronNiall]

Rodney is definitely a unique character, but I think you have to have a unique mind to come up with all the tricks he did or even think they could be done/landed.

 

Didn't know about Daewon's ankle. Ridiculous he's pushed himself to continue at that level for literal decades landing on a bad joint and 100% believable he has the drive to do it.

 

Figure we can just roll the skate thread into all things surf & snowboarding as well so I'll drop these here:

[TiScape]

9 minutes ago, jholz said:

 

This was the first legit skate video I ever saw. But this was the era of Vert - and I didn't live near any ramps or parks. Loved watching them, but it wasn't until these two:

 

 

 

that I found something that really resonated with me. Street skating is all I ever wanted to do.

In my skating heyday Mark Gonzales and Natas Kaupas were big street skaters. If I remember correctly Natas was famous for his huge ollies??? I have a hard time wrapping my head around the stuff ppl are pulling off today 🤯

Edited February 21, 2023 by TiScape

[jholz]

1 hour ago, PedronNiall said:

Rodney is definitely a unique character, but I think you have to have a unique mind to come up with all the tricks he did or even think they could be done/landed.

 

Didn't know about Daewon's ankle. Ridiculous he's pushed himself to continue at that level for literal decades landing on a bad joint and 100% believable he has the drive to do it.

 

Figure we can just roll the skate thread into all things surf & snowboarding as well so I'll drop these here:

 

Oh yeah, I fully respect surfing. Always wanted to do it, but grew up in Colorado. It's honestly the only other board sport that I have much respect for...

 

The key is that your feet aren't attached to the board. That's always been my beef with snowboarding. It's just so limiting in terms of what you can do.

 

Having said that, snowboards do backcountry bombing better than anything.

[jholz]

3 hours ago, TiScape said:

In my skating heyday Mark Gonzales and Natas Kaupas were big street skaters. If I remember correctly Natas was famous for his huge ollies??? I have a hard time wrapping my head around the stuff ppl are pulling off today 🤯

 

Oh yeah, Gonz and Natas played huge roles - Tommy Guerrero as well.

 

The thing that's so crazy, if you go back and watch some of those videos - some of the tricks folks are doing today are there. But, the decks were so difficult to manipulate and people were just learning - so they look goofy.

 

But, with 40 years of examples to follow and better equipment, they are doing those tricks down 15 stairs like it was nothing.

Edited February 21, 2023 by jholz

[PedronNiall]

8 hours ago, jholz said:

 

Oh yeah, I fully respect surfing. Always wanted to do it, but grew up in Colorado. It's honestly the only other board sport that I have much respect for...

 

The key is that your feet aren't attached to the board. That's always been my beef with snowboarding. It's just so limiting in terms of what you can do.

 

Having said that, snowboards do backcountry bombing better than anything.

They do actually make skateboard hybrids you can run on the snow. I don't think it ever caught on super big, but they seemed like they'd be great for a lot of the parks that feature tons of rails. I always imagined Shaun White or Kokubo or Freddie K pulling off fingerflips or whatever on a snowboard and how that would just take it to another level of what's possible out there.

 

I got to do a bit of riding in Utah and their claim to the best snow on earth is the truth. Backcountry or even just off the main trails in that deep, fluffy, dry powder is pure bliss. Worth experiencing.

[jholz]

Yeah man, I did ski racing from age 6-18 - USSA/FIS. Been all over the western US - and I agree that Utah has some great snow and terrain. Alta remains my favorite, but I've been to Park City more for ski races.

 

I also remember the snow skates. The shop that I skated for - Brothers Boards (RIP) - used to get some of those things in from time to time. They were like a little ski attached to the bottom of a skate deck. You could ollie and do legit skate tricks on them - but the resorts wouldn't let you use them because there wasn't a leashing system - at least at that time. So, they were largely regulated to backyards and school yards.

 

Beyond that, I can see some potential in wake skating - but you need a boat or some kind of constructed thing to do it in. Makes it rather inaccessible.

 

Skateboarding beats pretty much everything on that score. All you need is a smooth stretch of pavement. Any city kid has access to it. That's why we see such progression.

 

But, for me, right now, I'm really looking at the confluence of surfing and skim boarding. Skim boarding is super cool, but limiting. You've generally got one hit on a wave, and landings are usually in a close out - so it's tough to ride away from much. But, I think it does show a way forward for surfing. I mean, people are already doing kickflips with 5'8" - 6'2" surfboards.

 

As the squatter Fish designs continue to develop in surfing, I wouldn't be surprised to see some surfers going to much smaller boards that could bring in the potential for more skate style tricks. If that happens, I will have witnessed a full circle development of board sports in my lifetime. Pretty crazy.

Edited February 22, 2023 by jholz

[lefthack]

I was supposed to give up skating for golf when I hit 50, but that hasn't happened yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skater of the year + DMX. 

Edited March 21, 2023 by lefthack

[84425]

On 2/22/2023 at 3:22 PM, jholz said:

But, for me, right now, I'm really looking at the confluence of surfing and skim boarding. Skim boarding is super cool, but limiting. You've generally got one hit on a wave, and landings are usually in a close out - so it's tough to ride away from much. But, I think it does show a way forward for surfing. I mean, people are already doing kickflips with 5'8" - 6'2" surfboards.

 

As the squatter Fish designs continue to develop in surfing, I wouldn't be surprised to see some surfers going to much smaller boards that could bring in the potential for more skate style tricks. If that happens, I will have witnessed a full circle development of board sports in my lifetime. Pretty crazy.

Oh great now you’ve got me on a youtube binge watching surf video’s… i remembered seeing Rob Machado and Kalani Robb in the mid 90ies surfing small almost skateboard shaped balsawood finless boards. Couldn’t find anything on YT but did find some nice finless sessions and some Kalani Robb riding bodyboards and Tom Curren. How can you not fall in love with Tom’s surfing? 

Edited March 21, 2023 by 84425