Dean Terrell
9/30/13
Nick DiUlio
Assignment 2
Dear Nick DiUlio,
So you’ve bought your first board complete with original decals, 55 mm wheels, 8.25 inch deck, and hardware to match your new shoes. You’re ready to land some tricks that don’t include basic hijinks and cruising with a camcorder around your neck. With so much to learn, it can be easy to literally start off on the wrong foot. Do you use the grass to practice your ollie? Don’t know which foot is truly dominant? Are your friends cringing when you push mongo? Do you know what the phrase “pushing mongo” means? If so, you might be learning to skate incorrectly! To avoid having to relearn your fundamentals three months in, gain tips from skaters who have quick stopped enough pebbles to fill a quarry.
In my article “How (Not) to Start Skating” I discuss the importance to learning healthy habits for a daily skating regiment. My sources will include multiple skaters with several years of experience, some who began improperly firsthand and recount this issue. Having in-person lessons makes it much easier to articulate proper posture and technique in the article. Pushing with the back foot on the deck, practicing on unrealistic services, learning a trick moving before learning it stationary, not knowing the difference between the tail and the nose, and not riding everyday can embed long-term habits in a new skater’s malleable reflexes. Every new skater has to learn their own style, but with these tips in mind you can avoid wasting time and energy on developing bad habits.
Don’t force a stance on yourself: While switch and fakie stances can be confusing at first, learning your comfort stance is most essential. If you’ve had experience in other board sports (longboarding, snowboarding etc.) don’t think that just because you are using a different type of board that your stance will be different with skateboarding.
Avoid going multiple days without skating: Skateboard wheels do not handle pebbles, twigs, acorns, and sidewalk cracks well (watch out in the fall season). As mentioned above, a new board creates a new environment as much as a new approach to balance and dexterity on a skateboard. Even if it’s just cruising, try and keep a daily routine; an hour day can make a huge difference for building balance and familiarity with your board.
Don’t learn tricks on unrealistic surfaces: Practicing on a surface such as grass or other abnormal ground does not build good expectations to learning and landing tricks, especially while moving at much faster speeds. Without confidence on an ideal surface, the new skater may become completely turned away with landing and inevitably falling on unforgiving asphalt. Learning a move stationary before moving can be essential according to skater Scott Witwer, with close to 3 years of experience.
Do not forget which ends are the nose and tail: If you don’t already know, the tail of skateboards is wider and shorter than the nose, which is skinnier and longer. This is also very important when learning your stance because it builds a precedent for your ollie. It will also help you understand what makes switch moves switch, and fakie moves fakie.
Do underestimate the long-term effects of the mongo push: The main reason skaters dislike this stance because it will make learning almost every single flip trick far more difficult than it needs to be as mentioned by Phil Chandler, a skater with close to six years of experience. While technically it is most important to feel comfortable in your pushing stance, it sets you up for failure when trying to learn tricks. For example if you are using your front foot to push before beginning a trick, you spend more time swinging your front foot back to the board to direct it. This can make even the most basic flip tricks twice as difficult as they need to be. While this is not true for all skaters, it is not recommended for most and understanding this will help you in the long run.
I am currently a junior at Rowan University who copyedits for the school’s literary magazine and am enrolled in the class Magazine Article Writing at Rowan. With many writing courses under my belt I continue my education as a Writing Arts major at the university. I also have real accounts from skateboarders Rowan as well as two years longboarding experience prior to learning to skateboard.
Sincerely,
Dean Terrell
9/30/13
Nick DiUlio
Assignment 2
Dear Nick DiUlio,
So you’ve bought your first board complete with original decals, 55 mm wheels, 8.25 inch deck, and hardware to match your new shoes. You’re ready to land some tricks that don’t include basic hijinks and cruising with a camcorder around your neck. With so much to learn, it can be easy to literally start off on the wrong foot. Do you use the grass to practice your ollie? Don’t know which foot is truly dominant? Are your friends cringing when you push mongo? Do you know what the phrase “pushing mongo” means? If so, you might be learning to skate incorrectly! To avoid having to relearn your fundamentals three months in, gain tips from skaters who have quick stopped enough pebbles to fill a quarry.
In my article “How (Not) to Start Skating” I discuss the importance to learning healthy habits for a daily skating regiment. My sources will include multiple skaters with several years of experience, some who began improperly firsthand and recount this issue. Having in-person lessons makes it much easier to articulate proper posture and technique in the article. Pushing with the back foot on the deck, practicing on unrealistic services, learning a trick moving before learning it stationary, not knowing the difference between the tail and the nose, and not riding everyday can embed long-term habits in a new skater’s malleable reflexes. Every new skater has to learn their own style, but with these tips in mind you can avoid wasting time and energy on developing bad habits.
Don’t force a stance on yourself: While switch and fakie stances can be confusing at first, learning your comfort stance is most essential. If you’ve had experience in other board sports (longboarding, snowboarding etc.) don’t think that just because you are using a different type of board that your stance will be different with skateboarding.
Avoid going multiple days without skating: Skateboard wheels do not handle pebbles, twigs, acorns, and sidewalk cracks well (watch out in the fall season). As mentioned above, a new board creates a new environment as much as a new approach to balance and dexterity on a skateboard. Even if it’s just cruising, try and keep a daily routine; an hour day can make a huge difference for building balance and familiarity with your board.
Don’t learn tricks on unrealistic surfaces: Practicing on a surface such as grass or other abnormal ground does not build good expectations to learning and landing tricks, especially while moving at much faster speeds. Without confidence on an ideal surface, the new skater may become completely turned away with landing and inevitably falling on unforgiving asphalt. Learning a move stationary before moving can be essential according to skater Scott Witwer, with close to 3 years of experience.
Do not forget which ends are the nose and tail: If you don’t already know, the tail of skateboards is wider and shorter than the nose, which is skinnier and longer. This is also very important when learning your stance because it builds a precedent for your ollie. It will also help you understand what makes switch moves switch, and fakie moves fakie.
Do underestimate the long-term effects of the mongo push: The main reason skaters dislike this stance because it will make learning almost every single flip trick far more difficult than it needs to be as mentioned by Phil Chandler, a skater with close to six years of experience. While technically it is most important to feel comfortable in your pushing stance, it sets you up for failure when trying to learn tricks. For example if you are using your front foot to push before beginning a trick, you spend more time swinging your front foot back to the board to direct it. This can make even the most basic flip tricks twice as difficult as they need to be. While this is not true for all skaters, it is not recommended for most and understanding this will help you in the long run.
I am currently a junior at Rowan University who copyedits for the school’s literary magazine and am enrolled in the class Magazine Article Writing at Rowan. With many writing courses under my belt I continue my education as a Writing Arts major at the university. I also have real accounts from skateboarders Rowan as well as two years longboarding experience prior to learning to skateboard.
Sincerely,
Dean Terrell