Don’t Laugh at the kid Who Falls Off A Skateboard

For full transparency, I’m going to start with a fact… I don’t skate as much as I used to, for no particular reason. Fact! Anyway, I have never lost my love of skate culture, and not just the stickers and t-shirts, but the mindset, the whole mentality of a dedicated skateboarder, the freedom that only a skateboarder knows, the beautiful momentary designs created by the line you choose to skate and the unconditional drive to achieve something. For some reason ‘the people’ (ie. non-skaters) often view skaters as time-wasting misfits, but if that’s what you’re thinking, then you’ve not considered this enough. On the same principle, if you walk passed a skate park and saw a young skater try to pull off a trick and fail, worst still fall hard on the ground, and you laughed, then you’ve really not considered this enough.

Don’t laugh at the kid who falls off a skateboard, for one very simple reason… right then at that moment, he or she might be trying to do something they couldn’t do before. Fuck you if you think that’s funny.

Skaters are forever learning and evolving, endlessly aiming to achieve something great. No-one achieves anything special without slipping up, falling hard or twisting an ankle along the way, the important thing is that skaters are setting out to improve their skateboarding. Every time they fall they should be praised for trying again, and again, and again. Eventually they could get there, having fallen off their board enough to know where they’re going wrong, and then, after multiple fails and falls, they can pull off the trick again, and again, and again. They achieved their goal.

Skateboarding is a dedication, and skaters are dedicated to learning, improving and succeeding. Never laugh at the kid who falls off a skateboard, one day that skater might just be the best in the world.