When You See A Skateboarder, What Do You Think?


When You See A Skateboarder, What Do You Think?  

357 members have voted

  1. 1. When you see a skater in public, what's your reaction?

    • Simply ignore them
      116
    • Give them a discouraging look and / or say something to them
      36
    • Watch them while you walk past
      135
    • Stop what you're doing and watch them some
      37
    • Other
      33


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Hope I got the poll options good enough.

I've noticed when I'm out street skating, I get a lot of different reactions.

A lot of times I'll be speeding through a parking lot or on the sidewalk of some store etc, and I constantly get dirty looks from people. Nevermind you that I see plenty of oblivious people walk out in front of cars, and it's extremely rare I ever cut someone off due to how observant I am when I skate.

Sometimes I'll have people just take a look at what I'm doing, looking a little interested.

Then rarely, but every now and then I'll have people make an effort to watch me. Usually it's kids walking to the car with their parents and their parents tell them to just get in the car. But the other night a dad had his two kids and a neighbors kid at a Dairy Queen and they were getting Ice Cream. When they came back out they just sat on a grass hill and watched me skate. It was fun preforming for them and I wish more people would do it.

It's just something I think about a lot. You'll often see a skateboarding video where someone does something amazing, and people just look at them like a nuisance and nothing more. I get this in public a lot myself as well. It's just even when I didn't participate in skating it always fascinated me, the things I'd see people do with it...it just amazed me.

After having does it myself for so long I'd equate it to dancing. It's definatelyy an art form with self-expression at it's core, you'll realize this when you understand it. It's very physical and you use your whole body, involve all your muscles to create your style. Much like dancing. Both take much precision, practice , balance and so forth. I just find it odd how something I've always watched with such fascination and admiration can be ignored - or worse, looked at as nothing more than a kid's toy or a public nuisance.

I mean if I saw someone just do a backflip standing on the ground, it's not the type of thing I ever try to do, but I'd like watching him do it. Or if I went Iceskating and someone was busting out double axel's or whatever they're called, I'd just sit and watch them.

So for those of you that have encountered skaters out in the public, how do you react? Also specify if they were actually any good or just little kids ****ing around or something, and how much they were paying attention to their surroundings. I've always considered the latter important, because I just want to skate, not interfere with other peoples lives or have them interfere with mine.

Some skating photos in my sig now for those interested in it.

Edited by Raum
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watch as I walk by...

I give alot of respect to the staters, its not easy doing what they do even if its for fun. They do some pretty sick stuff so its cool :)

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Much respect for skaters. I've tried and suffered many pints of blood lost. I respect these talented human beings. Also much repect for an opeth fan. :blink:

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I think skateboarders are cool. I suck at sk8ing myself, but it's always neat to stop and watch for a while. I've watched countless sk8 videos before with my buddies back in HS.

People who give skateboarders strange looks or consider them an annoyance need to loosen up for god's sake.

--Andy

PS - I've seen older threads of you in arguments with people over your use of majurina / weed / smoking. Personally, I think that's cool - it's all up to you. The war on drugs is stupid and necessary - one should have a right to do whatever they want with their body. ;)

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watch as I walk by...

I give alot of respect to the staters, its not easy doing what they do even if its for fun. They do some pretty sick stuff so its cool :)

yeah, same here... its hard, i used to skate, but i just couldnt get good.

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I live in Colombia, and i used to sk8 long time ago, until i got a knee injury, and i can't skate any more, but belive me, any reaction that you got, here is worst, cuz all the ppl here in colombia thinks that the sk8ers r junkies, thiefts, rapers, and that you could commit any ilegal act.

all the sk8ers of my town skate in a public park and we gain enemies without asking, like basketball players, soccer players, even the ppl that walk in the park, once we got to fight with the basketball players cuz they trow a ball to one of us and make him fall, we got to fight and kick some asses,i assure you one thing never mess with a skater cuz he will hit you with his deck.

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It can be a difficult thing to get the hang of. there are still plenty of tricks that I just can't get to work. I'll try different foot positioning etc, just not happening. I guess it's kind of like life.....find what you're good at and excel at it. For me that happens to be hips, ramps etc, boneless 180's and so on. Also a big fan of just putting lots of speed and power into my skating...hate skating slowly.

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I live in Colombia, and i used to sk8 long time ago, until i got a knee injury, and i can't skate any more, but belive me, any reaction that you got, here is worst, cuz all the ppl here in colombia thinks that the sk8ers r junkies, thiefts, rapers, and that you could commit any ilegal act.

all the sk8ers of my town skate in a public park and we gain enemies without asking, like basketball players, soccer players, even the ppl that walk in the park, once we got to fight with the basketball players cuz they trow a ball to one of us and make him fall, we got to fight and kick some asses,i assure you one thing never mess with a skater cuz he will hit you with his deck.

*scoffs* People. They claim they're openminded, then turn around and snap at anyone slightly different from them. Typical.

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I live in Colombia, and i used to sk8 long time ago, until i got a knee injury, and i can't skate any more, but belive me, any reaction that you got, here is worst, cuz all the ppl here in colombia thinks that the sk8ers r junkies, thiefts, rapers, and that you could commit any ilegal act.

all the sk8ers of my town skate in a public park and we gain enemies without asking, like basketball players, soccer players, even the ppl that walk in the park, once we got to fight with the basketball players cuz they trow a ball to one of us and make him fall, we got to fight and kick some asses,i assure you one thing never mess with a skater cuz he will hit you with his deck.

TRUCKS IN THE FACE BIO%CH

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I live in Colombia, and i used to sk8 long time ago, until i got a knee injury, and i can't skate any more, but belive me, any reaction that you got, here is worst, cuz all the ppl here in colombia thinks that the sk8ers r junkies, thiefts, rapers, and that you could commit any ilegal act.

all the sk8ers of my town skate in a public park and we gain enemies without asking, like basketball players, soccer players, even the ppl that walk in the park, once we got to fight with the basketball players cuz they trow a ball to one of us and make him fall, we got to fight and kick some asses,i assure you one thing never mess with a skater cuz he will hit you with his deck.

Reminds me of something that happened my first year of skating.

It was the summer before my freshman year of HS. Me and my friend are skating the taco bell parking lot, just doing ollie manual gaps and stuff. A group of 5 jocks or so, all seniors comes out. They tell my friend, Hey lemme see your board. One of thm just ###### around on it while his friends laugh.

Well, after about 20 or 30 seconds my friend told him to give his board back, but the guys just walked inside and said **** off, it's ours now. Well, I got really ****ed...disrespecting my skating or my skateboard is one of the easiest ways to **** me off. I went in there, yanked my friends board away. The guy got up to take a swing at me just for that. I held the board up, he punched the board and hurt his hand, then I started swinging my friends board at him. I hit him int he shoulder, he went down, then I smacked him good in the back a few times and told him to eat ****. I ran outside, booking it towards a grocery store and just told my friend to run. We ducked away in there and avoided them....they were all chasing us.

Well, that summer he saw me skating outside about 5 more times and would chase me down in his truck then come out to fight me, bringing friends along but they'd never back him up for som reason. I'd run when I could, two other times it got physical again and I managed to beat him up both those times. At that point my older brother told himt o back off or we're getting cops involved and he's also stepping in (Brother was the school heavyweight wrstler, was on the football team with this guy too). That got through to him.

Ever since then, no one ever messed with me at highschool. That story about the crazy ass kid that beat the **** out of some big shot senior football player, coupled with my size seemed to scare people off. O.o

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There's nothing wrong with skating or expressing yourself, but there's a time and a place for everything.

I'm sure many people would love to sit and watch you skate, but they are busy with their own lives. You have to respect the fact that they just don't have the time at that moment.

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i usually scoop up a handful of small rocks and start tossing them in front of the skateboarders... or sticks, stuff like that...

just kidding!

i usually stop to watch, see how good they are, and wish i was brave enough to skate again without killing myself...

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It's not so much that I expect everyone to stop and watch me. It's just the people that look at me as if I'm nothing more that a nuisance to their lives. Analogy...if someone on a motorcycle was doing a wheelie down a busy road, he'd be an ass. But if he was out on a parking lot away from people and doing some amazing tricks with his motorcycle, I'd stop and watch him for a bit, or at least glance over. Not tell him he needs to quit wasting his life and go do something more productive. Heard that line too many times. My response? "You might like to know that I've won journalistic awards, photoshop and photography awards and have an A+ certification in computers mister. I also dabble in philosophy, religion, politics, history, psychology and so forth. You'd be wise not to judge those you do not know"

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Depends what they are doing. If they are using benches for grinds, then I don't approve as it is damaging the benches. If they are in proper skate parks I don't mind and do appreciate the skill involved. It is just that when they are damaging things, they **** me off.

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Only skaters I have given a hard time are the ones who mess around in front of my house and mess my lawn up or leave their trash their. Other then that I have no issues with skaters. I used to ride BMX so I know the skill that goes into stuff like that.

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Reminds me of something that happened my first year of skating.

It was the summer before my freshman year of HS. Me and my friend are skating the taco bell parking lot, just doing ollie manual gaps and stuff. A group of 5 jocks or so, all seniors comes out. They tell my friend, Hey lemme see your board. One of thm just ###### around on it while his friends laugh.

Well, after about 20 or 30 seconds my friend told him to give his board back, but the guys just walked inside and said **** off, it's ours now. Well, I got really ****ed...disrespecting my skating or my skateboard is one of the easiest ways to **** me off. I went in there, yanked my friends board away. The guy got up to take a swing at me just for that. I held the board up, he punched the board and hurt his hand, then I started swinging my friends board at him. I hit him int he shoulder, he went down, then I smacked him good in the back a few times and told him to eat ****. I ran outside, booking it towards a grocery store and just told my friend to run. We ducked away in there and avoided them....they were all chasing us.

Well, that summer he saw me skating outside about 5 more times and would chase me down in his truck then come out to fight me, bringing friends along but they'd never back him up for som reason. I'd run when I could, two other times it got physical again and I managed to beat him up both those times. At that point my older brother told himt o back off or we're getting cops involved and he's also stepping in (Brother was the school heavyweight wrstler, was on the football team with this guy too). That got through to him.

Ever since then, no one ever messed with me at highschool. That story about the crazy ass kid that beat the **** out of some big shot senior football player, coupled with my size seemed to scare people off. O.o

I hate people like that man, glad its over for your (Y)

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it depends what they are doing, how they are dressed, how old they are and what the general 'vibe' i get from them is,

most of the time i ignore them, if they are young tryhard variety, like 10-12yrolds hanging out shopping centres at night, i normally give them a dirty look and think how much i disapprove of what they are doing and their upbringing.

if they are a group of older (like 15-16) skateboarders around that are giving a bad vibe i usualy stay clear and try and ignore them, dont make eye contact :s

but then there are some skaters, much like yourself i believe who are naturally good, and who give off an alright vibe while skating, i will stand and watch them, or slow down as i walk past in awe of what they are doing.

ive tried skating in the past, but i have a bad knee and the impacts made it worse so i had to give up :( i could ollie about 20cm and i could nearly pop-shove-it im a pro :D

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depends really. if they skateboarder is riding past me then i will ignore, but if tehre is some tricks i will watch as i go. of course those tricks never work :D

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