Happy Place
Nora’s fever dreams become headphone reality in celebration of her Skullcandy collection. Burnout ventures deep into the OC to get the scoop … and some free headphones.
When Did Skateboarding Become an Olympic Sport?
Skateboarding made its Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Yeah, remember those years? It was quite a long, windy, downright bumpy road to get there and came with more than a few opposing opinions, but it’s hard to argue what it’s done for this little subculture of ours ever since.
Plus, in my humble opinion, it has undeniably become one of the most entertaining sports to watch at the Games. It’s no secret the IOC (International Olympic Committee) wanted the Olympics to appeal to a younger audience. So, adding skateboarding (and surfing) to the Tokyo 2020 lineup was certainly a safe bet.
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At any rate, the impact of skateboarding joining the Olympics stretches way beyond simple entertainment. The extra visibility alone has been insane, if you really think about it, and all those new eyeballs staring down at our favorite skaters on the World Stage has helped skateboarding in a ton of different ways.
Related: How to Watch Skateboarding Park Finals in the Paris 2024 Olympics
Think about it? More skateboarders mean more sales at local skate shops, for instance. More sales at local skate shops means more community building. More skateboarders and community building means more brands, fans and soon-to-be lifers all the same. It’s a beautiful spiderweb that continues to be spun.
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It’s still interesting, though. Attracting all these new fans (while inspiring a new generation of rippers) is a pretty big responsibility. Skateboarding is a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but respecting the past while appreciating the future is absolutely necessary.
Many of us have seen the money roll in as fast as we’ve seen it fade away. It’s happened before and it’ll happen again, and again, and again… but hey, we’re here to focus on the now.
Related: Did Tony Hawk Go to the Skateboarding Olympics in Paris?
The spotlight is great, but again, skateboarding itself is far bigger than the Olympics. In fact, if I’m being honest, I often wonder, „Who needs who more?“ And while I’m not here to debate (nor do I have the energy—been there, done that), I’ll still happily admit skateboarding’s inclusion in the Olympic Games has been really cool to witness. I’m a supporter.
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What a wild three to four years it’s been, though, right? I will say, one of the highlights for me has been witnessing the camaraderie among all the participating skaters.
When we think of Olympic athletes, we think of these hyper-competitive machines who will do almost anything to beat their opponent and snatch that gold medal. (At least I certainly do.)
Skateboarders are different.
Related: Team USA Hits 2024 Paris Olympics Park Course in First Practice Sessions
They’re all friends, they’re all supporting each other and they all want to see each other killing it. It’s just another reason skateboarding absolutely rules. The sense of community and mutual support between our competitors is all too familiar, and was a major standout for me in Tokyo. I’m humbled the same can be said right now during the 2024 Paris Olympics, and I’m confident the same will be said every four years moving forward.
Okay, enough from me, though. Time to shut up and skate.
Thumbnail Photo: World Skate / Atiba Jefferson
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How (And Where) to Watch Park Skateboarding in the Paris 2024 Olympics
Did you catch all the action during the 2024 Paris Olympics Men’s and Women’s Skateboard Street contest? Wondering where to watch the upcoming Skateboard Park event? Well, you’re in the right place.
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Chances are you aren’t in Paris for the Olympics, but that certainly doesn’t mean you can’t be a part of the action in real time from the comfort of your home. (Or perhaps your local watering hole?)
Wherever it is you plan to watch the next Olympic skateboarding event, here are a few leads to make your life a little easier. Call your squad, get everything you need, and get ready. The World Stage is waiting. The big day is upon us!
How to Watch Olympic Skateboarding:
As many of you might already know, NBC holds the Olympic broadcasting rights. That means skateboarders across the country can watch the best of the best go for gold using a variety of NBC’s streaming platforms, along with traditional TV, in case you’re still running up that cable bill.
- Peacock: At just $8 per month, Peacock just might be your best option to catch the action. (Plus, you’ll get every episode of The Office—boom.) There are a handful of options and plans to choose from, so click through and find what fits your budget.
- NBCOlympics.com and NBC.com
- NBC app (mobile viewing)
- NBC Sports App (mobile viewing)
- NBC TV (good old fashioned cable!)
- Hulu
Are There Any Free Ways to Watch?
The quick and easy answer is—nope! However, as mentioned, you can hit your local bar, pub, brewery—whatever it may be—and see if they’re streaming the event. (That’s what I’ve been doing!) Grab your friends, pull up a stool and get stoked. Honestly, this might be the best option out there, if you ask me. Or, depending on how internet-savvy you are, well…there’s always a way.
Related: Tony Hawk Reflects On a Standout Moment in Men’s Olympic Street Finals
What Are the Dates for Olympic Park Skateboarding?
The Women’s Skateboarding Park event is taking place Tuesday, August 6th. And the Men’s Skateboarding Park event is taking place Wednesday, August 7th. Looks like some of you might be calling out of work those days! Don’t trip, we won’t tell anyone. That said, check below for times.
Related: Yuto Horigome Repeats with Olympic Gold in Mens Skateboard Street
What Are the Times For Olympic Park Skateboarding?
This might be the tricky part for most folks out there—the first four heats for both events are happening between 3:30am-6:30am (PST). But hey, the good news is, the Finals will be taking place at more reasonable times, right? Right. Depending on where you are in the country, you can figure out the math. I’d suggest checking the official Olympic Skateboard Park schedules, though. Where my morning people at!?
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Welp, nothing left to do but sit around and wait for the action. Whether you’re new to skateboarding or consider yourself a lifer, seeing our favorites ripping on the World Stage is pretty rad. And if you enjoyed the Street event, just wait until you see what these guys and gals can do on the Park course.
From going for broke to going for gold, the spirit of skateboarding is alive and well at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Thumbnail Photos / Bryce Kanights & Atiba Jefferson
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Team USA Hits 2024 Paris Olympics Park Course in First Practice Sessions
Team USA has been lighting up the 2024 Paris Olympics Skateboarding Park Course the last day or so, finding their lines and prepping for the big day. Swipe through some photos courtesy of World Skate below and get ready for Men’s and Women’s Skateboard Park coming August 6th and 7th.
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„Current World Champion Gavin Bottger opened his Road To Paris experience with a broken wrist in the UAE back in early 2023 but has been reassuringly high-placing ever since,“ says World Skate in the caption. „The other backbone of team consistency has been the unflappable 8th-placed Bryce Wettstein who never fails to deliver wherever in globe the World Skateboarding Tour goes.“
Related: Tony Hawk Surprises Tate Carew with Birdhouse Pro Model at Paris Olympics
Not to play favorites, but Gavin has always been one of my favs. And Bryce has undeniably been proving she’s one of the greats—always doing things in her own unique way—over the past few years. Hate to be bias, but Team USA is looking good! Actually…what am I saying? Let’s go, squad!
„The rocket ride throughout this process has been Tate Carew,“ World Skate adds. „Who joined the Tour at the 2022 World Championships as a relative unknown and has made every final since but looks somehow better at every stop and enters Paris ranked 1st in the OWSR.“
Related: Why were the Las Vegas odds on Olympic Men’s Street Skateboarding so bad?
But hey, we should all have our eyes on Ruby Lilley, Tom Schaar, Minna Stress—honestly, every talented park skater out there participating on the World Stage—all the same.
Again, the Men’s and Women’s Skateboard Park is right around the corner. Tune in August 6th and 7th to peep the action.
Photos / Bryce Kanights & Atiba Jefferson
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Internet Birthday Episode 2
Nick Boserio and Rowan Davis get it started before Ishod joins the gang for a virtuoso ledge clinic with the Mayor of Lincoln Square himself Ben Lawrie closing it out. Watch this one with your best mates.
Ben Lawrie’s „Internet Birthday“ Interview
What would you do with an intentional year off the board? Would you ever return? Luckily for us, Ben Lawrie did. Read up on how Lincoln Square’s most dedicated kid got his game back with a dramatic diagnosis, a new outlook and a spot with his best friends on Hoddle.
Jason Ross for Lurkville USA
Jason cruises through California with a deep and unpredictable bag for Lurkville.
Super Skate Posse’s Giveback in NYC
This is all good things happening in skateboarding: Super Skate Posse giving away a bunch of free skateboards and shoes to young kids, getting them stoked on skating, and of course the reemergence of The Brooklyn Banks. Let Steve Rodriguez and the SSP show you what’s up:
„On May 4th Super Skate Posse teamed up with Gotham Park for their annual Block Party at The Brooklyn Banks for our first New York City Giveback. Thank you to Vans, Nike SB and Triple 8 for helping stoke out 70 local youth in the immediate community around The Banks. We look forward to the next Gotham Park giveback in early September. Filmed and edited by RB Umali“
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Kai Kishi’s „KISHI•KAI“ Part by Braden Gonzales
Braden G crafts a vision of Kai Kishi as he unleashes across the States and closes it out with a jaw-dropping double-decker manny at the Pier.
Should I Hire A Skate Instructor For My Kid?
Skateboarding is one of the most unique activities in the sense a skate coach or skate instructor isn’t something built into the sport like soccer, football or baseball. That being said, skate mentors, skate coaches and skate instructors have existed in skateboarding since the very beginning in various forms.
Even Tony Hawk learned from pro skaters like Stacy Peralta and Tony Alva and as skaters ascend to skate new contests, deeper training is required to perform well. You might be surprised to learn there is an official Olympic Skate Coach for Team USA. How cool is that? Even the best of the best still have a skate coach.
At GOSKATE, our instructors have decades of skate experience under their belts, with the majority skating since they were young kids like their students. They know the ins and outs of learning tricks, the vocabulary and trick names, the mental struggles and triumphs of falling and getting back up. All the good stuff.
But let’s go over these in more detail in our following sections.
What is a Skate Coach?
For some skateparks, from Boston to Los Angeles, a skate mentor might be the older crew looking out for the new guys, or maybe a local park attendant or supervisor with skate experience. But in modern day skateboarding we have the privilege to provide you with the highest trained professional skate instructors to not only master the foundations of skateboarding but learn what it takes to be an amazing skater.
That being said and arguably even more importantly, a lot of learning how to skate with an instructor isn’t just about learning tricks. Rather it’s the things like how to draw inspiration from other skaters, how to be happy in the face of failure, how to digest skate media, keep things in perspective like skatepark etiquette, comparing yourself to others and even skating alone versus having a friend to skate with.
From our experience and as you can check out in our Skate Instructor tab, most skate instructors are experts in skateboarding with some to a ton of experience working with kids. Males and females ranging from the ages of 16-25 are pretty common but there’s also 20-30-40 year olds ready to teach group classes.
We’ll have more on picking the perfect instructor for your child in this article later.
14 Best Reasons To Hire A Skate Instructor
If we may, with over two decades of skate heritage we are qualified to list the best reasons to hire a skate instructor. Not only are we the largest collective of skate instructors, we also have the most comprehensive reviews of skateparks, skate coaches, skate camps, skate trick tips and skateboarding news to a full spectrum of learning about skateboarding. And our instructors also contain these skills.
The highest trained professional skate instructors: Like we said in our introduction, we have over two decades of skate heritage training and conducting skate lessons for thousands of students. Our students received the highest professionally trained instruction ensuring your loved ones learn how to skate in the most safe and fun way possible.
Mastering the foundations of skateboarding: The foundations of skateboarding can be easily overlooked or not intuitively understood just by stepping on a skateboard. However, they are the most important to getting our students rolling in the right direction, literally. Having a skate instructor can dramatically expedite this process and have your kid pedaling, turning, and maintaining their balance after their first lesson.
Learning the lingo of skateboarding: One of the hardest parts of learning about skateboarding is the vocabulary associated with tricks and localism at skateparks. A switch back tail, switch 180 smith grind, heel flip feeble grind, stalefish tail bash, are all terms a skater has mastered over time. But with a skate coach, your child can learn these with much greater ease and not be self conscious about asking questions.
Teaching proper skatepark etiquette: We all know what a snake is but are you aware of what that term means in skateboarding? A snake is someone who gets in someone else’s way oblivious to the skater they interrupted. Many kids have no idea the lines, the start points, when to drop in, and how to talk to older kids (or even kids their age) at the skatepark. Teaching proper skatepark etiquette not only boosts the safety of your child but everyone around them. This is arguably the biggest advantage and most impactful advantage to having a skate coach or skate instructor present with your child.
Learn what it takes to get better at skateboarding: Like we mentioned earlier in this article, learning what it takes to become a better skater is arguably more about the mental journey than the physical. Becoming a great skater is about time commitment, physical development and maintenance, healing injuries and pushing yourself to not just enjoy skating but to get better. This is an entire article in itself but for us now, you’ll have to take our word for it that our skate coaches can relay all this information and more to our students.
Learning how to fall: Shouldn’t you want your child learning how to land tricks not fall? Of course but in skateboarding you’re going to fall more than you land. That’s why learning how to fall is so important. Learning how to bail correctly, tucking, rolling over your shoulder, sliding out on your hip or back, avoiding your wrists, elbows and knees when not wearing pads, these are all essential to not only becoming a better skater but preventing injury.
Tips on nursing a skate injury: Skate injuries are unlike any injuries across sports or recreational activities. Luckily, skaters for decades have proven techniques to help you heal a rolled ankle, a swellbow or other skate injuries most doctors will have zero ideas how to treat. Most doctors’ first words are, “stop skating,” so yeah. Skate instructors come in clutch.
It’s the safest way to skate: That should be enough of a sentence to make you want to book a skate instructor but we’ll keep going. Skate coaches and instructors have all the tips to avoid skate injuries and prevent putting your child in dangerous scenarios.
Understanding of skate media: In a day of ipad kids and social media, there are numerous skate media outlets for your child to get into. That being said, not all of these are very kid friendly forms of skate media. They also might look at a form of skate media and not understand how skate media has changed or can impact their own skateboarding. This is certainly a whole article topic in itself but you can imagine in today’s world the amount of skate media your child can consume.
Mental struggles and triumphs of skating: The mental struggles of skateboarding surround trumps and failures and will give your child a range of emotions to deal with. Skateboarding will make your child the happiest and the angriest they ever have been and is a huge reason why it’s such a powerful developmental tool for your child. However, sometimes this can be hard for your child to navigate on their own and they might lose perspective or find it hard to smile in the face of failure. More on this down the line.
How to draw inspiration from other skaters: Whether you’re 13 or 30 every skater has a favorite skater. And drawing inspiration from the sources of your choice is what skateboarding is all about. Having a skate instructor can help your child be exposed to skaters and brands, artists, photographers that your child would otherwise not be exposed to.
How to keep things in perspective: Keeping things in perspective can be hard for a child discovering a new passion. Skateboarding can also lead to comparing yourself to others or interacting with all types of people that can sometimes be hard to navigate. There’s pressure in skateboarding, there’s also joy and jealousy, there’s really a playground of emotions out there that a skate instructor can help your child navigate with an older, wiser perspective.
Having a friend to skate with: Honestly, this might be the single best reason and motivation behind booking a skate instructor. Skateboarding is all about having fun and nothing is more fun than having a friend to skate with. Book a one-on-one skate lesson today and watch your child’s face light up when an older kid gives them a high-five after learning their first trick.
You get better at skateboarding faster: Some skaters will reach huge heights on their own but our students have shown us time and time again that learning with a skate instructor dramatically improves their skate skills. Whether they want to skate for fun or train to be an Olympic skater one day, learning to skate with a skate coach is by far going to make you a better skater, faster.
Selecting the Best Skate Instructor for Your Kid
Selecting the best skate instructor for your kid is going to come down to a few elements, the most basic being location.
Here is a link to finding the local skate instructors in your area:
We also invite you to check out our Pro Skate Instructors Tab here to learn a bit more about who we have available and what qualifies them as a world class skate instructor.
We have our Most Popular Lessons listed as well and group classes, intermediate versus beginner classes, camps, and birthday parties.
GOSKATE’s Pro Skate Instructors & New Review System
GOSKATE is excited to introduce to you our new review system for our professional skate instructors. Not only do we have decades of skate teaching under our belt and the largest collective of skate instructors in the USA, we also have the most direct rating and review system to ensure you’re picking the perfect skate instructor for your child.
We’ve also added additional testimonials with photos and reviews on our social media on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. You can check out the channels here and we invite you to follow, subscribe and stay connected for the latest and greatest from GOSKATE.
It has been our honor and a privilege to provide skate lessons for thousands of students for over twenty years. We can’t wait to see what the next decade of GOSKATE students and instructors accomplish and we hope to have a chance to teach your kids the most fun and safe way to skate possible.
The post Should I Hire A Skate Instructor For My Kid? appeared first on Goskate.com.
The post Should I Hire A Skate Instructor For My Kid? appeared first on Goskate.com.
