Yo en Piedras Negras en los 80's con Michael Gomez
Over the years, I have read articles and heard stories from skateboarders about how a simple piece of wood with wheels attached to it has changed their lives. Recently, a friend of mine sent me some pictures of us when we started skating and when I looked at one of the pictures and saw my skateboard I remembered right away that it was the my second pro deck and I was around 15 years old, then all of a sudden it hit me, "damn, I have been skateboarding for 19 years", even tough it seems like yesterday.
After looking at those pictures I took a warm bath and pondered about all those years, by the time I was walking out of the bathroom it was set in my mind that I had to join them, I had to put it in words, I had to tell this story, my story on how skateboarding saved my life.
As a child, I played football for eight seasons. We played a championship game and were defeated, that was the sport that I practiced, not by choice. One day I just decided that I did not want to do it anymore.
Then at school I saw some kids on a skateboard trying to do tricks and thought that I should give it a try. That was one of the best decisions of my life. Some people think it's a sport, some people think a skateboard is a toy for kids, everyone has a different opinion about it.
I don't waste my time thinking about what it is, I just try to go out there and do it. It's a big part of my life, it has given me so much and it pretty much has shaped me into the person I am.
I know there will be a time that I will not be able to ride a skateboard anymore, I am sure that day will come, it has already arrived for some friends and these guys that do not ride a skateboard anymore are still skateboarders to me. Once you ride a skateboard and embrace all the good things this lifestyle has, you will always be a skateboarder.
If you ask any guy who rides a skateboard what is the best thing about the "sport", most likely, the answer you will get is, "because it's just you and your skateboard" and yes, they are right, we are right. Unlike football, you don't have to depend on your teammates to succeed. Skateboarding is a process, like any other learning process. Here you have to step on the board and learn how to balance yourself without falling, once that is done, the world opens up.
Without a doubt, the most important thing about skateboarding for me is that you do it as an individual. It's just you. You get in contact with yourself and learn who you are and that is the best part.
Believe it or not, there are millions of feelings involved in skateboarding, for some reason the first one that comes to mind is fear, as you start the process of skating and you are just beginning, you get afraid of falling and getting hurt, but as time goes by and you get better that confidence grows and that confidence stays there and it's the same confidence you can use on every day life. As you go, you learn about progression, you want to learn more tricks and better the one you already know, you challenge yourself every day and start knowing your limitations, you start believing in yourself and in the things you do.
You go home and sit there by yourself and think about how to make your tricks better, how to take things to another level. As you see other skaters you learn about being competitive, and it's your choice and no one else's to better yourself just to be better than other skaters or for your own good.
You experience a different kind of friendship, a bond with other skaters. There is some sort of secret code that exists when you are not skating. You see the city in a different way than everyone else.
You see styles come and go, even inside skateboarding, and at the end you will decide on what you feel more comfortable with. It's always for you to decide.
All of this makes you get in touch with yourself and truly learn who you are and even apply all you have learned in your everyday life and make life easier on yourself because of all this time that you have spent on yourself. I have no idea on how people get to know themselves.
I assume they also have some sort of activity which lets them get in touch with themselves, so I guess it's safe to say that skateboarding saved my life for what it has done for me, it has given me a unique identity.
On top of all these good things, let's not forget about my incredible friends, the rush of bombing a hill, the sound of the wheels on the pavement, the breeze in my face as I ride the streets of the city. The way it feels to land a trick that I have been trying for a few hours. The bruises, scrapes, injuries, pain are well worth it. All the money I have spent on skateboards is now considered as the best investment of my life.
This is my story, every skater has his and they are all good like this one.
It's not just skateboarding.
Upside down visitando a Alex en Hermosillo. 90's, Foto por Alex Probst.
Yo aqui en Monterrey donde vivo hasta ahorita, por Aubrey Edwards. 2000
