Back to School Bash August 2006 Photos

I was slightly hung over trying to attend to my email this morning when Body asked me if I wanted to help with lessons. There are skate lessons every Saturday morning at 9am here at the Park. I wasn’t really ready to be on my skateboard, but I did it anyway. This kid I taught today had never ridden a skateboard in his life. We spent a solid five minutes trying to figure out if he was going to be goofy or regular. After a few minutes of confusion, he said, "I’m a rightie." I explained to him that it pretty much has nothing to do with being right or left handed – just stand on your board and tell me which way you think forward is. He hesitates but points left with his left hand. Turns out he’s regular footed. From there it was on. The kid got comfortable with pushing almost immediately. Then came tic tacs, then came riding up a couple feet up the bank ramp to fakie – serious progression in about 45 minutes. By the end of the hour, he was asking me how to "jump". I taught him my scaredy cat one foot off method of learning tricks with minimal slamming and he was almost doing legit ollies. Do all kids learn that quick? I don’t know. Max Borland was 9 years old. I hope I contributed to making one more kid pick up the best thing that ever happened to me – skateboarding. It was pretty damn cool to witness what was basically the birth of a new skateboarder. After that we had a long day at today’s Back to School Bash. Check out the photos. Sorry about way too many "who dat?" ones: