Hey C.H.S students! Do you think skateboarding is cool? If you answered yes to that question, then you have something in common with a lot of other students at C.H.S. Over the past year, the sport of skateboarding has gained a lot of popularity with students at C.H.S. Maybe this is to do with the fact that it is pretty safe, Covid speaking, or maybe the fact that we have an insanely nice skate park here in town. Or maybe just the fact that skateboarding is an extremely fun activity that anyone can do. If I had to guess, I would say it’s all 3. 

Charlottesville is an amazing place to skateboard; with tons of good street spots, and an awesome skatepark, you have everything you need to get good at skateboarding. All it takes to become good at this sport is perseverance, and honestly, the ability to fall. The most important thing for beginner skateboarders to learn is how to fall, because if you’re doing it right, that’s gonna be happening a whole lot. It’s important that you learn to fall in the correct way to make sure you don’t get injured and put out of commission. For some useful videos for beginners wanting to learn this and just any tutorial videos for tricks, I recommend looking at Braille Skateboarding, David Lehto, and VLSkate on youtube. These are just my personal favorites, but youtube is a treasure trove for beginner skaters who don’t understand certain tricks. 

However, skateboarding is hard,, and is definitely a lot harder when you are just starting out all by yourself. You fall and don’t understand how to do things, and everything just kind of sucks, but there is a secret to dealing with this. You probably think I’m gonna say something like, “DON’T BE A BABY, AND DEAL WITH IT!”, but the true trick is finding some friends to do that for you. Finding skateboarding friends can sometimes be an intimidating task, especially when you feel like you might be judged for being a beginner. The thing is though, the skateboarding community is very non-judgemental and you can talk to almost anyone you meet at the skatepark. Through skateboarding, you are bound to make tons of new friends, and most likely spend time with  people you wouldn’t have really met otherwise. To get you started, here are three C.H.S students (of varying skateboarding levels) that you could see at the skatepark, and what they have to say about skateboarding in Charlottesville and in general:

Simon Torres (Senior at CHS):

Q: How long have you been skateboarding?

ST: I’ve skated for about 4 years on and off

Q:Why do you like skateboarding?

ST: I love skateboarding because it’s not only a ton of fun with friends, but also a way of being creative and expressing yourself.

Q:What advice would you give to a person just starting?

ST: Although it may be stressful and frustrating at times, it’s important to keep pushing towards your goals.

Q:What’s your favorite area to skateboard in Charlottesville?

ST: Besides the skatepark, my favorite place to skate is around the downtown area.

Q: What’s your favorite trick?

ST: Kickflips and Tre flips

Nico Sun (Junior at CHS):

Q: How long have you been skateboarding?

NS: I have been skateboarding since July, so just about 5 months.

Q:Why do you like skateboarding?

NS: I like skateboarding because it never gets old, there is always a new trick to learn and an old trick to perfect.

Q:What advice would you give to a person just starting?

NS: Advice I would give to a new skater would be to not give up, skateboarding is not easy and a lot of people drop it when they realize it isn’t as easy as they may be thought. But usually, right after you feel like you want to give up is when you get better.

Q:What’s your favorite area to skateboard in Charlottesville?

NS: I really like to skate at areas around the corner and downtown, there are a bunch of good street spots.

Q: What’s your favorite trick?

NS: My favorite trick that I can do is a kickflip but my favorite of all time is probably the tre flip.

Asher Friedman (sophomore at CHS): 

Q: How long have you been skateboarding?

AF: 7 months

Q:Why do you like skateboarding?

AF: I like skateboarding 

Q:What advice would you give to a person just starting?

AF: Learn to get comfortable just cruising and riding before really learning tricks.

Q:What’s your favorite area to skateboard in Charlottesville?

AF: Definitely the skatepark.

Q: What’s your favorite trick?

AF: Fakie Bigspin is so fun.

So there you go, three C.H.S students you could see at the skatepark and say what’s up to. That’s just three, I know of so many more students from C.H.S who go, including myself. My final piece of advice to you readers is: if you’re thinking about starting skateboarding, do it and if you already do, keep it up!