Take Up Skateboarding
No medals, no rules, no lesson plans. Just you, a board and a smooth stretch of concrete
Getting Started
Get yourself a 2.5 ft skateboard. Avoid the skateboards that cost around ₹3000, you’ll make up for it in hospital bills. The good ones cost about ₹7000. The American and the Canadian ones are a good bet, you can also purchase them online. You also need to get yourself a helmet and knee guards. Join the Facebook skateboarding pages to update yourself about the latest info on skateboarding around the world.
Love your board
“You just need to get your equation right with the board,” Nic Smith, the Man behind India’s first skateboarding park Grid (Bangalore) says adding, “begin a relationship and feel that it is not going to kill you!”
Your first time
Look for a smooth surface to learn like, a fine concrete lane at a park is a good idea. You can also build a wooden plank in your garden, if you don’t have a garden the Carter Road promenade that Nic showed his skills on in Mumbai for an event by Quicksilver. The audience of course comes free.
Skateboarding Vs Skating
Since there are no medals to be won, Nic looks at skateboarding as more of a fun social activity. “Skateboarding is more versatile than regular skating. So, once you have control over the board and are able to balance yourself on it, sky is the limit.”
Rules?
However bizarre it may sound, the truth is that there are no rules to be followed and no lesson plans to keep to, in this game. Skate-boarding is all about expressing yourself creatively by doing whatever you want, once you’re comfortable standing, twisting and turning on the board - without tumbling of course.
For everyone
Though your age, shape and size are no bar, skateboarding is not for everybody. All that you need before you start is curiosity to try new things, a bit of bravado because you can and probably will break your bones the first couple of times.
Benefits of skateboarding
You burn loads of calories as you sweat like hell
You will have a sense of freedom to do things at your own pace.
You can practice on your own or enjoy skateboarding with a group of friends, anytime and anywhere
From the June 2011 issue of FHM India.
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