Middle Aged Dad's Skateboarding Journey at 49 Years Old 2020

Music:
Artist: Stick Figure
Song: Smiles on Faces

2020 has not been kind to my skateboarding progression. I slammed and injured my arm early in the year. I thought it was broken, but ended up being a worse situation as it was a soft tissue injury that took months to heal. It left me struggling to use my left arm in any capacity such as washing the right side of my body during a shower or turning a door knob.

Rehab starting with me lifting 8 oz. of water in a half filled water bottle and incrementally added weight as the tissue, ligament, and tendons healed.

We have been in a continual state of sheltering in place since March and the skateparks were closed for a few months.

As a challenge, I started trying to relearn how to skate the skatepark by doing it switch and apply the lessons and principles shared by Josh Balogh in his Youtube channel - Skatepark Lessons.

4 Hawaiian words I have written on the top of my skateboard as a constant reminder of why I skate.
Le'ale'a - Fun
Ku'oko'a - Freedom
Ohana - Family
Aloha
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Background on why I am a Middle-Aged Skateboarding Dad....

In 2013, at the age of 42, I started the process of relearning how to ride a skateboard on flatground. I had not ridden a skateboard in over 25 years, but I was determined to learn how to ride again so that I can teach my autistic son how to skate. I then transitioned and started learning how to ride the skate park.

Up until then, I had never ridden a skatepark or had much experience riding bowls or transition.

For years, we struggled to have him even acknowledge us as his parents and to find a common bond as a family. Through skateboarding, our autistic son acknowledges us.

We have been grateful for having found skateboarding.

One day, our son found an old skateboard in the garage which he had no idea how to ride. He just found that the wheels spun and he would sit there and spin the wheels over and over. One day, he had a meltdown and I put him on the front of the skateboard and rolled him across the sidewalk.

I noticed an immediate relaxing and calming effect that it had on him and we began to use skateboarding as a therapeutic activity to allay his anxieties, build confidence and a relationship with our son.

At the time, I searched for a skateboarding instructor for my son throughout Northern California, but none had experience working with special needs children. I came to the conclusion that I would have to relearn how to skateboard and then teach him.

In addition to developing a connection and relationship with my son, through this whole experience, I not only relearned how to skate, but am enjoying the ride along the way, and have met a lot of great people.

Skateboarding has truly bonded my family and brought the stoke back into my life. I have now skated longer than I have in high school and a better skateboarder than I was when I last set foot on a skateboard at the age of 17.

I've been asked the same questions over the past few years; "Skateboarding? YOU? YOU Skateboard? How old are you? Wait, What?! 49?! You're older than my parents! (Sometimes, I hear "My Grandpa.")

"What kind of idiot starts skateboarding at the age of 42 and still skates at 49?" That idiot continues to be, 'Me.....'

Over the last few years as I continued to age, I have witnessed (and enjoy!) the confounded look or of utter disdain by other parents and notably women who see this middle-aged male dressed like their teenager...You can see the gears spinning in their head; "Why is this guy dressed like a skater boi?"

Answer is: "Because I am....I am a skateboarder....Not because I ride a skateboard, but because I can't stop riding a skateboard and I could care less about what you think or what clothes I should be wearing at my age .....I am THAT DAD that wears the Thrasher Hoodie when meeting with the school Principal..."

Please check out our other videos on this channel, including the mini-documentary on our son titled, "Justin's Journey"
   • Justin's Journey - A Family's Challen...