Lerning to skate

Guys , I was wondering if I could have some opions concerning the value of skate board lessons. Maybe Im’ trying to hard but I feel my progression is not fast enough and lag far behind others, example I find front side kick turns realy hard, somtimes there good other days they are impossible. State of mind seems to be parramont some days ya rip other days ya look like an old lady :frowning: WHY

if you get something out of lessons its worth it.
might be worth getting MM to put his 2cents worth as input

Before I managed to root me knee, I was going skating with the lads at Box Hill every thursday morning and skating with Ching. Just a word here or there. Do this, take that line, etc. It worked. Made a HUGE difference to me.

Tony Hallam taught me little things I would never have thought of, and a few of us were going to get together on sun mornings…we’ll still do it once Mr Markhams knee gets better.

I get lots of good hints from all the guys Michael but its hard to put it into practice at the time . It may be time to front Mullhall at monster one morning as Mosu has sugested but jesus I think he’l kill me by the way hows that Knee going. :slight_smile:

geez Mark, I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times. It’s that bloody slalom stance you have when riding transition. You’re going to have to learn to switch in and out of different stances for different riding situations.

I have a theory for you that could be the root of the problem.

With a slalom stance the toes on both feet point forward to open up the hips for quicker hip rotation and turning. To put it in simple terms for me to write, the upper body pretty much faces straight down the line of cones while the lower body and arm swinging create the turning action. I could be wrong, as I haven’t seen much slalom action lately.

This does not work on transition at all. The turns are totally different because you have to lift your front wheels to turn, unless you’re carving of course. Even when carving you want your shoulder to lead the turn, not your chest, which will be the case if both feet are pointing forward.

You really need to get into a duck stance with that back foot mate. This is going to get your shoulders lined up with the deck, and give you more toe pressure on the tail for turning.

With your slalom stance you may find that when you do a frontside turn, your body will only turn so far before you get the sensation that your body will over-rotate, even though your board seems to under-rotate. With your shoulders lined up with the deck, you’re going to have a little extra turn out of your upper body to play with.

These theories would be much easier to demonstrate than explain. Maybe look at as many pics of people turning or carving frontside as you can and take note of their stance. Next time I see you we’ll take some time to test my theories and hopefully rid you of your troubles.

Mark, if I can put in my two cents worth from a safe distance - Mick is right to stress the need to get your shoulders working. He concentrates on the stance (and I think he’s right about that), but it is also (and inseperably) the way you initiate your turns. You need to lead more deliberately with your shoulders. It often seems to me that you lead with your legs. (this is also linked to where you look and when. If you get a chance, watch Corbin - you can really see him actively orientating his body and eyes through every move).

Also, especially FS, compress more. I don’t mean just to get squatty, but compress and decompress actively so you ‘suck the wall into yourself’ as you hit the trannie (at least that’s how I think about it). I reckon you sometimes tend to get more rigid when you try harder, when you need to do the opposite. Too much rugger at a nasty catholic school … should have got yourself expelled like me …

But just to end on a positive note - you’ve improved a lot since I met you a few months ago and everyone enjoys skating with ya, which is the most important thing of all, I reckon. You skate hard, so don’t stress about it …

All good advice. Mustang, If its any consolation I found F/S carving at speed around inside a square bowl really hard- getting up on transition. One morning with Ching and I was doing it. It turned out initially to be where I was hitting the wall. A couple of weeks of doing it Chings way and like anything it all became comfortable. Then one day I just did a F/S corner carve and then started going harder at them. Always been able to carve hard, kickturn hard backside but my F/S is weak on stuff steeper than a bank - my vintage I think and never really moving on to ramps in the late 70’s.

Hey Mark, One question I always ask kids when teaching them is if they have ever done gymnastics. Then I follow up with the gymnastics rule - Wherever the head turns, the body will follow.

It all starts with your line of site. The eyes and head initiate the turn, then the shoulder, then the hips, and finally the legs and board. Bill is right, I noticed at the bowl toss that you were quite rigid in the upper body department during your turns. We have to loosen you up and change your stance and technique.

And if you complain that it’s too hard to break the habbit again, I’m gonna take back my winnings. Don’t prove that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

Mark I sometimes wish I was a little bit more gnarly too. So as to grind more often and go for other neato stuff on the coping, but, at my age its quite dangerous to learn and go too big. Im so happy to just carve and kick around in parks bowls slalom, downhill, freestyle and now " :laughing: pools :laughing: "
Skateboard lessons may help but I recon you just need to continue spending as much time as you are and it will get better as time goes on.
In so many ways skateboarding has saved me from growing old physically and mentally. I was heading for an over 90kg cigarette smoking old fart. Skateboarding this time around has save me from all that bad shit.
One thing that has worked really good for me is to skate as much different terain and different diciplins (tranny, slalom, flatland, downhill).

With all those disciplines under your belt Scott, I’m sure that you now know the importance of various stances. You’ll get there Mark. You just need patience and persistence.

We’re all old dogs learning new tricks Muz and there always seems to be another level to reach. Sometime, we’ll have to accept the level we’re at - but not yet mate!!!

Try changing your technique on the flat for starts. Go dick around in the garage pulling frontside and backside loops, draaaaw out the kickturns with the minimum nose lift. Work up to semi-manual’d kick turns through 180 degrees in the width of a single car space. Don’t look at the board but where you’re going…

And - its all just for fun anyways. You know when everyone who is ten years younger than me or ten times better than me starts doing all those coping type things they do on ramps (fakie to this and so forth and so on) I just go and try and do the biggest fastest bert I can do in the corner of the bowl and push the board to the coping. Cause fark it its all you can do and if it makes you feel good doing it do it and don’t worry.

I could be wrong but some one described Stacey Peralta’s skating as incorporating Body english.(being at one with the board and the concrete)
Some exellent advise has been given out there by those who know their shit.One thing that could help would be to get some one to vidio your skating and you can see what you need to do to correct any faults.Does seem to help cause you can’t see what you do wrong so there for hard to fix.It also has the ability to help you improve style.Skate every thing you can ,flatland. downhill ,banks transition/vert etc and a veriety of boards oldschool,newschool ,long,and short slalom.This will make you heaps more versitile and give you more styles and techniques to aply to every day skating.I still ain’t got there yet but the fun is in trying .Good luck keep on rolling

Mark, one of the good things about longboarding and slalom is you get use to dealing with a skateboard at high speed. Just a thought.

Thank You Boys For Taking the time out to address my concerns
Bill, Mick Mullhall, Skoot, Mark, Braden, Markem, Steve, Richee, your advice is pricless and even if I still have a lot to learn I know I would have not progressed this far without your help and guidance.
It makes me laugh to think that two years ago I decided to walk my old dog in the park felling down knowing that my Rugby caree was over. I noticed two guys , Skoot, Steve machine, my age riding around this new concrete park I didn’t Know what vert ment and not had a skate board under my feet since 1979 and yea I sucked at it then I missied all the ramps crapy five dock bowls ,loading docks ,boat ramps that you guys had to put up with.
I remeber the Saturday morning that I did my first frontside carve Skoot grining from ear to ear , it was honestly like being dipped in heaven better than any drug and lot better than a lot of sexual enconters.

Boris once said to me that Mash was the best thing that has happened to Sydney skate scene in years shore it is for me, but the best thing was always you guys keeping the dream alive. Our time has come and its only getting better, why I want so much of this simple WHO WOULDN"T :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

Gees Mark, I have been away for the last week(actually still in radelaide, but on someone else’s computer). I hope you nail that F/S stuff soon. As far as F/S goes I wouldn’t have it any other way! going b/s is what gets me messed up, but I am getting better.

Are you coming down for the moss jam?

mark you are too hard on yourself, you have improved so much lately! however, the main thing i notice about your skating is that you don’t relax enough, it seems as if all your energy - and you have heaps of it - is being held back. my advice is to get more of that energy into the skateboard, which is a matter of weighting and unweighting at the right time, but feeling the transition and the right time to do this is a tricky thing to explain. for me it was a matter of watching good skaters, the lines they took, when they were pumping the board and how they were pumping it - when they used their knees or ankles or body, and then trying it myself by copying them. i highly recommend skating to music as well, zipping around the bowl with headphones on gives you an automatic flow and i find it relaxes your skating style as well.

Sean its crazy to think that your front side is a snack, gee mate I could do back side kick turns in my sleep, at one of the jams lets try one of those two skater ramp turns like a devo clip :laughing: Thanks Rich yea I know mate somtimes I get like bitt like Clay, Ive lernt a lot watching you and Jamie I think timing plays a big part too and that takes experience I agree I have noticed that Andys music helps all of us skate better 8)

Yeah, Im’ with ya’

Mark, ur’ bein’ too hard on urself’…u have been shreddin’ matey, very inspirational stuff !

C-ya’ll next week bro’ & letz carve some’ !
Stylin ! (go the berts & flirts I reckon)