The long and sweet road back to skating

This is the story of how we managed to get Zak back on his board after a break of 3.5 months....

When I first started this blog I naively thought that I would be reporting on a weekly basis new tricks learned by our boy on his board. The start of the learning curve was steep and fast. He was so confident and was doing so well that he ended up in Little Legends on Channel 9 within 6 months of first stepping on his board, and he hadn't even turned three yet.

 

But then things started to change. Towards Mid-October, just before he turned 3, he started to show signs of fear of ramps. Ramps that he totally nailed months before. It saddened me to see him scared and losing confidence, and we weren't sure how to deal with this. He started looking really upset whenever we mentioned going to a skatepark, he looked so unhappy and we never worked out why. He was complaining that ramps were too high, too steep and that skateparks had way too many people in them. I personally have accompanied him on every trip to a skatepark and there wasn't a single event I witnessed that would explain this sudden loss of confidence. It came out of the blue, just as he was managing the drop-ins from the coping ramps...We just figured that it came with his development, and that suddenly turning 3 meant that he was more aware of the dangers involved in balancing on his board on top of a steep ramp. So we didn't insist...much. 

Then his poor little 3-year-old life went hectic, amidst the trip to Brazil for 3 weeks where he barely got the chance to skate, the house move, the school move (twice in 6 weeks), mum's new job, dad's new job, he had a bit to get used to...and he found a new love...cycling. We got him a 10 dollar bike in a garage sale and in no time at all he nailed the cycling too, with a preference for cycling in puddles...

So, this is where the evil manipulative mum comes into play...

Seeing how well he was going with his cycling around the block, I innocently suggested to take him to cycle at the skatepark, as there are often excellent bmx riders doing tricks in our local park. My thought was to get him familiar with the place again, get him confident dropping from the ramps with his bike and finally see skaters again...and perhaps by seeing skaters again, he would find inside himself a renewed buzz for skating.

Evil mum came up with a very useful bribing technique to get him back on his board, a subtle bribe, that will hopefully leave no scars...or extra kgs:

The golden chocolate coin:

He absolutely loved the idea of going to the skatepark to cycle up and down the ramps with the big boy bmx riders. So for every instance where we went to a skatepark I bribed him with a chocolate coin for every time he climbed back up on his board for a quick run. He loves chocolate, so it wasn't too difficult to convince him. The first week was a painful return to square 1. He couldn't even remember how to push on a skateboard and was getting super cranky from falling again and again, he wouldn't go near medium sized ramps which he could do with his eyes closed before. It was pretty surprising how much confidence he'd lost from that long 3 months break.

But I can say that my bribing technique finally worked beautifully as two weeks later, on one Sunday afternoon the skatepark was full of amazing kids filming themselves doing incredible tricks on their boards. And who knows what happened inside Zak's little brain, but you could almost hear a "click" sound as he suddenly dumped his bike, grabbed his board, and started skating around like a little pro, dropping from ramps he'd been refusing to drop from and just getting really comfortable taking turns with the kids as they tried new tricks one at a time. It was a great afternoon. He had found his confidence again. My bribing technique had taken a few weeks to work, but it had finally paid off. I wish I had filmed that day. He had such a little focused face on and you could see he was totally back in his element again. 

Zak and the kids at Revesby skatepark as they try to empty the flooded bowl

3 weeks have now passed and Zak is skating up to 4 times a week after school and on weekends. We're ve very luck to have a great skatepark around the corner always full of excellent skaters that Zak looks up to. These days Zak barely touches his bike at the park and is progressing extremely fast back to the level he was at before the break and with extra confidence and skills. The chocolate coins are forgotten and barely needed. He is once again trying to drop from the big metal coping ramps with our help. What makes me happier than anything is to see his happy little face every time he thinks he landed a "blackfip"!!! 

Welcome back to skateboarding tiny shredder!

Zak with Bucky Lasek during Bowl-a-rama 2013

With the legend himself - Steve Caballero, a great afternoon by his side at Bondi Beach

Ups and downs

2 months since my last post and well...there has been a lot of ups and downs, so we'll start with the:

Zak with his board at Ipanema Beach

Ups...

After a few friends and family members pushed me to send Zak's video to the Little Legends section of the Today show on Channel 9, I finally put together and sent a 60 second video that got put on air a couple of weeks later. I'm still waiting to get a copy of the program on DVD to share with you on this blog. (Can you believe Channel 9 not only omitted to tell me the day they would broadcast Zak's video but is also requesting $60 payment to have a copy of it on DVD?) I'm a sucker so I'm paying for it but I'm still fuming! I can't believe he was on tv and we didn't get to see it or ask anyone to record it for us. Anyway it will be nice to have it for him when he is older.

Here is a copy of what I sent, short and sweet:

Also we went to Brazil for a 3-week holiday to see my family and friends and get Zak acquainted with the country where everyone speaks the weird language he's been learning since birth. I had no idea, having not been there in 5 years what a perfect spot Rio is for anyone who enjoys cruising the city on a longboard. There are longboards e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e, everyone and their dog owns one and they are hugely long and have massive thick wheels to allow for the crappy sidewalk conditions and holes everywhere. There are even stands by the beach that can rent skateboards by the hour. Heaven!

Zak at Lagoa's skatepark, or next to, the skatepark was too
full that afternoon, so we moved to the tennis court instead

Zak had a well deserved break from his daily skateboarding routine in Sydney and only got to skateboard up to twice a week, mostly on the cycle-path by Ipanema beach, and a couple of times down at the Lagoa Skatepark which is a perfect spot for his skill set with plenty of room for developing new skills. The problem was that, very often, it was full  and due to the way the skatepark is designed it becomes very hard to utilise the whole area when it's so busy. People tend to just stick to one straight line. 

Checking out the humongous bowl at Arpoador, Rio

At the Lagoa skatepark bowl

Another interesting UP is that when we got back last Thursday we got the chance to check out the skatepark in Parramatta, west of Sydney, and it was the first time Zak skated back home, the day we landed from Brazil jetlagged as hell. Zak was amazing, he was in full form and skated better than ever. He also climbed up an enormous ramp and insisted on going down from the very top. For the first time since he started skating I actually had to beg him not to go down. It was way too steep and I just didn't think he would make it and had a terrible feeling things would go very very wrong if he dropped down from such high ramp. But it was nice to see him getting cocky again. It had been a while! He seems to be enjoying having his dad skate with him nowadays, and it's nice to see father and son bonding on wheels.

Zak in Florianopolis (Estreito) skatepark

Now for the downs...

In October, after demanding to go to the Riverwood skatepark day after day to see his big boy friends and skate with them, Zak developed a real aversion at the thought of even going near that skatepark. And there is absolutely no explanation to it. I've been with him every single time to that skatepark and the big boys have always been adorable and helpful and supportive. But nowadays, just at the mention of going to Riverwood, he goes mental, 3 year old style! Who knows what's going through his little head...

Zak in the big bowl at Bondi before our trip to Brazil

As I write today, we've had another example of taking Zak to the skatepark and he is so tired that he won't even consider going down the ramp or going on his board, and just throws himself on the floor and cries for no other reason than being a 3 year old who is extra tired at the end of the long day at pre-school. It's understandable, but then again he's the one that asks to go skating after I pick him up and throws another major tantrum if we decide to go home instead. So there is no winning when dealing with that age group. You just need to sigh and hope that in a few years it will all be much easier somehow. 

The final thing which has become a recurrent theme in the last couple of months, is the danger awareness that Zak developed, the full understanding of cause and consequence, and the fear of hurting himself when dropping from the big ramps. He often refuses or only reluctantly accepts to skate down steep ramps where he used to fearlessly drop-in from when he was 2.5. He admitted a couple of days ago that he's scared. Sometimes I catch myself putting pressure on him to go down these crazy steep ramps where he would normally be so comfortable in the past, and have to remind myself that he is only tiny and just turned 3, and to stop being such a silly mum. It's surprising to notice that in last than 4 months such a drastic shift in risk awareness has happened. I wonder if anything in particular has caused it or if it's a natural progression in his intelligence and brain development. It will be interesting to see where this all goes...

Rock faking

Carving, sliding, manuals and rock fakies - a whole new world of skills out there

The buzz of going down steep ramps is a thing of the past, Zak is now much more interested in getting those slides and ollies off the ground. He tries and tries and tries, and respectfully waits for his turn amongst the big boys at the skatepark. 

I just put the latest video together, including yesterday's very exciting first ever drop in on a mini bowl followed by a rock-fakie, which was then repeated 6 times in a row confirming that it wasn't just beginner's luck. I was even able to film it twice so that his super proud dad could see it at home. It's such a buzz for all of us who have been following his progress from 5 months ago to see him do something now that is so difficult to achieve.

The other really cute thing is that Zak has grown to really love his fellow skate mates from our local Riverwood skatepark. They are about 15 years old and treat him really nicely and are so very supportive and patient with him. I barely get to park the car before I hear Zak shouting from his baby car seat, Ellijah!!!! Peter!!!!! and rushes to meet and high five them! Such a little dude! He thinks he is one of them. I guess he is. 

Riverwood is a smallish skatepark but has great features making it a great training ground for Zak. The mini bowl specially, pictured below, is just the best for Zak's level as he can practice again and again all the little tricks involved in dropping in from a metal coping ramp in a bowl, rock faking, kick turning, 50-50s, etc. Nowadays he is reluctant to be taken anywhere but Riverwood. It's his favourite skatepark, and it's great.

Bondi Beach and Fairy Meadow's skatepark

Bondi Beach and Fairy Meadows's skatepark (Wollongong)

We've been exploring several new skateparks including Fairy Meadow in Wollongong and Bondi Beach (see photos below) which was surprisingly full of amazing tiny skateboarders, maybe not as young as Zak, but quite tiny too. It's a crazy place to skate with so many tourists photographing every move you make. It definitely teaches a young one like Zak to cope with the pressure of being watched from every angle. 

The graffiti on the walls has changed a lot since the last time I set foot on the Bondi skatepark and I had a great time taking shots of Zak with the funky background. Whilst we were there, Zak got filmed by a film crew from Foxtel. In retrospect, they were shooting for King's Cross ER, a real life drama following the emergency crew as they tend to all the accidents and injuries that get directed to St Vincent's hospital in Sydney, so, considering they were filming Zak, they were probably hoping for some drama there. Thankfully they wasted their time...Zak won't make the show this time.

        

We made it to Fairy Meadows in Wollongong about one month ago. The skatepark was interesting, nothing like the ones Zak is used to in Sydney. A concrete set up with a hugely steep ramp, a series of banks, a few boxes, but the best thing about it was the quality of the skaters there, doing incredible tricks and some amazing bikers, one of which we recognised from the Big Air School Demo for the Bike & Lifestyle show back in June sometime. Anyway, Fairy Meadows must be one of the only good skateparks around that way, as all the great riders were located in one spot. And as a side note, they had music playing from a portable stereo system...and despite the type of music being our own, we still had no choice but listen to Run DMC's "Walk this Way" 3 times in the space of 45 minutes. Seriously, that guy needs some iTune vouchers to get himself some new tunes.

4 months later - competitions galore

The end of winter...

Where to start? I realise I haven't updated this blog in almost a month now, so the amount of news to catch up on is pretty intensive.

Here is the latest video I put together with the latest footage from August 2012.

In no particular order, here are the main facts:

Skills update 

Zak has been practicing more and more kick-turns when heading towards a ramp and has been managing much better. He is not far off getting them right. Another month perhaps?

Dropping from metal coping ramps - He can drop in from small ones with no help and from bigger ones by holding onto our hands. He is getting really confident with that and in no time at all he'll be on his own.

He is also pretty confident at changing the course of his trajectory when going downhill and heading to a different direction at high speed. It's becoming quite entertaining to watch especially when he puts his serious and focused face on.

Ollie practice is his new favourite thing. He doesn't really have a clue how to ollie, but he sees the big boys do it and just wants to copy them. And he wants to ollie up ramps, up rails, down steps, up steps, down massive drops, crazy boy. 

The Stupid Mum incident

One week before the Big Air School Momentum Series competitions were about to start, Zak's mum (that's me, stupid me...too embarrassed to say "I") forgot to put Zak's skateboard in the boot of the car and drove off without it, only to realise 2 days later that it was missing. Doh! How to explain to Zak that he's become skateboardless bang on the week before he's supposed to compete?...Only one solution...get a brand new board immediately! Thanks God for Westside Connection in Dulwich Hill who had a mini board, perfect for Zak. Turns out they only had a really good one, and funnily enough the guy there wasn't that keen to sell it to me. "No, he's only 2.5 years old, that's a waste of money" the guy said. Fair enough, but I know Zak is going to make good use of it. I don't think people realise that Zak is on his board every single day for at least 1 hour, if not 2 or 3 or even 6 hours like the last couple of weekends. And considering how dry this winter has been, he hasn't really had a break. He doesn't want to have a break. It's skate time every day. Thankfully there is a variety of skateparks around the area, so we can add some excitement to the daily routine. 

The Big Air School Momentum Series Competitions  

Considering the first comp of the series was in Engadine, and Zak had never skated there, I took him for an afternoon session at the skatepark a few days prior. Cocky as usual he climbed the biggest ramp and dropped in with no hesitation...only to be tricked by the fast transition at the bottom of the ramp and fall face and body flat on the floor at high speed. It wasn't pretty and he was very upset and frightened. The ramps in Engadine turned out to take many skaters and bmx riders there by surprise during the actual event, and more than one ended up with some injury during the competition. But the biggest issue with Zak falling wasn't the little bruise on his belly, but rather the fact that it completely shook him and took away his confidence. Since the falls in Engadine he's been reluctant to approach the usual steep ramps from the local skateparks, and is becoming much more risk aware. It's somehow reassuring and slightly frustrating at the same time, especially when you know he can do them so well, and has been doing them for over 6 weeks now. But in a way it's good to see him understand the dangers and assess the risks more wisely. 

Engadine Comp - 18th August 2012

Not sure that Engadine gets many events like the Big Air School comp in their local skatepark, because the buzz that the event generated in the small community was a pleasure to witness. It looked like every single kid from the area was present at the skatepark, and all turned up at least 1 hour early and were all there registered and ready to go at the scheduled time. We didn't really know what was expected of Zak though. The only thing we knew is that the 0-7 year olds competed first. We found out later that they had 3 minutes to do their thing, whatever that may be, and then they would all get medals anyway because after all they are just tiny, and don't really get the concept of competing. At least Zak doesn't. I still refer to it as the Skate Olympics, as it kind of coincides with the end of the London 2012 Olympics and he has heard of that and he likes the idea of getting a medal at the end. 

Zak did well in those 3 minutes, alognside two little kids on scooters. Unfortunately for Zak, no other tiny skateboarder was there to compete. Just "rubbish scooters' as he calls them nowadays. There is a big "scooters vs skaters" thing that happens on skateparks but more on that another day...

Here are photos of Zak in Engadine. The Shire council rep interviewed us and took loads of shots of Zak for the Christmas edition of the local paper. We should be getting some copies of the photos soon. 

Five Dock Comp - Sunday 19th August 2012

Zak and Jackson - 2 tiny skateboarders
(2.5 yrs old and 3 yrs old)

As the Five Dock skatepark is huge, Zak stayed around the section with the small metal coping ramp and did a few drop ins on his own which got us very excited, and the 3 minutes allocated to the tiny tots was over in the blink of an eye. I can't omit to mention little Jackson, another tiny skateboarder who is doing really well and probably a future champion for Zak to compete with. They were very adorable together and both got well deserved medals at the end! Thanks to uncle Pete, aunty Maiko and cousin Akira for turning up to support our little man. 

 Dulwich Hill Comp - Saturday 25th August 2012

Last Saturday was a stunning spring like day, and we headed to Dulwich Hill with the confidence that Zak was going to do really well as he is so familiar with that skatepark and has been dropping in from the steepest ramps available to everyone's amazement every weekend for the last month or so. But that didn't happen on comp day. Oh no...Zak developed this fear of falling since the Engadine comp, and refused to go near any of the big ramps. It took us a lot of bribing and persuasion to get him to drop from one of the steep ramps when the tiny tots 3 minutes of glory started. It was perfect timing and down he went and lots of people clapped, and it was all finished again in the blink of an eye.  He loved the clapping and the cheering but more than anything he loved having his little mate Atticus compete with him. Those two are going places, and it's adorable to see them skating together again. Afterwards Matt had his moment of glory when he got interviewed for the Big Air School documentary and had the chance to talk about differences between skateboarding nowadays to back in the 80s and seeing his kid do so well, etc etc etc...Happy Days!

Higher and higher, steeper and steeper

Fun times

The last 2 weeks have been amazing, we have been getting a real buzz accompanying Zak on his fearless quest for steeper and taller ramps. It's mind boggling to see him confidently drop in from ramps I would not even stand next to. Ramps that his dad embarrassingly would not have chosen to drop from, except that now, he has to, because his 2 year old son can! The pressure is on!

Rockdale has become one of our local skateparks as we go there at least a couple of times a week. He also had a fantastic time at Monster on Thursday and I am planning on taking him back there during the week when there are no school kids around. Today I took him for the second time to Dulwich Hill and he shredded like never before with a crowd cheering him up every time he dropped from the ridiculously steep ramps. Video below:

Since last week, we invested on a much better helmet for him. Despite not being so easily recognisable on the skateparks, and not having the cute effect that his little shark helmet had on anyone around, his head is definitely in a much safer place, and it's a relief considering the height and steepness of the ramps he is dropping from.

The other really cool thing was that SkaterHQ posted one of Zak's videos on their facebook site, and sent Zak a SkaterHQ jumper through the post, which was quite sweet. 

Finally, another video of the week prior which I hadn't had the chance to add to the blog.

Time for bed...

3 months skating anniversary

A turning point

Week 13 in this skateboarding journey has seen major changes in Zak's attitude to skating. The fear has completely vanished, and ramp steepness, height, length don't mean a thing to him anymore. Anything goes. Well except for ramps with metal coping. Those need work still.

Without any possible explanation our little man woke up this week fearless. The main changes were noticed at Revesby skatepark last Tuesday when suddenly any ramp was easy enough for him to drop in from. Considering the week prior he wouldn't even drop in from the smallest of all ramps there, it was a pretty big development. 

Seeing that Revesby was mastered in one evening, I took him to Rockdale the next couple of days, and once again  no ramp was scary enough or tall enough for our little man. Well except for the ones with metal coping and the ones dropping onto the bowl. He did try one too many times to drop in from the top of the bowls but it's a "little" too early for that. He needs to practice dropping in properly from smaller ramps with metal coping before trying the bowls. But considering how eager he is to do it, it's not going to be long now. 

Below is a little video of the last 10 days, another video of his latest Rockdale and Five Dock adventures to follow soon.