I know all you kids out there are ga-ga goo-goo over all those whippety snapper flips and combos. Taking technical skating to the most difficult levels is always impressive. But somewhere in between doing nollie frontside hardflip back footed lasers to manual backside inward heelflips out and doing fakie 720 big flips to backside tailslides I think an important part of skating is being overlooked.

While skating is always about pushing limits both of the skateboard and of the skateboarder its also about self expression. You don't need to have a full Tony Hawk's pro skater 15 bag of tricks. You don't always have to jump the biggest stuff or link the most tricks. You don't even have to flip your board if you don't want to. All you really need is to be comfortable riding the board the way you want to. Get your own style. I'll use one of my all time favorite skateboarders out there as an example. Kenny Reed. The man just oozes style. Watch some of his parts and you'll see he's not the most technical skater out there. 50-50's on ledges, crooked grinds, kickflips variations and 360 flips. Most of the time he's just doing some stylish 180 or ollie into, off of, or over various things. He's not out there doing backside 360 front foot impossibles to manual. (Though that would be one hell of a trick.)

It's okay to rock the basics in skateboarding. Not everyone has the technical aptitude of say Rodney Mullen. Don't get down on yourself if the most technical trick you can do into a manual is an ollie. Do what you do, and make it look pretty. Push yourself to try it on everything. If all you can do is ollie make it your mission to do a pretty ollie on everything you can think of. Make every trick count. Put your soul in it and let people know that THAT trick you're doing is yours. That's not just an ollie thats YOUR ollie. You'd be surprised the respect and recognition you can get with a little style and only a handful of tricks.

It's not a video game, it's skateboarding. Forget about the points and just ride baby. Do it while you can however you can and make it look good. That is all. Go steez it.

i dont care as long as it looks good

I read the first paragraph. Best thing I read all day. +rep Time to go nollie frontside hardflip back footed lasers to manual.

Good post, someone who feels the same way I do.

this guy dposnt deserve this much rep for only ten posts

this guy dposnt deserve this much rep for only ten posts

stop hating because he is talking about ppl like you with a million tricks and no style

did this guy get like xs1000 rep in 10 post?

wow i FAIL.

but i feel ya dog. this kinda does refer to mrck though haha

Great reminder, this forum needed such a thread. I've been saying it pretty much everywhere, but I find it so awkward when kids take up skating, don't even bother learning how to ride their board properly, and focus on learning almost stationary tricks, because they don't see anything in skateboarding but tricks, tricks, and tricks they think they have to catch and collect like Pokémons. In the end they end up being really good at flipping their board around, but don't really have any kind of actual board control and miss out on some of the most enjoyable things skateboarding has to offer without even knowing it, therefore they completely underestimate it. They only see it from a mathematical point of view and completely disregard the artistic side. In the end, they're the ones who end up with the handicap of being completely restricted in their skating - they usually can't skate anything that's not flat, they use inclined driveways instead of steep banks because they don't feel comfortable on a terrain that's actually different and takes a form of skill they don't have to skate on, same goes for transition, or any rough street spot. Then those kids will bash someone Brent Atchley because 'all he does is kickturns' (sigh... I swear I've read this before on this very forum), they miss out on the main part of skateboarding, because they never developped the thought that it could be more than just tricks, manoeuvers, stunts, flip tricks, or THPSesque combos extravaganza. Therefore for the most part they don't really appreciate skateboarding for what it is - they lack hindsight.

That's exactly why you shouldn't skip the basics, and learn to ride your board properly, then tricks come second. Your style will develop with time, but you have to have the basics, I don't really care if you can do tricks such as pressure flip late flip x foot nearly stationary, and I actually will completely disregard it if you have the pretention to think that it makes you 'good on a skateboard', because you would be in the wrong, someone who can cruise down a hill and bust out a nicely flicked levelled and caught kickflip as if it were nothing with spontaneity and style will be a hundred times better in my book. Of course if you could bust out a perfect pressure flip late flip x foot spontaneously while going down a hill at full speed you would be much better than the guy who can kickflip, you would even be freaking awesome, but it's not tricks that count the most. But to appreciate that you need to get some hindsight, lose the mathematical approach to skateboarding, and regard it and experience it as what it truely is.

Then whether you have a 'good' style or a 'bad' style (in terms of appreciation) is another story, as long as it's yours - it's fine, and you shouldn't really force it in a way that doesn't feel natural, or else you will become a mindless robot and fall back into the soulless mathematical approach to skating. It's not about the tricks you do as well, there's no 'good trick' or 'bad trick' to do, it's about making it look yours. Because that's what progression actually is in skateboarding. You need to love skating, and put your heart and soul into everything you do. That's where style literally comes from.

'Style is the hallmark of a temperament stamped upon the material at hand' (André Maurois)

but i feel ya dog. this kinda does refer to mrck though haha

How so ? I may like doing dork tricks, I've been skating for close to a decade, and never skipped the basics. I have my own style (even though it's not always pretty), which isn't the case of a lot of self-proclaimed 'tech' skaters. I could probably do the tricks in your sig with more style than you, not trying to be arrogant there, but you don't seem to really know what you're talking about. I'll add to that that you've never skated with me and you have no clue of how my real-life skating looks like, since I only film myself when I'm trying to push my limits on technical tricks. I should ask my friend to film one of my usual skate days for you one of those days, you would be surprised.

very well exicuted thread.

this guy dposnt deserve this much rep for only ten posts

It's not about how many posts he/she has. It's about the time and effort they put into 1 single post.

EX!

6,000 posts 1 dark green. =/. Should they get rep just because they have 6k posts?

if you're havin fun who cares how it looks

if you're havin fun who cares how it looks

But it's more fun to have actual control over your board, to catch your tricks and to land bolts right ? Between a nearly stationary flatground kickflip that rolls over the ground, spins 90° backside because you're throwing your arms everywhere and has to be ticktacked away from, and a nicely flicked and caught kickflip that's popped decently so that the board is sucked up to your feet while cruising down the street at high speed as if it were nothing over a manhole just because you felt like it, if you were given the choice to do one of those, who would be silly enough to pick the first one ?

As much as this gets discussed, it really doesn't need to be said to those who actually have what it takes to ride well. There's kids who get it, and kids who don't. The ones who do jump on the board and have that aggressive approach naturally.

hah well even if my style is ugly i think like you..
i like to do weird tricks and such because they're easier for me than basic variations.. but what i enjoy the most is just pushing really fast around my neighbour ollieing or kickflipping the cracks of the ****ed up floor
tommorrow i'll go to the streets and try to get all my stuff going fast and as clean as possible
for some reason this inspired me
nice post

this guy dposnt deserve this much rep for only ten posts

is your rep to post ratio feeling a little weak?

really I have around 2000 posts less than you and 400-500 more rep.

perhaps you should work on getting your style better and making more quality posts?

Good post. Even though it would be nice to have some more advanced tricks to me down, its good to just stay in your bag of tricks and have fun.

I never really rushed through tricks, I think the tricks I can do are not completely ugly, which is nice. I don't really like the whole, million tricks, no style thing.

But it's more fun to have actual control over your board, to catch your tricks and to land bolts right ? Between a nearly stationary flatground kickflip that rolls over the ground, spins 90° backside because you're throwing your arms everywhere and has to be ticktacked away from, and a nicely flicked and caught kickflip that's popped decently so that the board is sucked up to your feet while cruising down the street at high speed as if it were nothing over a manhole just because you felt like it, if you were given the choice to do one of those, who would be silly enough to pick the first one ?

yeh man thats true but some people prefer quantity over quality

yeah I think its better to learn to get a good base and style, to feel comfortable and rule the skateboard. rather than just knowing a load of tricks, even if that does look cool theres more to skateboarding

yeah obviously you'd pick the second kickflip, but like arto-geoff said, it's just fun to do what you can do :) sometimes it is cool though if you can just dedicate a week or something to getting better style, and making sure that you can make stuff look good. especially if you're going for sponsorship, they wanna see a clean kickflip over a worm-crunching tre flip ;)

good post man, you deserve the +rep

If you want steez, just ask Carroll.

this guy dposnt deserve this much rep for only ten posts

stop hating because he is talking about ppl like you with a million tricks and no style

PLAYED.

But yeah, you're so right. I'd rather just see a really good looking kickflip down a 3 stair, than some ugly bigflip tailgrab down a 10 with a stiff landing.

You pick up style along the way of skating. I don't think someone should go out and try to make there tricks look very stylish or try to create art. I think the skater should just go do what they want and develop there own sense of comfort on the board.

because they don't see anything in skateboarding but tricks, tricks, and tricks they think they have to catch and collect like Pokémons.

Spot on.

Yea sgtbrowneye I agree with what your saying, but disagree with how you say it. Some of it seems contradictory.

While skating is always about pushing limits both of the skateboard and of the skateboarder its also about self expression. You don't need to have a full Tony Hawk's pro skater 15 bag of tricks. You don't always have to jump the biggest stuff or link the most tricks. You don't even have to flip your board if you don't want to. All you really need is to be comfortable riding the board the way you want to. Get your own style.

Well for one thing, I think techy skating is a style in itself. Maybe you've seen alot of tech skaters (On this site) who aren't completely comfortable and stylish on the board because they haven't been skating for +8 years. Most of the skaters I know who have alot of style, no matter the style of skating have been skating for +8 years usually. The oldschool style of skaters with less flip tricks and such that I have seen have been skating even more. I think you haven't seen enough aged and experienced skaters of the tech style. I don't think skating is going in that direction either. I just think there happens to be a large population of skaters on this site with that style. Maybe tech IS their style. Whatever will keep a person skating you know? They will gain steez along the way. And I think your odd saying it is about SELF expression, when tech skating is a type of self expression. As in thats the way they are skating, its different than alot of others. Self expression doesn't have to mean pure steez.

It's okay to rock the basics in skateboarding.

Its okay to rock whatever you like in skateboarding mang. I think everyone knows that and thats why they skate the way they do.

You'd be surprised the respect and recognition you can get with a little style and only a handful of tricks.

Same thing with some creativity... Did I hear Chris Haslam? (Sorry I had to bring him up...) Yes he has got style, but he's an innovator. Some of his tricks just make you go holy ****. Hes also been skating for a good long time. Same thing with most great skaters.

Forget about the points and just ride baby. Do it while you can however you can and make it look good. That is all. Go steez it.

Making your tricks look steezy isn't the only way to skate. Back to Chris Haslam. Amazing. He didn't go for just the most massive amount of steez on simple tricks. He uses his tech and creativity. Its not all about the steez. Everyone loves style, but thats not what skatings needs to be focused on. If you look around, it seems style takes time. Most people don't learn a new trick then immediately make it look sick. I would say most of the time style gradually increases and you become more skillful and able to control yourself better.

Just ride baby. I think that sums it up. People will skate how they want, and should. But they can make tech skating look good, as many people have shown. And 'tech' can lead to some of the most creative skating. Which can be the most amazing in my eyes. Personally I love skating like Chris Haslams, or some of the stuff in Fully Flared, its not super tech, but it is different and creative. Alot of it isn't the most stylish, but its different. I love to see style, but would rather see a nice new/innovative trick/style of skating (With an average amount of 'steez') than another extremely steezy tre flip. I mean, we all love style, but without the creative thinking, things can get tedious...


I know a kid, who can do quite abit of stuff. More than me. Yet alot of the time it looks like poop. He does not have style. I bug him about it and of course I love style. Yet as time goes by he has been getting better and better style. Now his kickflips aren't as inconsistent and ugly. They look okay. His trick selection is improving and he is taking it down more and different obstacles, but just because he doesn't have pro style right now doesn't mean he should just immediately stop and work on style. He needs to skate and get better control over himself, which ultimately will equal more style. It will come gradually. If he was supposed to just stop and get his tricks super steezy he probably wouldn't be having fun. Now that doesn't make sense.

You can't try and force someone to have style. They will gain it as they gain skill and WANT to get their tricks more stylish. Working on an ollie until it is 7 decks high and tweaked like a mofo isn't all that fun for everyone.

Yea, its about style. Yet everyone will get style as they gain skill and want to. You can't expect people fairly new to skating to have an amazing style.


I think sgtbrowneye partially missed the point, but MRCK portrays the idea ALOT better.

Its not really about 'steez'. That should come with time. The basics are what is needed. Tech skaters will progress and get style just aswell if the basics aren't overlooked. If MRCK didn't post, I would say this is bashing tech skaters. (I personally am not one, but I love creativity in skating.) Which is just silly. The people who restrict themselves may not grow to have style.


if you're havin fun who cares how it looks

Hah, fun. Isn't that what skating is about?


But it's more fun to have actual control over your board, to catch your tricks and to land bolts right ? Between a nearly stationary flatground kickflip that rolls over the ground, spins 90° backside because you're throwing your arms everywhere and has to be ticktacked away from, and a nicely flicked and caught kickflip that's popped decently so that the board is sucked up to your feet while cruising down the street at high speed as if it were nothing over a manhole just because you felt like it, if you were given the choice to do one of those, who would be silly enough to pick the first one ?

Who says its more fun. I think thats talking more about technique. A guy can have some bad/weird technique and still have control. It might not look as good. Some people actually have that different technique that seems bad, but looks amazing.

And if your tricks flat out don't look good/bad technique, I think your still just learning and haven't made it to the point where you can just choose to learn to make your tricks look nice. Actually making your tricks look great and consistent isn't all that fun for everyone. Since it usually requires tons of repetition. You normally don't have it in a few tries.


Ehhhhhhhh.... I think skating is just about skating... Do what you do. Don't worry if someone thinks your kickflips should be 4 decks high and tweaked massively in your first year of skating. Skate how you skate. Just don't forget the basics and that you shouldn't limit yourself. Steez can wait, fun shouldn't have to.




No hate :icon_peac

style is important
but sometimes the "text book" style doesnt appeal to some

everybody likes something different so its hard to classify

i enjoy style much like ragdoll,lizardking,sammy baca,colin fiske,fos
its much different then say
mike mo,prod,koston,guy m .. ect
its kinda pointless to argue who has style and who doesnt

it all depends on who you like
:)

You shoudlnt knock anyones style.
Like Johnny16tx said, "it all depends on who you like".
Everyone has a different view of style and how it should look. You cant label one person as unstylish, cause someone else might find him really steezy.
It's been said before, the most important thing is fun.
If someone lands a trick sketchy, but they have a smile on their face, thats good enough for me.

if you're havin fun who cares how it looksThat's what I think.

I would also like to point out that style has barely anything to do with sketchiness, you can be sketchy as hell on all your tricks and still have a remarkable style, Frankie Hill being the best example. Too many people associate what they think style is with how clean your tricks look, while that's not what it is, style is the personal touch you give to your skating, all those little quirks that make your own way to do each trick, and how you express yourself through not only tricks but also the way you stand on your board, your foot positionings, your way to push, your flow, the way your arms move... How you land your tricks falls into the category of style, but because it's not clean or textbook doesn't mean that it isn't stylish (I would be tempted to say that the less textbook it is, the more unique it looks, but then again I like seeing people with different styles, so I would probably get my own tastes in the way).

Again, depends how you view sketchy, when I say sketchy I refer to a bad style.
Others say it wasnt a clean trick.

That's right. Just go out and skate and have fun. Actually, the more you skate with your soul, doing tricks that make you happy, trying new tricks you are committed to, putting 100% of your effort into skating, you'll naturally develop a style. You can't just go out, step on a board and think "i'm gonna gain some style today". No, its not like learning a trick, its not like "i'm gonna learn kickflips today". You have to develop it, and as MRCK said, learn the basics.

BTW Style, as repeated, does not have to be 100% clean. Sure, it would help, but you could have an ugly style even if you landed it on bolts. Style is uniqueness, and everyone has different style. You can replicate your style really close to someone else, but never have the exact style.

Yes, the point about sketchyness not being a part of style was what I was trying to say with the piece about bad technique. Some people don't have the ideal technique, or smoothest landings, (Maybe they are even completely sketch-tacular) but it still looks great. Sketchyness is not about style. Style will be everything, it could even be shown in how you push. They can still land a trick sketchy and have style. It may not be gangsta steez, but it is still their own style. And style develops over time. Yet, sometimes sketchy landings don't necessarily mean the person has style. Maybe they just have not developed style yet and are just learning to get the trick better.

I really do think it's important for new skaters to focus on getting the feel of the board and the control. Usually the case is that people new to skating try and go for flip tricks straight away, and it takes them a hell of a long time, mainly because they haven't got used to the feel of the board first. These are the people who are most likely to quit before they get anywhere.

I was riding a board for at least a year before I even learned shoves or kickflips, I used to just be happy cruising around down small hills, ollieing up kurbs, ollieing off kurbs, 5050 stall on kurbs. By the time I started learning tricks I had complete control over the board, I could also drop in on most ramps comfortably, and it really helped! :)

they usually can't skate anything that's not flat, they use inclined driveways instead of steep banks

*Cough7envenupcough*

I totally agree with this. I practiced ollies for 3 months and I had them 100% consistent and I could control them fairly good. Now I have more control on my ollies then all my friends.

I agree. Too many kids on here have taken up technical skating and have no variety. They rush to learn some new flat trick and get it on film. They dont really try to expand their skating to new places other than flatground. Thats how i used to be until i realized that all my tricks were ugly and nobody wants watch sketchy flat tricks i filmed all the time. Realizing that has helped me a lot. I dont skate only in my driveway anymore. I perfect my tricks and practice so everything is as clean as i can make it. Right now im making a video and so far it has variety and good tricks.

yeah, i guess style is more like your uniqueness, as mentioned. like my friend Tyler, he has the WEIRDEST kickflip in the world. but its not a kickflip, it's Tyler's kickflip. i could tell it apart from a million others. its just unique, i can't even explain it. and also, tre flips are unique, i definitely have my own tre flip ^^

as long as you have fun, it shouldn't matter at all what your "style" is, but everyone will naturally have their own. as far as sketch, it'll improve as you improve, therefore making your style look better, or more appealing. your style will still be your style though, regardless.

:D

Yeah like my friend's tricks look like crap sketch+no style but for some reason I like his style even if it looks like dog poop in the mouth..

You know it's his style.

haha i feel ur pain.

There was a young ripper at the park this evening, couldn't have been 13. More like 11 or 12. He was charging all over the place...lip tricks in the miniramp and in the bowl, and did a mean melon grab transfer over the spine. Sick. Skating fast, riding hard. He knows what's up. The kid had style because he's done it all a bunch--the mileage was obvious.

There was a young ripper at the park this evening, couldn't have been 13. More like 11 or 12. He was charging all over the place...lip tricks in the miniramp and in the bowl, and did a mean melon grab transfer over the spine. Sick. Skating fast, riding hard. He knows what's up. The kid had style because he's done it all a bunch--the mileage was obvious.

Sometimes I love doing that, just attacking the park, riding hard and fast.

Heh, and I love skaters like that. Although I don't see any in real life....

YEah it's all about the steez!!