Skateboard Lessons

As it turned out yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the Vans Skatepark. I was amazed because I went there the day it opened with a couple of kids I was teaching at the time! I am getting old! I never thought I'd be there with my son one day.

Anyhow, they had a ton of free stuff and about 7 pros came and skated with the kids. Tony Alva was nice enough to come over where Sophia was on the outside to chat with her and then he told me to take a pic of them. He was a nice guy although I have looked at his website which is not so young kid friendly. Yesterday, however, he was a complete gentleman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Alva

Zack learned how to drop in which is very scary when you start off. For those who don't know what that is - it is when a person literally drops into a half or quarter pipe. It is not so tough for a taller kid who is not afraid of heights, but Zack had a bit of trouble getting over how high it is.

It was a little nerve racking watching Zack from afar as he skated next to the very deep empty pool.

This is a group shot of the younger kids in the clinic. There were older kids as well, but for obvious reasons, they separate them. Zack made the middle group of the younger kids. The first step to learning is to learn to push off with your back foot instead of your front. I cannot do that!!! It feels so awkward. Fortunately for Zack, Jeff taught him how to do it. There were many kids who couldn't get it right, and I would have been in that group!!! I never knew it mattered what foot you used, but it makes sense to me after hearing the coach explain it.

Zack learns to drop in... He did learn how to do it on his own, but it was impossible to get a picture of him since even these photos were taken through a gate. He smiled a huge smile and told his coach that he conquered a fear. The coach smiled and got Zack to do it five more times.

Learning to jump up on a platform. For some reason, he likes this move.

This trick he learned on his own at home, but he has it down so that he was able to jump from higher and land it over and over.

He got a free t-shirt and got it signed by a pro which made him super jazzed as you can imagine. He insisted on wearing it. This was the smallest size they had so he happily skated in what looked like a dress! LOL

There were some seriously good skaters out there. I saw a couple little guys who were doing some difficult jumps and tricks. I watched Zack watch them wondering why he couldn't replicate!

Zack earned his day at the skatepark and the lessons. He has been doing great in school, and recently he has been sharing purposely and even at times when it is something he really doesn't want to share. I'm seeing a lot of growth, and I wanted to reward him in a meaningful way. Little did I know that he'd skateboard from 8AM - 7PM not even stopping to eat!!!! He had tons of water, but no food until I brought something back for him to snack on at around 5ish.

I'll take him there on the weekends when he has reached his goals during the week. I'm hoping that he'll grow into a kid who likes to be involved in many things so that someday in high school he'll want to take part in various "clubs" - chess maybe, band, ummmmmm, he said yes to band, but only if he can play the drums!

Anyone out there have your son in the Boyscouts? Can you tell me about it? I am wondering if this is something to put Zack in.