STEEP
SLOPES
TYPES OF SKATERS
EVERYwhere, there are people, people,
and more people. And then SOMEwhere...
there are skateboarders. There are men,
women, boys, and girls. Then you have
your skateboarders. There are families,
groups, cliques, teams, and clubs. And on
the outside over there, they are running
rampant, they don't care. They're just
skateboarders. There are all different
kinds of people. There are tall people.
there are fat people. There's rich people.
There's short people. People with fat
heads. People with a lot of friends. People
who are skinny. People who are always
worrying how they look. People who don't
care what they look like at all, and people.
who ride skateboards. But, wait a minute....
if people ride skateboards, then they can't
exactly be called people, can they? No, of
course not. Most skaters are subhuman.
Or maybe they're more than human. So,
standardly, they have to be tagged with
some other kind of label. Let's seeeeee.
What can we come up with? How about
"urban sportsman"? No, I don't think so.
Climbing chain-link fences in the middle of
the night in the middle of nowhere to make
raids on steep slopes is not my idea of a
sport. There are no cheerleaders. No
crowds. No money. No Mom and Dad. No
coaches. No teams. No approval. The only
factors involved are three: you, your skate,
and the bank. So, forget the word
"sportsman," it just doesn't work. But if
skaters are not sportsman, then exactly
what are they? Hippies? No, hold on. The
last hippie I ever saw was in 1969. So,
cross hippies out. What about punks? Are
skateboarders punks? What is a punk
anyway? A guy with long hair on the
streets of New York City who shoves a
knife into an old man and then takes the
eight dollars out of his wallet? Or is it some
kid with a skinhead in an Independent shirt
curb-grinding outside a nightclub before a
show? If a punk is the latter, then are all
skaters punks? I don't think so. The only
thing that a skater can really be called is a
skater (or skateboarder). And there are as
many different types of skaters as there
are those regular ol' people.
THE PLAIN, EVERYDAY SKATERS
This is the most common type of
skateboarder. They skate quite often, in
some cases every day. They cruise from
class to class, down to the corner store,
and around the block. A lot of them are little
kids on plastic toys that don't even know of
the most basic flatland moves. Others are
college students on six-inch wide pinners
that they've had since 1976. Most of them
are probably not even aware of
THRASHER Magazine. And they've most
likely never even heard of pool, bank, or
pipe riding. They just skate to get places
and they skate to have fun. They are "real"
skaters in the sense that they have
unknowingly tapped in on the very
essence of skateboarding itself: enjoy-
ment.
THE SOFTCORE LOCALS
The softcore 'boarding enthusiasts
generally tend to be a bit more skate-wise
than the plan everyday skaters, but at the
same time, they are somewhat less
dedicated to the cause than are their
hardcore counterparts. The softcores
skate ramps, banks, pools, hills, and even
rip freestyle in a half-assed way, but they
skate less often (usually on the weekends)
and pick up on things at a slower pace.
They have good equipment and all the
pads, and in many cases, they enter
contests and place high. Most all of them
know of THRASHER Mag, and they have
probably turned into several of the
underground skate rags as well. A great
deal of the softcore locals are in fact very
good skaters with a sizable bag of tricks
from each of the various facets of skating.
THE HARDCORE LOCALS
Okay. These are the boys. When it
comes right down to skateboarding, these
guys just can't get enough. You could
probably spot a hardcore skater even if he
was without board and pads. The sides
and knees of his pants usually feature
gaping holes. His shoes are torn, faded
and frayed. He probably has several
THRASHER stickers on his person, and
the words "skate or die" scratched in large
letters on the back of his jacket. Hardcore
skaters will skate anytime, anywhere, any
way. You can find them at a favorite bank
spot at two in the morning. They skate
backyard ramps for eight hours at a time.
They've been known to spend DAYS
camping out with lanterns in scummy
spillways, holding all-nite vigil sessions.
They travel hundreds and thousands of
miles to seek out new spots and to
participate in contests. In most cases, the
hardcore locals are amongst the best
skaters in the world. They skate for fun and
enjoyment. In fewer cases, they live,
breathe, and eat skating, and ride to
escape. And in a small handful of extreme
cases, these lifers skate not only for fun,
enjoyment, and escape, but they skate
simply because they HAVE to. They have
no choice. There is nothing else in life for
them. Skateboarding is the only simple
answer they can find to this twisted,
confused, drugged-up world in which they
live.
The hardcore skaters are the supreme
style technicians, as good as the best, that
realize that there has never been any
activity in the history of the world even
remotely similar to the sensation of riding
the warped planes, flat walks, and vertical
and inverted surfaces. Skateboarding is
the only element these hopeless, devoid
outcasts have come to know.
THE HEAVYWEIGHT PROS
These skaters seem to always draw
lines that all the other types of skaters
would refuse to even DREAM of! The pros
always seem to do everything right. And
they make doing it right look so easy!
Six-foot airs, multiple variations, and the
fluid style are all the trademarks of the
pros. Like all the other types, the profes-
sionals ride for fun, enjoyment, and
escape, but unlike the others, they get paid
for doing it! They careen for green. They
thrash for cash. And they grind trucks for
bucks. They get flowed long trips, stacks of
equipment, and appear in the media often.
These guys are the best skaters in the
world (along with a few of the hardcore
locals), they work hard, risk all, and they
deserve a lot more than they get!
So, now that we've gone over all the
basic types of skaters, it's now time for you
to decide which group you fall into, and to
think about which group you'd like to be
into. If you're a plain, everyday skater and
someday hope to be a hardcore local, then
what can you do about it? Well, if you don't
already know, then I'm not going to tell you.
But I'll say one thing. It has a lot to do with
attitude, and persistence doesn't hurt. So,
pick up the stick, drop in, and go to work.
It's simple! You see, it's not ALL in the wrist!
GSD
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