SKATER'S EDGE
with Bob Denike
I saw him coming down the street. He
was about ten, the same age I was when
I started skateboarding. His board was
really thrashed, mismatched, a hand-me-
down from his brother maybe, and he too
was thrashed. Really dirty, bleeding knees,
torn shorts, baseball cap flipped up, a
homemade skateshirt and a plaid cotton
shirt tied by the sleeves around the waist.
He was today's skater.
I looked at him as he whizzed by, he
slowed down, calmly dragging his foot and
he stopped in front of me.
"What are you looking at?" he said.
"What? Hey, how old are you?"
"Ten," he said, thinking it over, "What's
your problem?
DECKS
CONCAVE
7 ply maple
wheel wells
77-WOODY
30" x 10"
SNUB NOSE
George Wilson 7-Pr
Rocket
30½" x 10"
31" x 10%"
29 x 10%"
"Uh, no problem, I just skate myself. You "sidewalk surfing, bigger than the Hoola
ever heard of THRASHER?"
THRASHER?"
"Yea, the magazine."
hoop", etc. etc. For some reason the media
just loves to tag things as fads, to sort of
let you in on the secret, let you in on it
"No, sure haven't. Do you want some before they kill it off.
thing from me?"
"Uh, no, I'm sorry kid."
As I watched him skate off, I thought
about that kid. He was me twelve years
ago. Kind of clueless, didn't know about
any of the magazines, stars, contests,
media hype, etc. He just skates for the fun
of it, the only real reason to skate.
The kid really got me thinking. Why do I
still skate? Twelve years from now will he
still skate? Will skating even exist? He is
in much the same position as I was back
then. The sport was growing, spreading,
becoming a 'cool' thing to do. He has his
first board, he doesn't know anything exists
other than him, his board and his friends.
He skates because he loves skateboard-
ing. But will he still be skating long into the
future?
You see, this is where everything be-
comes a bit more complicated. Skateboard-
ing's history, unfortunately, seems to always
repeat itself. The people who 'run the show
seem to get reincarnated from the same
molds, fall into the same grooves and carry
skating down the same path. You can't really
pinpoint any blame, but we are on our way.
How can we tell? Certain signs will begin
to pop up. Like when skating reaches fad
status again. You'll know it when the media
(T.V., non-skate magazines, newspapers)
suddenly begin doing cute little stories on
7-RolleR
TRUCK
now available
George Wilson rollin' 7-RolleR
TRUCK
Z Transbeams Z Railsliders Z Trucksliders in white or black
Z Skateboard Blanks shape your own - 7 ply maple 11 x 33
concave or flat and bearings - fine GMN's & super sw stickers
Z Products, PO Box 5397, Santa Monica, CA 90405 (213) 476-4857
The next sign and it's already here, is
junk equipment. It seems that a lot of the
same people who believe in fads also be-
lieve in selling garbage to kids. It's sort of
like a disease that spreads easily, this
cheap crap, originating in Taiwan. Symp-
toms are: plastic wheels, non-roll bearings,
pot-metal trucks, non-locking hardware,
plywood (not plyed wood), decks and the
most dangerous joke of them
skateboards with no griptape.
all,
Following closely and hand in hand with
cheap equipment will be the pressure by
the government, legislation or the safety
council who will be trying to protect us from
ourselves. We will see again those laws,
rules and regulations against kids. That is
really the bottom line, laws being passed
to stop kids from having a good time, re-
gardless of the activity.
After the lawmakers have a go at it, you
can put money on something else: organi
zations. They will react to the laws. You'll
see one organization pop up, then another,
and another all claiming to be helping
skateboarding grow but then insist on only
listening to themselves. They will again
pound their heads into the wall as they try
to clean up, organize and prepare
skateboarding for mass acceptance. But
what mass are they trying to be accepted
by? Mom and Dad? Big companies? Big
money? Ah-ha, big money.
Yes, the cash is coming. Some say it is
already here and I can't disagree, but what
will the big bucks bring? How about big
contests? Who really benefits from a com-
petition? How about more new companies?
Oh yea, that goes without saying. Or how
about another magazine with its main
reason for existance being to make some
cash?
The big money will also bring back the
possibility of manufacturers influencing the
magazines with their pocketbooks. Will this
happen? Will their be companies who will
hold back because the contents of edito-
rials deal with reality, a reality that may step
on a few toes once in a while?
Finally, if we are talking about history re-
peating itself, don't hold your breath for
skateparks. Skaters should not have to pay
to skate, it's that simple. No one should
have to skate in a controlled environment
with rules and regulations. Skateparks ac-
tually created inactivity, kids became
spoiled, stale and lazy.
And what about the kid, the ten year
old who skates because he loves skate-
boarding? Well, fortunately he has the most
power. He decides to buy or not to buy. He
decides if he wants to skate or not to skate.
He holds the whole thing together. If skate-
boarding's history is repeating itself let's
hope it doesn't make the biggest mistake
it made before, that is, not listening to the
skater and to what he wants. This is the
first step in laying out a new path for skat-
ing. I hope we can do it. Take care and
skate safe.
THE NEW V-3
SKATER MARK GONZALES
VISION
SANTA
SAN JOSE
VENTURE
MCKS
15