Keep diggin'.
Generators need juice.
Skateboarders:
A Perspective
Words and photos
by Darrel Delgado
998
Build your own.
Salba deathwatch.
THRASHER
The author at Ammo.
KATEBOARDERS ARE UNIQUE AND HIGHLY MOTIVATED
individuals who are capable of much more than they are
given credit for. If we want to make something happen, we
can pull it off almost every time. Skaters are unbiasedly some
of the most incredible individuals that I have ever met. We are
creative artists who should be proud of the way we have chosen
to express ourselves. Skaters should not be underestimated on
any level. You may have heard of skaters graduating from col-
lege, owning businesses, dating or marrying women of high
moral character or status, holding good jobs in the workplace, or
hosting art exhibitions. In skateboarding's brief history, much has
been accomplished by skaters.
We all share this unique sport that has given many of us strength,
confidence, high self-esteem, incomparable personal satisfaction,
and a pure way to unleash pent-up aggressions. Leave it up to a
skater to have an optimistic view and visualize what is possible on
a small or large scale in any given situation.
Skating is skating no matter how we look at it. Younger skaters
may be into learning street-oriented tricks, and older skaters may
have an entirely different agenda for what they want to learn, but it's
still just skateboarding. Whether you are doing a handrail or a lay-
back on a bank, it's still skateboarding. Most skaters I meet these
days are open-minded about all types of skating and can appreciate
"old school" maneuvers, and the smart ones try to learn about skat-
ing history so they can broaden their horizons and realize the end-
less possibilities that lie before them.
Every once in awhile I meet skaters who don't like the so-called
"old school," but it's these skaters who will be doomed to make the
same mistakes as their elders and be punished by thinking that skat-
ing exists only at parks, warehouses, and other made-for-skate-
boarding environments.
Skateboarding has received a bad rap in the past because of dis-
respectful behavior by skaters towards people who don't skate.
Skaters who act like this cannot fully comprehend the whole picture
and have little respect for life. Is it rad to be perceived as a disre-
spectful punk? Is being a disrespectful skater hard? How hard is par-
tying and not working? The truth is that it is much harder to do well
on a math test. If we rip it's great for our personal satisfaction, but
it may never be noticed and is more or less impossible to rely on for
paying our bills. Skaters who are disrespectful actually miss out on
opportunities that would have been open to them had they been
polite. Skating is such a gnarly sport that it will call anybody out
who thinks that they rip and have mastered all types of terrain. No
matter how bad-ass we think we are, skating is going to bring us to
the hilt of our courage and test our ability constantly. We must real-
ize that it doesn't matter what we look like; it only matters what we
do and that we maintain the proper perspective and attitude about
our skating. Skating makes us strive for self-improvement daily, and
that can only strengthen our attitudes as we face all of life's chal-
lenges beyond skating.
When we compare ourselves to all the talented skaters out
there, we will find that our only choice is to be humble;
otherwise, we become disoriented about the significance
of our own ability.
Skateboarding is more radical than we are, so
don't act like the reverse is true. It is a privi-
lege to be able to skate, and that should
never be forgotten.