This survey is for my Human Experience in Design class... if you feel like filling it out, please do... you will help me out immensely, provide your peers with some knowledge they might not already have know, and you might even learn something new about yourself too!
Henry
1) When did you first start skateboarding? Did you teach yourself how to skate or did you learn from a friend or other source?
2) What is your first skate-related memory?
3) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.)
4) How do you usually buy your skate equipment?
5) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person?
6) What does your family think of skateboarding?
7) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby?
8) Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard?
9) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed?
10) What is the most important part of a skateboard?
11) What is your favorite skateboard memory?
12) What is your least favorite skate memory?
13) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise?
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Henry Julier on 2003-09-22 15:56 ]</font>
SKATE SURVEY!
-
Henry Julier
- Ick Sticks
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: CT
- Contact:
-
Andy Bittner
- GBJ
- Posts: 394
- Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Gaithersburg, MD
-
Henry Julier
- Ick Sticks
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: CT
- Contact:
-
Wesley Tucker
- 1961-2013 (RIP)
- Posts: 3279
- Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2002 2:00 am
1)
a: When did you first start skateboarding? August 9, 1975 at around 1:00 in the afternoon.
b: Did you teach yourself how to skate or did you learn from a friend or other source? I was taught by one of my best friends, (now) Dr. John Johnson, who got a Roller Derby board from Sears and Roebuck for his birthday, which just happened to be August 8, 1975.
2) What is your first skate-related memory? I remember as a kid (probably 6 or 7 years old,) my mother telling me to "stay away from that thing," that belonged to a neighbor kid. I barely remember it having a wood deck with red/brown composite wheels. That would be around 35 years ago (1968? It was probably a Roller Derby board from Sears and Roebuck.)
3) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.) Performance, performance, performance.
4) How do you usually buy your skate equipment? I usually buy everything by mail order.
5) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person? No.
6) What does your family think of skateboarding? I have always been supported in my skating by all my family for the past 28 years.
7) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby? Neither. Skateboarding is a competitive endeavor that I use for exercise, conditioning, competitiveness and hanging out with some cool guys. Then again, sometimes Jar Jar shows up and blows the whole afternoon.
-8- ) Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard? Hard to say. I've skated for so long that my boards and my riding are a part of me. It would easier to ask if my friends would view me differently if I QUIT skating.
9) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed? Not really. There is so much variance in design and construction that if you can't find what you want from one manufacturer you'll probably find it somewhere else.
10) What is the most important part of a skateboard? Simple: how a board is "complete" in its design. A good deck with lousy wheels is worthless, great wheels without decent trucks leaves a skater wanting more, great wheels and trucks without a responsive deck is a waste of time. There's a lot to be said about a complete "mediocre" board that costs $100 as opposed to a very expensive board in which one or more of the components doesn't measure up. It's important that you get what you pay for and that each component compliments each other part.
11) What is your favorite skateboard memory? Two events: buying my first set of precision bearing Road Rider 4's in June, 1976 and getting my free Summerski from Tommy Ryan when I was 17 years old in August, 1978
12) What is your least favorite skate memory? My injury stemming from Morro Bay in October 2002 (grounded me from skating for almost eight months,) and my hipper in the summer of 1977 (took me out for two months.) Losing the Beaufort Water Festival Slalom Race on Water Street on July 4th 1979. Probably 3000 spectators lined the street for a dual hybrid race on a good hill with maybe 45 cones. Great race, great venue, great crowd. I blew it at the start and lost in the semis to a kid younger than me riding a damned Hobie Flex.
13) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise? Definetely. I went to Tway's house, Parson's house and Tasos' house. Think I'd be seen there by respectable society if it weren't for the free room and board and great skating? Gimme a break.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Wesley Tucker on 2003-09-22 19:16 ]</font>
a: When did you first start skateboarding? August 9, 1975 at around 1:00 in the afternoon.
b: Did you teach yourself how to skate or did you learn from a friend or other source? I was taught by one of my best friends, (now) Dr. John Johnson, who got a Roller Derby board from Sears and Roebuck for his birthday, which just happened to be August 8, 1975.
2) What is your first skate-related memory? I remember as a kid (probably 6 or 7 years old,) my mother telling me to "stay away from that thing," that belonged to a neighbor kid. I barely remember it having a wood deck with red/brown composite wheels. That would be around 35 years ago (1968? It was probably a Roller Derby board from Sears and Roebuck.)
3) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.) Performance, performance, performance.
4) How do you usually buy your skate equipment? I usually buy everything by mail order.
5) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person? No.
6) What does your family think of skateboarding? I have always been supported in my skating by all my family for the past 28 years.
7) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby? Neither. Skateboarding is a competitive endeavor that I use for exercise, conditioning, competitiveness and hanging out with some cool guys. Then again, sometimes Jar Jar shows up and blows the whole afternoon.
-8- ) Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard? Hard to say. I've skated for so long that my boards and my riding are a part of me. It would easier to ask if my friends would view me differently if I QUIT skating.
9) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed? Not really. There is so much variance in design and construction that if you can't find what you want from one manufacturer you'll probably find it somewhere else.
10) What is the most important part of a skateboard? Simple: how a board is "complete" in its design. A good deck with lousy wheels is worthless, great wheels without decent trucks leaves a skater wanting more, great wheels and trucks without a responsive deck is a waste of time. There's a lot to be said about a complete "mediocre" board that costs $100 as opposed to a very expensive board in which one or more of the components doesn't measure up. It's important that you get what you pay for and that each component compliments each other part.
11) What is your favorite skateboard memory? Two events: buying my first set of precision bearing Road Rider 4's in June, 1976 and getting my free Summerski from Tommy Ryan when I was 17 years old in August, 1978
12) What is your least favorite skate memory? My injury stemming from Morro Bay in October 2002 (grounded me from skating for almost eight months,) and my hipper in the summer of 1977 (took me out for two months.) Losing the Beaufort Water Festival Slalom Race on Water Street on July 4th 1979. Probably 3000 spectators lined the street for a dual hybrid race on a good hill with maybe 45 cones. Great race, great venue, great crowd. I blew it at the start and lost in the semis to a kid younger than me riding a damned Hobie Flex.
13) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise? Definetely. I went to Tway's house, Parson's house and Tasos' house. Think I'd be seen there by respectable society if it weren't for the free room and board and great skating? Gimme a break.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Wesley Tucker on 2003-09-22 19:16 ]</font>
-
Pierre Gravel
- Pierre Gravel
- Posts: 220
- Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Montréal, Québec, Canada
- Contact:
-
Andy Bittner
- GBJ
- Posts: 394
- Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Gaithersburg, MD
1)When did you first start skateboarding? Did you teach yourself how to skate or did you learn from a friend or other source?
I first rode seated on a skateboard in either the summer of 1968 or ’69. I was able to ride standing in the spring of 1970, and consider that my father taught me.
2) What is your first skate-related memory?
Because it was so fascinating to me at the time, many of my earliest memories are of skateboarding. I was just so young that I can’t exactly date the experiences. I would guess the first would have to do with my father’s ski buddies giving him his first board as a birthday gift and summer alternative to skiing, and that would’ve been in July of either ’66 or ’67.
3) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.)
Obviously, I look for different qualities in boards that will be used for different purposes. However, if there is one quality I seem to seek above all others, it is Quality itself. This attribute, Quality, can be addressed and advanced in advertising, but eventually word-of-mouth becomes the real testament. Whether we’re all at some slalom event or skating on modern park decks at our local park, everyone eventually becomes aware of whose wood is de-laminating, whose glass bagging techniques are weak, or whose wheels are consistently NOT as advertised.
4) How do you usually buy your skate equipment?
I don’t usually buy my equipment, and when I do it’s usually from someone directly affiliated with the manufacturer. Most of my regular skating gear comes to me gratis from previous affiliations in the skateboard industries. In more recent years, most of the equipment for which I’ve paid money has come through EBay and other “collectible” sources.
5) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person?
No, not necessarily.
6) What does your family think of skateboarding?
For me skateboarding began as (and will always feel like) a family-thing, but from the mid-70s on my siblings weren't participating anymore and my parents were rightly concerned about the whole juvenile delinquent aspect that it seemed to represent in my adolescence. Currently, I think, most of my family consider skateboarding to be just one of several unique obsessions that make me the rare, concerning and entertaining person that I am.
7) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby?
I think the activity of skateboarding, itself, is just that… an activity. The act of skateboarding could be someone’s hobby, sport, exercise or profession and the pursuit of that hobby, sport, exercise or profession might be so focused that it becomes a lifestyle-dominating aspect of that individual’s existence.
I make the above point to differentiate between any lifestyle that might come from actually pursuing the riding of a board with four wheels, from that lifestyle that might develop from choosing to regular and routinely interact with the current, modern, “popular” skateboard culture and community that seems to stem mostly from the late-1970s and early-‘80s. The style, fashion and culture that has become associated with skateboarding can clearly be defined as a lifestyle, to the extent that one needn’t necessarily even ride skateboards to be seen and perceived as a skater.
8) Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard?
Absolutely, young and old alike.
9) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed?
I think that the slalom markets are doing just fine, because slalom is a discipline that requires exacting performance from its’ equipment. In the larger market though, I’d like to see the elimination of elaborate, expensive graphic schemes, which, in some cases, actually seems to be more important than the performance of a board itself.
10) What is the most important part of a skateboard?
The rider.
11) What is your favorite skateboard memory?
Curiously, neither of my two favorite skate memories involve my skating, but are really of the accomplishment of friends.
In 1986, the NSA National Championships were held at the Anaheim Convention Center. The winner of the Amateur Nationals was a friend, Reese Simpson, and the fond memory was made as I was walking back to the motel from the convention center. I was cutting through the darkened back parking lot of some kind of diner-style restaurant, when I noticed a figure, leaning quietly against a car. This could’ve, and would’ve been ‘just anybody’, if it weren’t for a trophy standing there that was nearly as tall as the person himself. Of course, it was Reese, and he was just taking a quiet, stunned, disbelieving moment alone to try to absorb the events of the past few days, hours and minutes. I walked up to him and his wide disbelief was so convincing, I decided it’d just be best to confirm reality for him and then leave him to his moment. I offered my hand, and when he took it, I just said, “Yeah. You really did it,” and walked away. I often wonder why I didn’t take a photo. It would’ve been a good one, but it was almost like there was just something too private about the moment.
The following year, the Amateur Nationals were in Phoenix, AZ and again, many of my friends were competing, while I was there to take photos. The finals were a double-elimination, head-to-head format, and was as exciting a sport moment as any skating moment I’ve ever seen. This time, another friend, Mike Crescini of Virginia Beach, VA, lost his first match-up, but won the “loser’s bracket”, which then put him in the bottom of the “winner’s bracket”. Mike then put on one of the most powerful, consistent displays of vert skating I’ve ever seen as, one by one, he clawed his way up through the winners bracket. Big airs, gay twists, and invert variations galore, and, since he was coming from the “loser’s” side, he had to keep facing one rested “winner’s bracket” skater after another, with no rest between heats for himself. By the time he was facing the top skater for the championships, Midwestern G&S skater, Bill Tocco, Mike was absolutely exhausted and his performance had become athletically super-human. I was on the deck taking pictures of the whole thing and, being a familiar face, Mike turned to me and said, “GBJ… I can’t do anymore. What else can I do?” Well, I happen to be very familiar with Mike’s trick repertoire, and knew there were still two big-time in Mike’s trick bag that we hadn’t seen yet. I’d been waiting for them all night.
“Catch your breath, then pull fingerflip-backside-air-to-indy-grab, and the indy-boneless, and you’re in there.” The light went on in Mike’s eye, and he made another great run, including the two tricks I suggested. The crowd went nuts and Mike won the first of two head-to-head runs he needed in order to defeat Tocco and win the event. Unfortunately for Mike, Bill Tocco pulled a one-footed-good-buddy in his final run that was so rad and so timely that the judges were standing on their table stamping their feet. Tocco won the final match-up and the championship. It was an incredibly exciting moment and even though Mike didn’t win, it’s fun to think that I was even slightly involved in some of the excitement.
12) What is your least favorite skate memory?
Traveling to Reno, NV in July 1990 to race in my first, “professional” slalom race, and then absolutely crushing my elbow in practice. It was a really weird time and VERY depressing. I knew a lot of people in skateboarding, but very few of the other slalomers. So, breaking a kingpin, mangling my elbow and watching it swell to four or five times its’ normal size, I was left to handle my own first aid and then spent most of the next 48 hours, the time between the injury and the race, sitting alone in a motel room with my arm completely packed in a cheap ice chest full of ice.
13) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise?
Physically, mentally, spiritually, chemically, and socially.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Andy Bittner on 2003-09-23 08:37 ]</font>
I first rode seated on a skateboard in either the summer of 1968 or ’69. I was able to ride standing in the spring of 1970, and consider that my father taught me.
2) What is your first skate-related memory?
Because it was so fascinating to me at the time, many of my earliest memories are of skateboarding. I was just so young that I can’t exactly date the experiences. I would guess the first would have to do with my father’s ski buddies giving him his first board as a birthday gift and summer alternative to skiing, and that would’ve been in July of either ’66 or ’67.
3) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.)
Obviously, I look for different qualities in boards that will be used for different purposes. However, if there is one quality I seem to seek above all others, it is Quality itself. This attribute, Quality, can be addressed and advanced in advertising, but eventually word-of-mouth becomes the real testament. Whether we’re all at some slalom event or skating on modern park decks at our local park, everyone eventually becomes aware of whose wood is de-laminating, whose glass bagging techniques are weak, or whose wheels are consistently NOT as advertised.
4) How do you usually buy your skate equipment?
I don’t usually buy my equipment, and when I do it’s usually from someone directly affiliated with the manufacturer. Most of my regular skating gear comes to me gratis from previous affiliations in the skateboard industries. In more recent years, most of the equipment for which I’ve paid money has come through EBay and other “collectible” sources.
5) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person?
No, not necessarily.
6) What does your family think of skateboarding?
For me skateboarding began as (and will always feel like) a family-thing, but from the mid-70s on my siblings weren't participating anymore and my parents were rightly concerned about the whole juvenile delinquent aspect that it seemed to represent in my adolescence. Currently, I think, most of my family consider skateboarding to be just one of several unique obsessions that make me the rare, concerning and entertaining person that I am.
7) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby?
I think the activity of skateboarding, itself, is just that… an activity. The act of skateboarding could be someone’s hobby, sport, exercise or profession and the pursuit of that hobby, sport, exercise or profession might be so focused that it becomes a lifestyle-dominating aspect of that individual’s existence.
I make the above point to differentiate between any lifestyle that might come from actually pursuing the riding of a board with four wheels, from that lifestyle that might develop from choosing to regular and routinely interact with the current, modern, “popular” skateboard culture and community that seems to stem mostly from the late-1970s and early-‘80s. The style, fashion and culture that has become associated with skateboarding can clearly be defined as a lifestyle, to the extent that one needn’t necessarily even ride skateboards to be seen and perceived as a skater.
8) Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard?
Absolutely, young and old alike.
9) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed?
I think that the slalom markets are doing just fine, because slalom is a discipline that requires exacting performance from its’ equipment. In the larger market though, I’d like to see the elimination of elaborate, expensive graphic schemes, which, in some cases, actually seems to be more important than the performance of a board itself.
10) What is the most important part of a skateboard?
The rider.
11) What is your favorite skateboard memory?
Curiously, neither of my two favorite skate memories involve my skating, but are really of the accomplishment of friends.
In 1986, the NSA National Championships were held at the Anaheim Convention Center. The winner of the Amateur Nationals was a friend, Reese Simpson, and the fond memory was made as I was walking back to the motel from the convention center. I was cutting through the darkened back parking lot of some kind of diner-style restaurant, when I noticed a figure, leaning quietly against a car. This could’ve, and would’ve been ‘just anybody’, if it weren’t for a trophy standing there that was nearly as tall as the person himself. Of course, it was Reese, and he was just taking a quiet, stunned, disbelieving moment alone to try to absorb the events of the past few days, hours and minutes. I walked up to him and his wide disbelief was so convincing, I decided it’d just be best to confirm reality for him and then leave him to his moment. I offered my hand, and when he took it, I just said, “Yeah. You really did it,” and walked away. I often wonder why I didn’t take a photo. It would’ve been a good one, but it was almost like there was just something too private about the moment.
The following year, the Amateur Nationals were in Phoenix, AZ and again, many of my friends were competing, while I was there to take photos. The finals were a double-elimination, head-to-head format, and was as exciting a sport moment as any skating moment I’ve ever seen. This time, another friend, Mike Crescini of Virginia Beach, VA, lost his first match-up, but won the “loser’s bracket”, which then put him in the bottom of the “winner’s bracket”. Mike then put on one of the most powerful, consistent displays of vert skating I’ve ever seen as, one by one, he clawed his way up through the winners bracket. Big airs, gay twists, and invert variations galore, and, since he was coming from the “loser’s” side, he had to keep facing one rested “winner’s bracket” skater after another, with no rest between heats for himself. By the time he was facing the top skater for the championships, Midwestern G&S skater, Bill Tocco, Mike was absolutely exhausted and his performance had become athletically super-human. I was on the deck taking pictures of the whole thing and, being a familiar face, Mike turned to me and said, “GBJ… I can’t do anymore. What else can I do?” Well, I happen to be very familiar with Mike’s trick repertoire, and knew there were still two big-time in Mike’s trick bag that we hadn’t seen yet. I’d been waiting for them all night.
“Catch your breath, then pull fingerflip-backside-air-to-indy-grab, and the indy-boneless, and you’re in there.” The light went on in Mike’s eye, and he made another great run, including the two tricks I suggested. The crowd went nuts and Mike won the first of two head-to-head runs he needed in order to defeat Tocco and win the event. Unfortunately for Mike, Bill Tocco pulled a one-footed-good-buddy in his final run that was so rad and so timely that the judges were standing on their table stamping their feet. Tocco won the final match-up and the championship. It was an incredibly exciting moment and even though Mike didn’t win, it’s fun to think that I was even slightly involved in some of the excitement.
12) What is your least favorite skate memory?
Traveling to Reno, NV in July 1990 to race in my first, “professional” slalom race, and then absolutely crushing my elbow in practice. It was a really weird time and VERY depressing. I knew a lot of people in skateboarding, but very few of the other slalomers. So, breaking a kingpin, mangling my elbow and watching it swell to four or five times its’ normal size, I was left to handle my own first aid and then spent most of the next 48 hours, the time between the injury and the race, sitting alone in a motel room with my arm completely packed in a cheap ice chest full of ice.
13) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise?
Physically, mentally, spiritually, chemically, and socially.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Andy Bittner on 2003-09-23 08:37 ]</font>
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Henry Julier
- Ick Sticks
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: CT
- Contact:
-
John Gilmour
- Team Roe Racing
- Posts: 1207
- Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: USA
1) When did you first start skateboarding? Did you teach yourself how to skate or did you learn from a friend or other source?
Taught myself in a downhill marble lobby in NYC during the winter from 3am onward while doormen slept. Also dodging servicemen and security guards in my basement. Matthew Peyton (current top fashion photographer) introduced me to skateboarding.
2) What is your first skate-related memory? Riding a ski trainer at age 2. It was a wheeled platform on rails- I rode parallel stance. Later ripping the top of a tonka dumptruck to try to make a skateboard.
3) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.) I haven't bought a skateboard in over 15 years.
4) How do you usually buy your skate equipment? Trade stuff I don't use.
5) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person? Absolutely.
6) What does your family think of skateboarding? They never liked it until I started doing well at contests and got on TV shows.
7) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby?
Skateboard racing is a social club.
Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard?
No they all ride as well...all of them.
9) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed? I would like to see boards that have more versatile performance peramaters. The rider has to compensate so much for the inadequate design of most skateboards. This should change, but there are few designers who also ride well and know about biomechanics/biophysics. Also a designer should be well versed on computers. Look at some of the designs like the BMW skateboard- I don't think the designers had clear goals in mind when building that particular board- though BMW could make a fantastic skateboard if they were to try again.
10) What is the most important part of a skateboard? The trucks.
11) What is your favorite skateboard memory? Too many to list. Probably having my mother come to a contest in NYC.
12) What is your least favorite skate memory? Hitting a concrete barrier head first at 35mph. and sustaining a sprained wrist. Falling at 45+ while riding tandem hanging onto teh back of a NYC bus on a longboard. Running into a cinderblock wall at 25mph. 25-0 mph in .000000023 sec. Being hit by a Trans Am and Saab 900. Bailing on my souped up motoboard at 50mph and kneesliding through a live intersection. It's amazing kids even make it to adulthood. Seeing my favorite concrete skateparks close 25 years ago.
13) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise? Not yet, but soon.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: John Gilmour on 2003-09-24 12:06 ]</font>
Taught myself in a downhill marble lobby in NYC during the winter from 3am onward while doormen slept. Also dodging servicemen and security guards in my basement. Matthew Peyton (current top fashion photographer) introduced me to skateboarding.
2) What is your first skate-related memory? Riding a ski trainer at age 2. It was a wheeled platform on rails- I rode parallel stance. Later ripping the top of a tonka dumptruck to try to make a skateboard.
3) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.) I haven't bought a skateboard in over 15 years.
4) How do you usually buy your skate equipment? Trade stuff I don't use.
5) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person? Absolutely.
6) What does your family think of skateboarding? They never liked it until I started doing well at contests and got on TV shows.
7) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby?
Skateboard racing is a social club.
Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard? No they all ride as well...all of them.
9) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed? I would like to see boards that have more versatile performance peramaters. The rider has to compensate so much for the inadequate design of most skateboards. This should change, but there are few designers who also ride well and know about biomechanics/biophysics. Also a designer should be well versed on computers. Look at some of the designs like the BMW skateboard- I don't think the designers had clear goals in mind when building that particular board- though BMW could make a fantastic skateboard if they were to try again.
10) What is the most important part of a skateboard? The trucks.
11) What is your favorite skateboard memory? Too many to list. Probably having my mother come to a contest in NYC.
12) What is your least favorite skate memory? Hitting a concrete barrier head first at 35mph. and sustaining a sprained wrist. Falling at 45+ while riding tandem hanging onto teh back of a NYC bus on a longboard. Running into a cinderblock wall at 25mph. 25-0 mph in .000000023 sec. Being hit by a Trans Am and Saab 900. Bailing on my souped up motoboard at 50mph and kneesliding through a live intersection. It's amazing kids even make it to adulthood. Seeing my favorite concrete skateparks close 25 years ago.
13) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise? Not yet, but soon.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: John Gilmour on 2003-09-24 12:06 ]</font>
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Vlad Popov
- Moscow-Washington
- Posts: 1543
- Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Moscow, Russia
- Contact:
I) When did you first start skateboarding? Did you teach yourself how to skate or did you learn from a friend or other source? April 08, 1986. Self.
II) What is your first skate-related memory? Pumping.
III) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.) Functionality.
IV) How do you usually buy your skate equipment? Online.
V) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person? No.
VI) What does your family think of skateboarding? It’s for kids.
VII) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby? Hobby.
VIII) Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard? Those who skate, no. Those who don’t, yes.
IX) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed? Yes; most of them are crap/wallhangers. No; it’s easier to win on the right set-up.
X) What is the most important part of a skateboard? The board.
XI) What is your favorite skateboard memory? Paris 2003.
XII) What is your least favorite skate memory? Seeing 36-inch longboards win/place high in so called slalom comps.
XIII) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise? Yes.
II) What is your first skate-related memory? Pumping.
III) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.) Functionality.
IV) How do you usually buy your skate equipment? Online.
V) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person? No.
VI) What does your family think of skateboarding? It’s for kids.
VII) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby? Hobby.
VIII) Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard? Those who skate, no. Those who don’t, yes.
IX) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed? Yes; most of them are crap/wallhangers. No; it’s easier to win on the right set-up.
X) What is the most important part of a skateboard? The board.
XI) What is your favorite skateboard memory? Paris 2003.
XII) What is your least favorite skate memory? Seeing 36-inch longboards win/place high in so called slalom comps.
XIII) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise? Yes.
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Chris Chaput
- Abec 11
- Posts: 103
- Joined: Fri Nov 08, 2002 1:00 am
- Location: Huntington Beach, CA USA
- Contact:
Henry, This is the type of survey that would work well using a web page with a series of "forms" on the page and/or "yes/no" type buttons. Behind the scenes, each skater's answers are stored in a database (like Access) and can later be displayed in a number of ways. It is a lot to ask of someome to cut and paste the questions and answer them in their own free-form way. It also appears that you have some questions that are in a yes/no format but that you really want explainations for.
If you'd like any help on developing such a page, let me know.
If you'd like any help on developing such a page, let me know.
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Adam Trahan
- Phoenix, AZ, USA
- Posts: 795
- Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2002 2:00 am
Henry, for a good paper, take Chris's advice. With a database, you can quiery it for a number of answers even beyond those of what you ask. slalomskateboarder.com would be willing to host your survey as Chris presents and the data would serve the community for entertainment as well as other reasons to see such a survey...
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Henry Julier
- Ick Sticks
- Posts: 205
- Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: CT
- Contact:
Hey Adam and Chris-
I handed in my paper today, so there is no need to have the questionaire answered for that purpose, though I think your ideas are very good. For my paper the idea was that all the questions be answered in depth, as Wesley Tucker did on this site and numerous others did to me via email. If Chris was to format the questions as a yes/no checkbox system, frankly I think it would be boring. I wanted to know the WHY behind people's answers, and for the most part I was given that.
If the questions could be formatted in a way such that the question is stated and then there is a field in which a person can type in their answers, then I would say go for it! The point of the questions was to see how different skaters view skateboarding as an activity and as an interaction between a user and an artifact (the board) so people who simply answered yes or no didn't really help me out.
I think having the questions permanently online would be both entertaining and a great resourse for fellow skaters and industry members too. Perhaps when an SS.com member completes the survey, a link from their profile would show their responses? If anything, it would bring our community closer together and maybe even help us work out all those little kinks that exist in our family by knowing how a slalom skater perceives the skateboarding world.
cheerio,
h
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Henry Julier on 2003-09-25 14:19 ]</font>
I handed in my paper today, so there is no need to have the questionaire answered for that purpose, though I think your ideas are very good. For my paper the idea was that all the questions be answered in depth, as Wesley Tucker did on this site and numerous others did to me via email. If Chris was to format the questions as a yes/no checkbox system, frankly I think it would be boring. I wanted to know the WHY behind people's answers, and for the most part I was given that.
If the questions could be formatted in a way such that the question is stated and then there is a field in which a person can type in their answers, then I would say go for it! The point of the questions was to see how different skaters view skateboarding as an activity and as an interaction between a user and an artifact (the board) so people who simply answered yes or no didn't really help me out.
I think having the questions permanently online would be both entertaining and a great resourse for fellow skaters and industry members too. Perhaps when an SS.com member completes the survey, a link from their profile would show their responses? If anything, it would bring our community closer together and maybe even help us work out all those little kinks that exist in our family by knowing how a slalom skater perceives the skateboarding world.
cheerio,
h
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Henry Julier on 2003-09-25 14:19 ]</font>
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Chris Eggers
- Germany
- Posts: 503
- Joined: Mon Sep 09, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Germany
- Contact:
1) When did you first start skateboarding? Did you teach yourself how to skate or did you learn from a friend or other source?
1976. I learned from A GI from the base in my hometown and from freinds and from myself
2) What is your first skate-related memory?
Seeing the GI´s ride down the hills by my parents house.
3) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.)
They have to fit my style of riding and I have to like the shape of the deck and somwhow the graphics
4) How do you usually buy your skate equipment?
Skateshop
5) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person?
----
6) What does your family think of skateboarding?
Mom thinks it is dangerous (still), Dad thinks it is not a sport like he knows, but he accepts it and supported me in many ways.
7) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby?
It is part of my life. The thing I do. I breath it and live it. It is more than a hobby and more than a lifestyle. You know what I mean.
Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard?
Certainly
9) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed?
Not at the moment I think it hasn´t been that perfect. There is something for everybody.
10) What is the most important part of a skateboard?
The wheels
11) What is your favorite skateboard memory?
Having our own halfpipe built in 1981. Seeing McGill make the first Mctwist in Sweden 1984
12) What is your least favorite skate memory?
Breaking my ankle in 1986
13) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise?
Physically and mentally yes
1976. I learned from A GI from the base in my hometown and from freinds and from myself
2) What is your first skate-related memory?
Seeing the GI´s ride down the hills by my parents house.
3) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.)
They have to fit my style of riding and I have to like the shape of the deck and somwhow the graphics
4) How do you usually buy your skate equipment?
Skateshop
5) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person?
----
6) What does your family think of skateboarding?
Mom thinks it is dangerous (still), Dad thinks it is not a sport like he knows, but he accepts it and supported me in many ways.
7) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby?
It is part of my life. The thing I do. I breath it and live it. It is more than a hobby and more than a lifestyle. You know what I mean.
Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard? Certainly
9) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed?
Not at the moment I think it hasn´t been that perfect. There is something for everybody.
10) What is the most important part of a skateboard?
The wheels
11) What is your favorite skateboard memory?
Having our own halfpipe built in 1981. Seeing McGill make the first Mctwist in Sweden 1984
12) What is your least favorite skate memory?
Breaking my ankle in 1986
13) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise?
Physically and mentally yes
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Andy Bittner
- GBJ
- Posts: 394
- Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Gaithersburg, MD
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Jani Soderhall
- ISSA President 2011-2024
- Posts: 4634
- Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Sweden, lives in France
- Contact:
It's kind of off-topic in this thread, but Corky is working on a documentary of the Swedish Summer Camp and video from Chris Eggers and the first McTwist will be included. There is also of footage of Tony Hawks first 720 and Lance Mountain, Rodney Mullen, top European skaters etc, etc.
There is some info building up on http://www.SkateboardMemories.com about the camp and the upcoming documentary.
Corky will be doing a few interviews with trainers and visitors of the camp after the World's this year and then hopefully find some time during the autumn to finish the editing process.
There is some info building up on http://www.SkateboardMemories.com about the camp and the upcoming documentary.
Corky will be doing a few interviews with trainers and visitors of the camp after the World's this year and then hopefully find some time during the autumn to finish the editing process.
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Brian Morris
- Posts: 157
- Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Hawthorne, NJ
- Contact:
1) When did you first start skateboarding? Did you teach yourself how to skate or did you learn from a friend or other source?
I taught myself pretty much everything, with some pointers here and there especially in slalom.
2) What is your first skate-related memory?
Riding a plastic board about 6 inches wide by 10 inches long on my banked driveway in clifton NJ.
3) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.)
Something thats solid, has a good name, something that will make it through some tough abuse.
4) How do you usually buy your skate equipment?
I check it out on the internet, and buy it from my local skate shop Skatewerks.
5) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person?
It depends on who the person is.
6) What does your family think of skateboarding?
They think its "stupid, dangerous, and childish."
7) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby?
Its neither, its your best friend and your worst enemy. its a sport, an activity.
Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard?
Not really my friends, but people I meet for the first time think its interesting that i skateboard, and even more interesting that i don't trick skate.
9) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed?
I would like to see boards become more simple. More all around boards, rather than a different board for every road surface, mood, day of the week ect.
10) What is the most important part of a skateboard?
I think its the deck, it takes the most abuse, and you learn every curve, scratch, bump, and feature of that deck.
11) What is your favorite skateboard memory?
Skating with Noah, Barry, Haggy and UR13 at the Middletown train station, and making the difficult tight course perfectly and with a good time.
12) What is your least favorite skate memory?
Breaking my femur at Red Bull in November.
13) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise? Skateboarding has let me see nirvana. Weather its cruising down a smooth street on a spring day, or bombing a hill, or skating a ramp, or running a slalom course it all feels the same. I don't have a care in the world and I'm free to fly......
TheBrain
I taught myself pretty much everything, with some pointers here and there especially in slalom.
2) What is your first skate-related memory?
Riding a plastic board about 6 inches wide by 10 inches long on my banked driveway in clifton NJ.
3) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.)
Something thats solid, has a good name, something that will make it through some tough abuse.
4) How do you usually buy your skate equipment?
I check it out on the internet, and buy it from my local skate shop Skatewerks.
5) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person?
It depends on who the person is.
6) What does your family think of skateboarding?
They think its "stupid, dangerous, and childish."
7) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby?
Its neither, its your best friend and your worst enemy. its a sport, an activity.
Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard? Not really my friends, but people I meet for the first time think its interesting that i skateboard, and even more interesting that i don't trick skate.
9) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed?
I would like to see boards become more simple. More all around boards, rather than a different board for every road surface, mood, day of the week ect.
10) What is the most important part of a skateboard?
I think its the deck, it takes the most abuse, and you learn every curve, scratch, bump, and feature of that deck.
11) What is your favorite skateboard memory?
Skating with Noah, Barry, Haggy and UR13 at the Middletown train station, and making the difficult tight course perfectly and with a good time.
12) What is your least favorite skate memory?
Breaking my femur at Red Bull in November.
13) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise? Skateboarding has let me see nirvana. Weather its cruising down a smooth street on a spring day, or bombing a hill, or skating a ramp, or running a slalom course it all feels the same. I don't have a care in the world and I'm free to fly......
TheBrain
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Leonardo Ojeda
- Venezuelan Racer
- Posts: 286
- Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Stamford, CT and Venezuela in the heart
- Contact:
1) When did you first start skateboarding? Did you teach yourself how to skate or did you learn from a friend or other source?
i got my first skateboard when i was 6 or 7, all i did back then was going down sitting down on a mellow hill front of my building. i really learned at the age of 13 a cousin and me started together and we learned in the process
2) What is your first skate-related memory?
opening a x-mas present and seeing a plastic multi-color skateboard
3) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.)
price, quality, design, funtionality
4) How do you usually buy your skate equipment?
its hard for me right now, i used to import them from the US, now i ahve to travel and get them myself, and that its even more difficult.
5) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person?
Yes, even if i dont know or heard about the product, thats how i got my pool board from energyskates.com
6) What does your family think of skateboarding?
"hobby for kids" altough they support me
7) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby?
its a hobby of a lifestyle
Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard?
yes, they think of me as an inmature person
9) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed?
they should be cheaper so they can be a product for all masses, i would like to see the US based companes open their mind and realize there are others countries in the world that are full of skaters waitng an opportunity to be sponsored, or supported in some way.
10) What is the most important part of a skateboard?
the rider
11) What is your favorite skateboard memory?
meeting in person a lot of people i met over the internet that helped me in my learning process and starting my skate bussines, also receiveing a lot of support from said people 1 year later to help me travel to the US and skate with them again.
12) What is your least favorite skate memory?
hmm, crashing against a pick up truck, and let the fear to take over me on the races
13) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise?
yes, from seneca creek park, louisville skatepark, chicago, st louis, DC, and mentally i been on a surrealistic mental state that everything i lived on thos trips seems a very good dream.
i got my first skateboard when i was 6 or 7, all i did back then was going down sitting down on a mellow hill front of my building. i really learned at the age of 13 a cousin and me started together and we learned in the process
2) What is your first skate-related memory?
opening a x-mas present and seeing a plastic multi-color skateboard
3) What qualities do you look for in buying a skateboard? (can be any type of board.)
price, quality, design, funtionality
4) How do you usually buy your skate equipment?
its hard for me right now, i used to import them from the US, now i ahve to travel and get them myself, and that its even more difficult.
5) Do you feel more confident in a product if you buy it from an individual in person?
Yes, even if i dont know or heard about the product, thats how i got my pool board from energyskates.com
6) What does your family think of skateboarding?
"hobby for kids" altough they support me
7) Would you consider skateboarding a lifestyle or a hobby?
its a hobby of a lifestyle
Do your friends view you differently because you skateboard?
yes, they think of me as an inmature person
9) Do you have any issues with the way skateboards are designed? Are there things you’d like to see changed?
they should be cheaper so they can be a product for all masses, i would like to see the US based companes open their mind and realize there are others countries in the world that are full of skaters waitng an opportunity to be sponsored, or supported in some way.
10) What is the most important part of a skateboard?
the rider
11) What is your favorite skateboard memory?
meeting in person a lot of people i met over the internet that helped me in my learning process and starting my skate bussines, also receiveing a lot of support from said people 1 year later to help me travel to the US and skate with them again.
12) What is your least favorite skate memory?
hmm, crashing against a pick up truck, and let the fear to take over me on the races
13) Has skateboarding taken you places (physically and mentally) that you might not have gone otherwise?
yes, from seneca creek park, louisville skatepark, chicago, st louis, DC, and mentally i been on a surrealistic mental state that everything i lived on thos trips seems a very good dream.
"I`ll see you at the end of the hill"