Writer: Doug Quimby

Skateboarding. If you ask any skater how they got into it they’ll probably have a story along the lines of seeing someone skateboarding down the road and then this thought pops into their head, I want to do that to. You finally get that skateboard you’ve been asking for and you realize that it’s not as easy as it looks, but that doesn’t stop you though. After spending hours and days riding around and getting the basics down, you start to realize your hooked.

Doug Quimby -Kickflip in Colonie, NY
Photo: Frankie Cavone

Waking up in the morning one of your first thoughts is “I want grab that board and start shredding.” If your not skateboarding then your thinking about it, what tricks you want to land, what spots you want to hit, when you can get back on that board and go try that trick you’ve been thinking about all day. The time comes and you hit the streets or a skate park. It seemed so easy in your head, you replayed that trick a million times but now you’re actually trying it, and it just ain’t working. Yet you keep going for it, try after try, minute after minute until even an hour goes by. You’ve fallen a dozen times already, you and the concrete are getting to know each other very well.

There were a few times you landed on the board but then slipped out, you were so close, it’s at your fingertips. You get up once again and lay your board down, you hop on and get some speed, you pop and flick, watch the board do its thing, you put your feet down to catch it and then your riding away. That feeling right there is one every skater knows, the most amazing feeling ever, landing and riding away. You put your all into doing that one trick, you’ve busted and bruised your body (Or if your me one specific spot you keep falling on), but you freakin’ did it! And that’s something you’ll always have.

Doug Quimby -360 Flip in Warrensburg, NY
Photo: Frankie Cavone

Determination and never giving up is what skateboarding has taught me. I’ve attempted tricks for multiple days, fallen hundreds of times in a row, my body would be in pain for a week. But I couldn’t get the trick out of my head, I had to land it. When I finally did all the pain I put my body through didn’t matter, I wanted that trick and I didn’t stop until I landed it. And I feel that type of mentality helped my friends and I fund raise for years to get a skate park in our hometown. For almost ten years we held fundraisers and went to town meetings to make a dream become a reality.

We definitely hit a lot of walls throughout it all and those were just falls, Then we finally got all the money we needed and the construction company broke ground. Like landing and slipping out, you almost got it, you can do it. Then they finish, the concrete dries, time for the grand opening. You landed it, all the time and effort you put into it pays off. That makes it all worth it. Skateboarding has changed my life and has taught me lessons that I will never forget. Thank you to this crazy and wonderful sport.