Desire                                                            

The neighborhood situation inevitably escalated.  People would sneak into my backyard and smash the ramps, and cops even began to come out to our corner to threaten us by stating that they would take away our skateboards if we didn’t quit.  All of this harassment in a middle-class neighborhood made me question many things. Obviously, there wasn’t room anymore in the neighborhood for skateboarding, so it would have to move to the streets.

Street skating is where the passion lies.  When you see someone jumping off a 13-step set of stairs and getting tangled up with his skateboard as he slams against the pavement, you may question the sanity of that person.  But the exhilarating sensation that one feels when they smoothly execute a kick-flip off a 13-step of stairs far surpasses any mortal injury or question of sanity.  This truth, however fortunate or unfortunate, is something that I quickly realized shortly after my transition from neighborhood skating to street skating.     

Becoming a street skater caused me to look at the world from a completely different perspective.  Boring elements of architecture now looked like playgrounds for my skateboarding; I could be content for days hanging out in a parking lot with loading docks and steps.  Cement never looked so fine, but the police never looked so bad.

The problem with street skating is that nobody wants you wherever you are.  Because of liability, the possibility of destruction of property, and selfish reasons, the thing a street skater has to get used to is putting up with fascist cops and security officers.  However, this just adds to the adrenaline rush of the game.  Not only does the sport give a completely exhilarating adrenaline rush, but running from cops and security officers has the same effect.

Downtown Charlotte is a neighborhood skateboarder’s dream.  The first time we parked the old rusty Buick across the street from the downtown bus station, I stood in awe of all the possibilities.  Steps, embankments, gaps, rails, ledges, manual pads, and everything else that I once only dreamed of were here.  Better yet, there were also other skateboarders out in the streets.  Skateboarders from all over country that were “sessioning” some of the well-know downtown spots thrashed the downtown streets. All I could really do was follow along with the gang of skaters; I certainly didn’t want to try any tricks in the spotlight and prove that I was unworthy of being part of the gang.  However, I had a feeling of belonging with this big group of mostly strangers. Nobody really wanted to bother us either when we had our numbers.

I discovered that the more skaters you have together in a group, ironically, the less likely you are to run into trouble.  Nobody picks on a large group of skaters downtown on a Saturday night, but you can bet your bottom dollar that if you are alone you will be harassed, laughed at, and threatened.  Skateboarding is truly an independent sport that stresses individuality over cooperation, but skating in packs is the only way to go street skating thoughtfully . 

Another benefit of having a skate group is that the group will inevitably push you to your limit.  Often times, a skater will not try a trick for fear of injury or lack of confidence, but when a group of hardcore skaters are yelling for you to “Go For IT!” amazing feats may be accomplished.

As a hardcore street skater, I walked the walk, talked the talk, and found very few things in life frightening while on my skateboard.  With a powerful group of devoted friends, “boys,” I could accomplish anything.  We took our skateboarding into broken-down water parks, swimming pools, abandoned hotels and malls; we lived to skate and the world was our skate park. 

Anarchy can easily be closely associated with skateboarding because anything that stands for rules and regulations is a threat to the vitality of the sport.  Skateboarding has been rooted on quite a simple principle: “if it hasn’t been done, then do it.”  There are no referees, boundaries, or arbitrary rules; the sport is dictated by freedom.  Thus in my anarchic prime, I “sessioned” with great carelessness and enthusiasm the world’s underground playground, abiding by only one rule, which was to have fun.