Athleticism overlooked....

If you have ever sat back and watched in person someone who can truly skate, you probably sat back in awe as the person pulled off some trick with a name as long and complicated as the Latin names for many animals or insects. Like Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides or otherwise know as the Soldier Fly. And no, I didn’t know that off the top of my head, not that anyone thought I did. If you saw this on TV, you were probably impressed. But, like most things, real life is much more difficult than television. Many of us sit on our couches watching some sort of sport and say “How could he not have caught that?! Even I could have done that!” WRONG! Probably not many of us, if any, could catch a ball being thrown to us by John Kitna, never mind someone like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. The velocity that these mutants throw the ball with would break our hand clean off when we tried to catch it, if we could even get our hands on it. Many people, sadly view skateboarding (or BMXing) the same way. “I could have done that, how hard could it really be? They’re just going up and down, gravity does the work.” Again, WRONG! The athleticism of a professional, and even an amateur skater, is truly amazing. It takes strength, balance, perception, creativity and amazing coordination to be able to do the things a skater can do, even some of the more simple tricks like ollie while moving (someday I will). It’s just not that easy to do, and yet people think they could hop on a skateboard and ride a half pipe or do the crazy stuff that skaters can do. It is truly amazing to watch these guys (or girls, don’t want to make anyone upset) do their thing. It is sad that they are not more recognized for their athleticism. So here’s to the skaters! Not just the pros, but to all of us. Whether just trying to learn or have been skating for years or are getting back into it like myself, consider yourself an athlete, because the truth is, you are.