Hey folks, my name is Dakota Roche, I’m a professional BMX rider, but I also enjoy skateboarding quite a bit. I started skating when I was 3 years old and have loved it ever since, in fact, I strongly believe it has helped my BMXing quite a bit and it still does to this day. Actually going out and skating is one thing that I love, but another major part of skateboarding that is motivation in my life are the amazing videos that are produced by skateboard companies and their riders. In my opinion, skateboard videos are some of the most fun to watch, and entertaining videos of all the extreme sports categories (I watch skate, surf, snow and BMX videos). This leads me to what I want to share with everyone today.
So here’s a little insight on skateboard videos for those of you that don’t know. Many actual team videos take as much as 5 years to film and edit but the average are around the 3 year range. Each skater on the team goes out, travels the world in search of great spots to film their hardest tricks in and compile enough footage to produce a video part they’re happy with. Most of the time, the skater then chooses a song(s) in which their footage is edited to and then you have a finished video part. Easier typed than done to say the least! Some problems that skaters encounter during the filming process are: injuries, encounters with the law, getting kicked out of spots, time put into tricks that sometimes never work out and obvious frustration issues… With all that being said and understanding how much work goes into a single project, it’s easy to see how the final production is highly motivating.
I can personally say that there has been days were skating or riding just didn’t sound very fun to do for one reason or another, and those days are completely normal to have. But on those days in particular are when a good skateboard video is going to be your day saver, no doubt. Pop one of those bad boys in and feel the motivation start pumping through your body–it works for me every time. Now, don’t think that skate videos are only meant to be watched on those sluggish days, they’re also a great start to days were motivation isn’t an issue. Watching them helps a lot with understanding certain techniques used by the pros and can ultimately help you learn new tricks.
The moral of the story is that skate videos are quite helpful in a number of ways. My advice to you all is to get on the video watching program before you go out and skate, and see if it doesn’t help your skating, I’m sure it will. Thanks a lot for reading, I hope this information is helpful…. Skate on everyone!
Common Braking Mistakes pt 2 There are a number of common mistakes in braking when it comes to skating. Here is a look at some of those common braking mistakes, and even more importantly, what it is that you can do in order to eliminate them simply by improving your form and your ability on......
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Are Quad Skates Becoming Extinct? People are beginning to wonder if quad roller skates are ever going to become extinct, seeing as most people seem to be preferring inline skates these days. Now that inline skating has become so popular, could it be possible that quad skates are on their way out? If you explore......
Skateboarding Tricks There are a wide variety of different skateboarding tricks that you can try to perform out there. They range significantly in terms of level of difficulty. There are a wide variety of different tricks that you can learn, depending on what your own skateboarding skills are and what types of......
Skate Shoes for a Skateboarding Edge Skate boarding and the entire skater culture seems to become more and more popular every year. Twelve-year old girls who've never even stood on a skate board suddenly beg their parents for skater shoes. Shoe store employees are then faced with befuddled parents who aren't quite sure of the differences......
3 Tips for Getting Mentally Prepared to Play Golf The old saying is definitely true. Golf is 99% in your head and as maddening as that is, if you're not getting the right mindset for your game, you may never be able to achieve your goals. If you're ready to get that score to where you want it to......
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The Heritage Golf Tournament 2011 This week in golf featured The Heritage golf tournament, held at the Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The tournament featured a winning share of $1,026,000 and a purse of nearly $6 million. There were 500 FedExCup points at stake. The tournament featured plenty of big......
Preventing Injuries While Triathlon Training pt 2 Preventing Injuries when Running Running is actually the sport of the three that is most capable of causing injury. Running injuries are unfortunately quite rampant, and most runners have certainly received a fair share of running injuries. Here are some tips to improve your technique and your gear so that......
Skateboarding goes back a lot farther than people might think. The roots of the sport can be traced back to roughly some point in the late 1940′s to the early 1950′s. It started as a past time for surfers when there were no good waves to ride. The early boards were home made creations made from boards or parts of wooden crates with the wheels off of roller skated placed on the bottom. In the 1960′s a surf shop in Los Angeles, CA, created the first manufactured boards. Skateboarding enjoyed an early popularity from 1963 through 1965, but then died off around 1966. In part this was due to the unfortunate fact that at this time the available wheels to use were all made of clay which had the nasty tendency to stop very suddenly when they hit small rocks or other common minor obstacles found on roads and sidewalks.
However, in 1972 an invention was made that brought skateboarding back from the dead. The polyurethane wheel was developed by Frank Nasworthy who brought the Cadillac wheel to the market that year. Named Cadillac to express the vastly improved ride over the older clay wheels, the new wheels made such an improvement in traction and handling that it can be said that they might be the main reason skateboarding is still around to this day.
New materials weren’t just kept to the wheels though, the ’70′s also brought about a revolution in design for the decks too. Maple plywood was still the most common deck material, but aluminum and fiberglass entered the market too. Another design was the Banana Board, a board made of polypropylene with ribs on the bottom, this thin board was very flexible and came in a wide range of colors. Another innovation in board design was the creation of trucks (axles) designed specifically for skateboards.
With the new materials providing much more capable boards, much more elaborate tricks were developed by skateboarders. From the ’70′s, the Z-Boys are possibly the most famous skateboarders of the era. Sponsored by the Zephyr surf shop, which provided the Z in their name, they have had several documentaries and even a feature film created about them. They quite possibly are responsible for the trend of vert skateboarding when California was hit by a drought in 1976. Due to the regulations during that time, home owners were unable to fill or maintain the water level in their in ground swimming pools and many of them sat empty. The Z-Boys noticed this and realized that an empty swimming pool could provide them with a new way to ride. Hunting down empty pools with no one at home, or eventually partially empty ones that they could drain, they created a new style that gave them more speed, and more control, and a whole new world of tricks that could be performed. Skateboarding as we know it now had been born in this outlaw environment, and that’s all before the eighties started.
Choosing the Right Surfboard Surfing might be a challenge to learn, but choosing the right surfboard can feel overwhelming. Everyone seems to have a custom board these days. Even small kids on the beach have boards painted with sea life shapes. Teens have wildly colored boards, each appealing to their personalities, and adults will......
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Inline Skate Wheels pt1 When it comes to inline skates, the wheels you choose to ride on could quite possibly have the biggest impact on how well you skate. Inline skate wheels come in many different shapes, sizes, and materials (or composition). Different wheels are made for different skating styles, so picking the proper......
Top Alternative Skateboard Options Here are some of the top new and original alternative skateboards out there, most of which are so different in what they offer that they are only considered skateboards in name, rather than in form. Skateboarding has taken on many different forms through the year, as shown by these examples......
Drywall Guide 101 Drywall is used as a modern building material that is available in large panels such as 4 feet by 8 feet. The standard drywall panel has a gypsum core which has been sandwiched between two faces of heavy paper. These heavy paper faces are commonly constructed from recycled paper products.......
Swimming Meet Preparations Which Make a Difference Swimming is a sport which takes a lot of preparation. You need to have the right training to have good form and a good time. This is true whether you are swimming on your own or in a relay. Your performance in a swim meet can only be affected by......
Surf Spots in the San Francisco Bay Within 20 minutes of Pacifica in California, there are three really popular surfing spots. Ocean Beach is located in San Francisco, Linda Mar is located in Pacifica and the Jetty at Half Moon Bay is located at Half Moon Bay. Ocean Beach is truly unbelievable when it comes to surfing.......
Snowboarding Glossary Flute - A snow column that can be found on rocks and other terrain features as well as almost vertical slopes. Free riding - This is the term for casual snowboarding that is done on any terrain type. There are no gates, half pipes, rules, or contests. This is all......
Snowboarding Tips Some people are who are introduced to the sport of snowboarding decide to buy their own snowboards while others receive a snowboard as a gift after waiting patiently. This is definitely a start, but now you are going to have to figure out the most difficult part: Learning how to......
Concave – This is a term that describes the contouring of a skate deck. It involves the raising of the edges on each side of the board, making it somewhat bowl shaped. This helps provide more traction and control to the rider for staying on and performing tricks.
Continuous Edge - This is a term that is used to describe edges that are designed without having small cracks in the outermost contact area. This is often used for adding strength and sometimes stiffness to the board’s edges.
Coping - This is a rounded lip found at the very top of a ramp or an obstacle, and it is typically comprised of metal, PVC pipe or cement.
Crooked Grind – This is a term that is used to describe a nose grind where the nose is sliding at the same time.
Dampening – This involves controlling and minimizing resonance in vibration that is created using the energy that is separated by the surface and the board flex. This is a term that is used to describe any material that is built into the core of the board or the edges in order to keep the board responsive and quiet.
Darkslide - This is a term that is used to describe flipping the board upon approaching something to grind, grinding on the grip tape while the feet are on the very bottom of the board.
Drop In – This is a term that is used to describe entering the obstacle or the ramp from above.
Durometer - This is a term that is used to describe the measurement of hardness or resiliency of a wheel made from urethane.
Face Plant - This is a term that is used to describe the face of the rider hitting the ground before the rest of his or her body does.
Fakie – This is a term that is used to describe riding backwards.
Front Side – This is a term that is used to describe executing a turn or a trick with the body facing in the forward direction.
Gay Twist - This is a term that is used to describe completing a 360 in the air while riding fakie at the lip of an obstacle or a ramp, grabbing the board and heading back down front side.
Goofy Foot – This is a term that is used to describe riding with the right foot ahead of the left foot.
Grab – This is a term that is used to describe grabbing the board with either one or both of the rider’s hands.
Grind - This is a term that is used to describe riding on an object where only the trucks of the board are making contact. Examples of obstacles that can be grinded on include handrails and ledges.
Grip Tape - This is a term that is used to describe adhesive sandpaper material that is fixed to the entire top of the skateboard in order to improve the traction for the rider.
Skateboarding Lexicon 180 - This is a term that refers to a half rotation. 360 - This is a term that refers to a single full rotation. 540 - This is a term that describes a 540-degree rotation while in the air. This is equal to one and a half full rotations.......
Early History of Skateboarding Skateboarding goes back a lot farther than people might think. The roots of the sport can be traced back to roughly some point in the late 1940's to the early 1950's. It started as a past time for surfers when there were no good waves to ride. The early boards......
Wakeboarding Terms and Tips If you want to understand the wakeboarding sport better, then there are a few different wakeboard glossary terms that you are going to need to be aware of. Wakeboarding is a truly specialized sport, and the terms that are attached to this sport are also quite specialized. If you are......
Benefits of Surfing Understanding the benefits of surfing will help you determine whether or not this is the right water sport for you. First and foremost, do you know what surfing is? Surfing is a unique activity involving the riding on a wave or riding along a wave using a surfboard. One of......
How are Roller Blading and Inline Skating Different? Roller blading is a name that has been applied to the inline skating sport as a result of the large role that the "Rollerblade Company" played in creating popularity out of the inline skating sport. Rollerblade, Inc. was not responsible for inventing, manufacturing or designing the very first inline skates.......
Perfume Scents Glossary Finale Sillage - This is a term that is used to describe to the trail of the perfume scents that are left behind when a perfume is applied. Fragrances that have a minimal amount of sillage are regarded as capable of remaining close to the skin. Soliflore - This term is......
Snowboarding Glossary Continued Twin Tip - This is a term that is used to describe a variety of snowboard that is specifically designed for snowboarding freestyle. This type of snowboard has a tip and a tail that are identical, making it possible for the board to be ridden in both directions in a......
Snowboarding Glossary Continued Sky - This is a term that is used to describe when big air is achieved by a rider. Slalom - This is a term that is used to describe a type of Alpine snowboarding racing where the racer has to run along a designated course where a series of......
Snowboarding Glossary Continued Sad Plant - This is a term that is used to describe any type of hand plant where the rider is boning the front leg for the purpose of style. Sandwich Construction - This is a term that is used to describe layers of materials that are layered on top......
Anatomy of an Acoustic Guitar The Bridge The bridge of a guitar is found between the middle and the end of the body, though generally very near the end of the body. Depending on your guitar, your strings may originate at the bridge, or they may just be supported by it. Most guitar bridges are......
180 – This is a term that refers to a half rotation.
360 - This is a term that refers to a single full rotation.
540 - This is a term that describes a 540-degree rotation while in the air. This is equal to one and a half full rotations.
720 - This is a term that typically refers to two simultaneous 360-degree turns, either forward or in a backward direction.
900 - This is a term that describes two and a half full rotations.
5-0 Grind - This term describes a type of grind in which the only trick that is grinding is the back truck.
50/50 - This term describes a type of grind in which both of the trucks are grinding.
Abec - This term is used to describe the tolerance rating system that is applied to bearings, designating the level for the bushing’s stress resistance. Higher Abec ratings refer to tighter bearings and lower Abec ratings refer to looser bearings.
Acid Drop – This refers to riding straight off of an obstacle, free falling to the ground.
Air – This is the term that is used to refer to situations where riders are clearing obstacles or jumps.
Alley Oop - This refers to a situation where a trick is being performed in an opposite direction from the direction that the skater is moving in.
Backside - This refers to a situation where a trick or a turn is being executed in a direction that the rider’s back is facing.
Bank - This is any area that is sloped below 90 degrees.
Bearings - There are both inner and outer parts in bearings, and the balls ride on them, making it possible for the wheels to turn.
Blunt - This describes a situation where a trick is being performed and the board’s contact spot with whatever obstacle is being used is the tail area behind the board’s back trucks. The wheels should also be on top of the item in question.
Board – In skateboarding, this is also known as a deck, and is the platform part that all of the hardware is mounted on to. The most common material used for a skateboard deck is maple laminate.
Boardslide or Railslide - This is a trick that involves sliding on an obstacle or a lip where the underside of the board is the contact point.
Brain Bucket – This is a slang term that refers to a helmet.
Caballerial - On flat ground this is a term that describes riding fakie, do an ollie 360 without any grabbing. On a vert ramp, this is a term that describes riding fakie, and doing an ollie 360 without grabbing at the lip. This trick was invented by Steve Caballero
Carve - This is a term that describes making long curving arcs while skating, especially downhill.
Rollerblading Safety Rollerblading is a truly wonderful sport and it provides for great exercise, keeping you in shape. People from all over the world and all kinds of walks of life can enjoy rollerblading simply because its very nature is fun and easy. Coupled with the enjoyment of the sport of rollerblading,......
ABEC ratings: Is higher really better? Pt. 2 Now do you see what I mean by these tolerances being mangled by the first few minutes of riding down the sidewalk? The pressure of you riding, along with the shocks of bumps and the cracks in the sidewalk will quickly add a lot more eccentricity to this groove, but......
Inline Skate Rockering If you have been into inline skating for any decent amount of time, then chances are you have heard the term rockering before. You might even know what rockering is, and this will just be remedial information for you. But if you do not, then this could be quite enlightening......
More on Inline Skate Wheels The Core The core of the wheel is comprised of the hub and the spokes. The bearings and spacers are housed inside the inner hub. The spokes and outer hub are what the polyurethane itself is attached to. The way the core is designed, and the materials from which the......
Surf, Skate, Wakeboard: Gear and Accessories The thrill and action of surf boarding, skate boarding and wake boarding takes skill, practice, and receiving a few bumps and bruises. It also requires good equipment, since no amount of skill can make up for a board past its prime. Choosing the right board is a matter of preference,......
Hunting Glossary Continued Cable Guard - This holds the cables off to the side so that there is always ample arrow clearance. Cable Slide - This is designed to fit onto the cable guard, its purpose is to help the cables move across the guard smoothly. Buying a new cable slide made from......
Snowboarding Glossary Continued Sad Plant - This is a term that is used to describe any type of hand plant where the rider is boning the front leg for the purpose of style. Sandwich Construction - This is a term that is used to describe layers of materials that are layered on top......
Snowboarding Glossary Continued Sky - This is a term that is used to describe when big air is achieved by a rider. Slalom - This is a term that is used to describe a type of Alpine snowboarding racing where the racer has to run along a designated course where a series of......
Lumber Terms pt 2 Ply - This term describes a single layer of veneer. Pressure Treating - This term describes impregnating pieces of lumber with chemicals like fire retardants and preservatives through the forcing of the chemicals with high pressure into the wood's very structure. Reman - This is a shortened term referring to......
Snowboarding Glossary Continued Twin Tip - This is a term that is used to describe a variety of snowboard that is specifically designed for snowboarding freestyle. This type of snowboard has a tip and a tail that are identical, making it possible for the board to be ridden in both directions in a......
Today’s post is by guest blogger, Dakota Roche.
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