Kevin Barnett wrote a Guest Ed for The Skateboard Mag in the September 2008 issue. He told a story about his childhood obsession with taekwondo, a strip-mall version of karate. His story highlighted some of the obvious parallels of skateboarding and martial arts. It’s really hard for me to put a finger on what is going wrong with the commercialization of skateboarding these days, but Kevin summed it up perfectly. “Im all for skateboarding becoming as big as it possibly can, but i’d like to see it done with some control and dignity.” If you need some proof that we are loosing some control check out one of the many crappy tennis court parks that with less then 5 years of skating are falling apart at the seams. If skaters were more involved we would always have a say in what happens in our community. Now all hating aside, I believe it is the responsibility of every skateboarder to do the best that they can to represent the roots of skateboarding and its giving nature. It’s also up to us to preserve its artistic nature whether it be from the streets or our back yards. Something so unique about skateboarding is the blurry lines that barely separate the pros from the fans, the industry from the up and coming artists, the photographers from the bloggers. Skateboarding is like one big happy family. If your down to ride your invited. Competition is healthy. It drives progression and it also gives us a reason to feel satisfied after learning a new trick in front of our friends. Having said that, skateboarding is not your traditional sport. It is an athletic art with culture and media moving far beyond the corporate influence of boringness. For everyones sake, have fun, enjoy skateboarding and please, keep it real.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.