In 1968 I went with my family to Petrópolis, an imperial city near Rio de Janeiro. In my luggage I took my 1st skateboard, which was made with rubber roller skates opened in half and bolted to a straight board. I remember very well when my father took me to a skating rink where I played with my skateboard for a long time. And I also remember the looks of people who saw it as something strange. A boy walking on a board with wheels. Something totally unusual and out of place for many. Since then I noticed that Skate was different. And that was one of the reasons for me to tie myself to the animal. “A different thing, just mine”, I thought.
Over time I saw that Skate was forming a new world thanks to its fans who didn't tired of breaking new barriers in the search for new terrains and why not say, new ways of expression.
Then came the urethane, skateparks, maneuvers and Skate underwent an expansion reaching a much larger universe, which gradually solidified, becoming a “market”.
The “system” began to absorb the innocent toy and soon the side of Skateboarding as a sport began to be explored.
Skateboarding has always been innovative and, above all, anarchic, in the sense that there are no rules to practice. You just walk. You don't have to interact with others, follow regulations or even look for specific terrain to practice. If you skate anywhere!!! Sidewalk, street, court, track, ramp, pool, tube, garage, handrail, guide, kitchen, living room, bedroom...
I've always felt proud to be part of a creative crowd that valued individual expression and fun with friends. I think the reuse we make of objects and structures is great to make them a source of pleasure. For many a wall is just a wall. But for a skater it can be a source of pleasure, "that" peak hour!
Skate was born from a highly radical act: taking a skate - one of the icons of the American Way of Life of the 50s - and transforming it into something never before thought of. Surfing the asphalt. Surfing at that time was already part of the counter-culture. Drop in, turn in and drop out said the Gurus of the time Timothy Leary and William Borrougs who promoted a great change in American society through drugs and thoughts that encouraged the way of life alternative.
So the move was drop in, ie take acid, turn in, tune in, and drop out - disconnect from the system.
With the same objective, in a much healthier attitude, Skate took the place of acid, and was used as an instrument by many to decrease the system's reach in their lives and be happy with that.
When John Lucero and Neil Blender, regulars at Skatepark Skate City, were turned away because they didn't have the money to pay the tickets. that day and thus prevented from performing their art, they were making fun of Skate in front of the track, giving slappies, rock and roll slides and others little maneuvers.
At this moment, a turnaround was taking place that would happen with Skate. Street Skates was born. The lanes would start to close.
“Why pay if I can walk the streets for free?” It was the question that everyone started to ask themselves. The underground spoke louder and once again dropped out of the system, in this case the “corporations” that Skateparks and Skate itself had become. Something difficult, complicated and with many rules to follow, especially on the tracks.
In my view, in life everything goes through cycles. Skateboarding too. Every 10 years there is a transformation that causes Skate to explode and then fall into the oblivion of the great masses.
But, even for this it doesn't cease to exist.
On the contrary, it only gains strength and grows!
I have already witnessed 3 of these cycles and we are on the verge of a new turn.
Spontaneous Skateboarding versus Corporate Skateboarding.
“Skateboarding is not a crime” was the phrase on the sticker launched by Santa Cruz at the time the Street Skate boom was taking place, spreading across the world with unprecedented force.
Then came the TV and the mega championships made especially for the big American networks. Skate enters the homes of millions of people who never dreamed that it was physically possible to do certain things presented by skaters, the more they come to understand what represented for each floor of Skateboard.
Skate happens to be a guy flying from side to side on two walls in a Half Pipe or up and down and jumping ramps in Street.
The cultural totalitarianism caused by globalization was gradually transforming Skate.
The American Consolidated Skateboarding firm is very good in yet another of its controversial stickers with the phrase “Skateboard is not a sport”.
Yes! Skateboarding is not a sport. It's much more than a sport! A way of life, for many of those who want to put a stop to excessive regulations, codes of other conduct and impositions made by society and have more greater control over their own actions.
I've asked myself a lot when putting credits on the Skate shows I do. Use Nilton Neves or Nilton Urina? Carlos Piolho or Carlos de Andrade? Sergio Negão or Sergio Fortunato? In the end I decided to start crediting skateboarders as they are known in our world, the world of skateboarding. Negao, Louse and Urina are how these skaters are known. And ready.
If you've continued reading this far, you might be interested to see where this is going, or at least wondered "what's this nut trying to say to all this?"
Simple.
For me, a skateboarder is a skateboarder. He's not an athlete.
It's soooo much more than that!
Athlete is not enough to define a skateboarder.
A Skateboarder is an artist, a designer and his product are the maneuvers he performs and creates. Each one with its own personal identity like a unique, inimitable calligraphy.
Your support are the countless peaks that you explore with your Skate in search of satisfaction and personal fulfillment.
As I said at the Brazilian Skate Congress,
“the skateboarder doesn't fit in an athlete's box”...
Certainly.
Because a lot will be left out...
With my work I had the opportunity to get to know several different countries and cultures. And one thing for me is certain. Everywhere a skater is a skater.
Only in Brazil, for some time now, he has been labeled an athlete!!!
I feel sad after all these years of battle for this (against) cultural movement that is Skate, which has an identity and its own unique characteristics, reach the 21st century and see that according to many, skaters have now been reduced to simple athletes!!!
Instead of being an athlete, I would love to see better definitions in magazines and championships about who lives to walk on a board with 2 axles and 4 wheels.
I suggest something more Skate and less system
like: "the next skater to perform is..."
Text written to:
Skate Tribo Magazine 74, November 2001
Cesinha Keys
http://www.brasilskate.com
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Skateboard - PE - Brazil School