Skateboarding is much more than a sport, ist a source for inspiration, a tool for self-empowerment teaching us „lessons of life on a wooden toy”:
· Teaches Commitment: Similar to martial arts, skateboarding skills and fundamentals must be learned and mastered over time with practice and patience, (unlike the instant gratification provided by television and video games).
· Teaches Responsibility: Skateboarding provides a perfect opportunity for a young person to take (calculated) risks in a controlled environment, with very real and immediate consequences if maneuvers are not executed properly.
· Inculcates Bravery: This is another amazing skateboarding benefit that not many sports offer. The biggest fear while skateboarding is losing control while doing a stunt. Hence every stunt requires countless hours of practice so that the skateboarder can perform even the most complex stunts with a clear and focused mind. This ability of not giving up, and having a calm and focused mind can prove extremely beneficial in real life (and emergency scenarios).
· You learn to fail/fall and to get up again: Prevention of future injuries is one of the most beneficial things that skateboarding has to offer in terms of health. When you skate, you learn how to avoid falling (if possible), and you also learn how to fall correctly. Skateboarders naturally get better at knowing where to place their feet and their hands as they progress with their skating.
· Building Confidence: When you have tried many times for a trick, and you finally get it in your pocket, you will feel there is nothing hard for you, and you can do anything.
· Gaining Social Skills And Friends: Skateboarding is a social sport, indeed. It is very super fun for a bunch of people to do the same thing that all love. And you can get help and advice from other people about how to skateboard better. And you can learn how to communicate with others, and how to make friends with others. For introverted children, skateboarding is a great helpful social activity to help them go out and make friendships
· Stress Relief: Any physical activity is considered to be good for relieving stress. Skateboarding can help you take your mind off things. Alternatively, it can also help you think clearly about things. Skateboarding seems to bring things into perspective and allows you to feel as though you’re more in control of other aspects of your life.
· Overall Health: As with all forms of physical exercise, skateboarding can reduce or eliminate your risk for many health problems, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity
· Improves Coordination and Balance: Skateboarding involves a lot of coordination between your eyes, legs, feet and arms. The more you skate, the better you’ll get at this. Precision and coordination are used throughout your life, whether you skate or not. When you improve these traits, you better your ability to do all sorts of different things from driving to climbing to multi-tasking.
· Pain Tolerance & Determination: Bruises and bumps. Scrapes and scars. Aches and pains. They’re all a part of skateboarding. And since we love skateboarding so much, we’re willing to take the abuse. The fun and excitement of skating is far greater than the pain involved. Most small injuries go away. You forget about them. But you’ll never forget your first kickflip, your first drop-in, or your first handrail. So we roll with the punches. And those punches become easier to deal with each and every time. We fall. We get up. We try it again with even more determination.
· Getting Rid Of Bad Habits: Nowadays many people have such bad habits of staying indoors for a whole day, keep playing smartphones or video games, or more. However, when you pick up your skateboard, such things will not bother you anymore.
These skillsets are the foundation to develop initiatives and leadership skills for the young skateboarders, who want to improve their lifes and skateboarding opportunities, i.e. like getting organized, negotiating with groups of interest, startup businesses (skate schools, magazines) and even get involved in inspring the younger generation after them. Even the difficulties between the young skateboarders and the several groups of (their own) interest, push the youth to search for solutions and organize themselves to improve (their) situation.
