Sometimes we need some motivation to get on a skateboard. Maybe you got injured or took some time off skating. Whatever the reason you need some motivation skateboarding, let’s look at what gets me motivated to grab my board and get out there.
Skateboard Quotes
Skateboarders are not the most well-spoken bunch. Often skaters express themselves through skating and not words. Nonetheless, there have been some thought-provoking and resonant quotes about or from skateboarding that have been said and recorded.
I shuffled through what I could find from interviews, movies, and just the internet to find some of the best.
Check it out.
I feel like skateboarding is as much of a sport as a lifestyle, and an art form, so there’s so much that that transcends in terms of music, fashion, and entertainment.
– Tony Hawk
Hopefully, kids realize you can do anything you want. Skateboarding can be that gateway.
– Ryan Sheckler
Don’t let anything poison your individuality. Break away and look in, not outward.
-Rodney Mullen
Your whole life society tells you, like ‘oh, be a man, and you are strong and you are tough and margaritas are gay’ you know, like. You know. You don’t grow up thinking that’s the way you are. When you’re a kid, you just do, you just act and then somewhere along the line, everyone loses that.
– Zach Mulligan
All skateboarding is, is putting ideas into action.
-Marc Johnson
“I’ve seen kids turn their lives around. It’s usually a kid who’s outside of the team-sport world, or maybe has a darker personality or doesn’t fit in. Skateboarding ends up being something they latch onto. It sounds hokey, but finding a focus on something can be life-changing.”
– Jeff Ament
“Do what you love and try not to look at what other people occupy themselves with. Most people seem restless and bounce around too much to focus or even pay attention enough to themselves to figure out exactly what they really do love, as opposed to what the people that surround them are doing.”
– Rodney Mullen
Inspiring Skateboard Videos
There is a lot of great skate videos out there some I’m going to put just a few of the skate videos that really help me see the beauty of skateboarding and motivate me to skate more often.
GODSPEED from Illegal Civ
This is a more recent skate video, but it is simply amazing. The whole video shows off creative and great skating as well as captures the personality of the skaters involved. The end trick from Alex Midler is phenomenal. The interactions and speaking parts are raw.
There is even a segment from Zion Wright who is an incredibly exciting young skater. Though his part is far from the most impressive in the video.
Seriously, check it out.
Baker 3
Baker 3 is a legendary video. The individual parts, music, and personalities reek of grungy 90s goodness. There are parts from the legends Andrew Reynolds and Ali Boulala that stand the test of time. Like other great skate videos, Baker 3 captures amazing stunts, mishaps, and the personalities of all the skaters involved.
Ali Boulala struggled with alcohol, drug addiction, and accidentally being involved in his friend’s death which you can see in the new documentary The Scars of Ali Boulala. The documentary looks great, but I haven’t watched it yet.
You need to watch Baker 3 if you want to feel reinvigorated from a skateboard video.
Vinnie Banh Street Part 2017
Vinnie Banh has amazing swagger and style as a skater, but otherwise in person is fairly soft-spoken. This is the only street skating video with few personal clips I have in this brief list because watching Vinnie skate is such a joy.
The smooth, yet gritty, skate style that he has is captivating to watch. From the song choice and video style, you feel like you’re watching someone rebel against the traditional path as he gives everything to find his place in skateboarding.
And this is an honest story. Vinnie has been through struggle after struggle to try and make it in skateboarding. He went through bouts of homelessness. He is truly trying to live his dream and make a living with skateboarding.
Unfortunately, Vinnie is battling injuries and is just coming back from a long hiatus as of writing this (July 2021). That being said watching this clip is just inspiring. Vinnie’s hard-headed persistence, talent, and charm make it a great watch.
Inspiring Skate Stories
Minding the Gap
Minding the Gap is an amazing documentary that cuts past the aesthetic of skateboarding as an extreme or reckless sport. The documentary follows the stories of three friends and how their troubled homes pushed them to embrace skateboarding as an outlet.
The boys skateboard as a cathartic release to escape their difficult home life, but they struggle to adapt as young adults. Eventually, the friends grow apart and begin living very different lives. This movie starts as a documentary about skateboarding but becomes about how these friends struggle as they enter the adult world.
Honestly, this documentary is the highest-rated skateboarding film for good reason. It’s beautifully filmed and presented and you are left with an amazing slice of life piece. I keep coming back to this film and it’s really worth paying to see it.
Alternatively, you could probably sign up for Hulu’s free trial to see it.
Dogtown And Z-Boys
Skateboarding is all about the raw realities of life and making something out of a bad situation.
Dogtown and Z-boys is another documentary that goes back to the absolute beginning of skateboarding in Southern California. This is where Stacy Peralta began and where skateboarding caught the world’s eye.
Groups of young skaters reinvented the sport and took it to competitions, empty swimming pools, and drainage ditches. The invention of urethane wheels helped the sport evolve into what it is today.
This is a feel-good documentary that retains a gritty feel as the sport emerged from the Dogtown Surfing scene kids. The early skaters of Dogtown were mostly from broken homes and poor families. Once the sport began to get recognized again, the early skaters are given an opportunity to cash in on their newly gained notoriety. Unfortunately, the environment becomes a bit desperate and competitive
I love this documentary. It’s presented with the characteristic style and personality of skateboarding and makes you wish you could experience a Southern California summer as a teenager experimenting with skateboarding and surfing. You feel like you wish you could catch the wave of culture that rose up in Venice Beach.
I love this movie, and you should absolutely watch this documentary. It’s free to watch on YouTube so you have no excuse not to.
Good Skateboarding Music
What if the quotes don’t do it, the videos are feeling stale, and you’ve already seen all the best skateboarding documentaries and movies!?
Then maybe you simply need a bangin’ playlist.
Nothing like playing music through a Bluetooth speaker or popping in the headphones to get me in the mood to skate. Certain music makes it even better. There are no pop anthems here. Every song or artist embodies some aspect of the rebellious nature of skateboarding.
This playlist is something I put together. The first Vince Staples track is the song I was obsessed with when I restarted skating again as an adult. Vince Staples also grew up around skateboarding and his music seems to fit it so well.
This playlist is obviously subjective and highly influenced by my own taste in music. So I hope you don’t hate it.
How to Stay Motivated Skateboarding
Staying motivated to skateboard isn’t really hard for most skaters. If they didn’t want to skateboard, then they would have quit long ago.
That being said, sometimes you can get injured or life can get in the way and skateboarding can become an afterthought. So how do you stay motivated to skateboard?
For me, it involved pulling up youtube and watching some videos usually. This is the easiest way. Otherwise, I like to watch a skate movie documentary. Minding the Gap and The Z-Boys of Dogtown are great ones to watch.
Sometimes I go to the park and see others skateboarding and this makes me want to skate. Even walking past the skatepark is enough to make me go grab my board usually.
Really what motivates you is personal. You got to find that right balance of emotionally moving content that will get you up and out skating. The skating world is rife with great content so you really just need to poke around Youtube until you find something that resonates.
My personal recommendation is to follow Illegal Civ. They are great.
Tracking Your Own Progress
This is another great idea that is super motivating. Even when you are just starting out, you should video yourself skating. This is so you can track your progress and visually see how much you have improved since you began videoing.
Seeing yourself progress is hard to do without video evidence. There is no better feeling than visibly improving your skateboarding. Conversely, there is nothing quite as frustrating as not progressing at all. Especially if you are a beginner.
So just try and take a little video every session or every other session. Buy a small tripod for your phone or ask a friend to take a little video.
It’s easy to do and very motivating.
Can You Can Make a Living Skateboarding?
So many people with a passion want to make skateboarding their job. This is commendable but is simply not a reality for most skaters.
You can make a living and earn money skateboarding, but it isn’t simply a matter of being a good skater. You will need to produce street content that produces sponsorships, win contests, or start your own brand and company to make money from skateboarding. Many aspiring professional skaters struggle to earn a livable wage.
The highest-paid skater ever is Nyjah Hudson. He is estimated to be worth about 12 million as of writing this article. Though his Olympic debut is literally in a few days so that value will likely increase.
Nyjah bought a multimillion-dollar house at the age of 18 years old from skateboarding. This is from tournament winnings and sponsorships. However, keep in mind the people who make money in skateboarding a few and far between when compared to the number of skateboarders.
Most people will not be able to make any money skateboarding or they will make money, but struggle to survive. Also, realistically your health is precarious in skateboarding. A single bad trick could sideline you for months and everyone will get injured at some point.
This isn’t to discourage you though. You can find your place filming and editing videos. You can become the best skateboard journalist out there. You can design skateboard clothes and decks. You could start your own skateboarding tutorial channel.
There really are many avenues to making income from skateboarding that don’t involve being the best skateboarder or doing the most impressive trick. That career path is extremely fickle regardless. Most professional skaters expand into other aspects such as video games, clothing brands, or skating schools.
The gist of what I’m trying to say is that you have options. Your place in the skateboarding world might not be as straightforward as being a street skater, but you can make skateboarding your full-time job.
Skateboarding and filmography go very well together for instance.
Expected Skating Progression
You will get as much out of skating as you put in it. I compiled a simple progression table to help a beginner get an idea of how long it will take to get the basics down.
The table is in no way exhaustive and really doesn’t apply to those that have been skating for a while. You veterans will need to find motivation from somewhere other than this table.
The following table is the expected progression of an adult who has never skateboarded before and is committing to three days a week of skating. This is for skaters who want to learn tricks. I also assume you spend about 1.5-2 hours per skate session.
For an adult with a busy schedule, this is pretty aggressive. Still, learning to skateboard takes a lot of time. Stick it out though, because skating gets more fun as your ability improves. You will gain momentum.
| Month | Working On | Mastered |
| 1 | -Standing on your board, pushing off, stopping and turning | |
| 2 | -Standing on your board, pushing off, stopping and turning -Kickturns -Ollie | |
| 3 | -Getting comfortable on your skateboard -Kickturns -Ollie | -Standing on your board, pushing off, stopping and turning -Can do kickturns, but not mastered |
| 4 | -Getting comfortable on your skateboard -Kickturns -Ollie | -Standing on your board, pushing off, stopping and turning -Can do kickturns, but not mastered -Can ollie, but not mastered |
| 5 | -Ollie -Backside 180 -Pop-shuvit -Dropping in | -Standing on your board, pushing off, stopping and turning -Comfortable on your board -Kickturns -Can ollie, but not mastered |
| 6 | -Ollie -Backside 180 -Pop-shuvit -Dropping in | -Standing on your board, pushing off, stopping and turning -Comfortable on your board -Kickturns -Can ollie, but not mastered -Can backside 180, but not mastered |
Conclusion
So get out there and skate.
Hopefully, you found something in this article that’s given you a bit of a push whether that be to buy your first board, practice more, or motivate to hold on through your injury recovery time. Skateboarding is truly amazing. It isn’t like any other sport.
So often in this life, we get tied down by responsibilities and demands and don’t have any time when we truly feel in control and free. Skateboarding has been that little slice of freedom in my life and in the lives of so many others.
I cannot state enough how much you won’t regret spending your time learning to skate and joining the skating community.
So that’s it. Thanks for reading and look out for more articles from Board and Wheels.
