Skateboarding, from Father to Son

Skateboarding, from Father to Son

It’s a sunny weekend afternoon and a Memphis father wheels up in his Sonata to a newly paved, sloping parking lot to let his 11-year-old son, Connor try out some well-honed tricks on his skateboard. It doesn’t take very long for Dad David to give into the longtime itch to get out his board too, a mid 1980s model. That’s just one of his older models he keeps in addition to a Bahne ash board from the mid 1970s and a Gordon & Smith Fibreflex from the same period.

After all, this 51-year old has seen a lot of skateboarding seasons cycle through. Out of the four total waves of the skateboarding scene, he has skated in the last three and vaguely remembers the first wave from afar. That was the pre-urethene one with hardened clay wheels that followed the original metal wheels.

Both father and son have taken their scrapes with the dad winning the prize for bumming up the knees and elbows more than the son.

It was not long ago that he would also ride the skate parks too, but his wiser wife, Cathy, raises a concerned eyebrow about the prospect of missing work as an editor of a daily business newspaper. Rightfully so. Daughter Lawrence just likes going to see some of the skateboarders ride from time to time.

It will be many years and cycles of skateboarding before David even considers putting his board up for all time.

Ride, ride, ride – let ‘em ride…

That was from David Yawn - thanks for sharing that with us. David has been skating since clay wheels and is still riding today, and is sharing his passion with his son. There's absolutely no reason to stop skating for age, or any other reason, really. You can contact the author at ysanctus@aol.com.

Skateboarding attracts all kinds of people with interesting stories - Dean just started to learn to skate at 41 - read I'm Not Too Old to Skate! for his story. And Daredog, as she likes to be called, was blinded at a young age and picked up skateboarding at 20. Read Blind Speed for her story.
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