Evan Doherty Makes History in Skateboarding

[dew]

Csonicgo said:

Yeah, just like Football, where injuries like concussions and contusions are just the tip of the iceberg. Or Soccer, where you always risk getting a fatal kick to your jimmies. Yet, tons of children do these sports on a daily basis.

heh. i can't speak for gridiron, because you yanks are weird, but i can't recall any truly dangerous sports for kids here in europe. and this includes even ski jumping, you just don't let them risk too much. your football ("soccer") example is weird, i haven't heard of a single kid crotch-kicked into, i dunno, sterility? i have to wonder how exactly you picture "soccer" in your mind, heh.

[Phobus]

I saw broken arms and legs when playing football at school. Worst I ever got was probably a chipped tooth from when we were using a basketball as a football and I mistimed my jump for a header.

Anyway, if you want a dangerous European sport, look no further than rugby.

[Szymanski]

Although the ramp is dangerous he's skilled enough to limit the risk.
He's padded up and can knee slide safely. I spent over twelve years skateboarding and the worst injuries I saw were broken ankles/wrist.
I'd be more concerned if he was skating hand rails, so easy to catapult yourself head first.

I'm kinda envious, would have loved a megaramp.

[printz]

Phml said:

While a fairly awesome accomplishment, the only thought I could have watching this video was "irresponsible parenting". I guess I'm not rad enough.

Sorry, but I don't think kids are more vulnerable than adults at falling. I think it's quite the opposite, considering that they're smaller and much lighter.

[Maes]

Phml said:

While a fairly awesome accomplishment, the only thought I could have watching this video was "Damn! I wish my parents had been that cool and let me do that! Instead my mother used to overdress me with a scarf even in summer so I didn't catch a cold and all the other kids made fun of me at school and called me a wimp, BAAAAAAWWW"

I think that's what you REALLY meant to say ;-)

[bytor]

sweeet!

Yeah, shame on those parents for letting their kid get involved in a sport instead of sitting him safely at home, alone, and in front of a screen that shows gay cartoonsviolent videogames so he can properly brood over being bullied at school.

[Csonicgo]

bytor said:

sweeet!

Yeah, shame on those parents for letting their kid get involved in a sport instead of sitting him safely at home, alone, and in front of a screen that shows gay cartoonsviolent videogames so he can properly brood over being bullied at school.

RIGHT ON.

[Coopersville]

Tubular jump kid.

[eargosedown]

Phml said:

Yes, the amount of risk involved in playing soccer or riding a bike is exactly the same as doing this.

Can I interest you in a high-reward investment plan? I'm building a startup selling bridges in London.

I skateboarded for most of my childhood/teens. I rarely if ever got hurt, and did some pretty crazy shit. Actually, it's really really rare for people to get badly hurt skateboarding--even less so in parks and such ('street' skating comprises most deadly/high damage injuries.) [edit: I should clarify, buy 'hurt' I mean an injury that hospitalized me or something otherwise pretty painful. Skabbed knees/elbows and bruises happen in all sports.]

I fked up my leg bad in an unrelated injury, and basically had to relearn foot techniques because my bone snapped, so I just kinda stopped bothering.

It's really not that high risk. It's dangerous if you're new, sure, or try to do something stupid when unprepared, but it's kind of like driving a car--there's a chance to get in a horrible accident, but the more experience you have the less likely you are to get into a really bad collision from your own mistake.

It's a cool sport though. Independent, you practice and see the gains reflected on you, individually. It really works out your heart, your legs (upper body as well if you do certain styles) and keeps you really fit. Fks up your knees after a while though, but most sports have long term consequences.

Oh, and for the record, both of those jumps he made are incredibly fucking hard. I skated daily 4hrs+ for at least 7 years, and although I progressed fast relative to most others I hung out with, I couldn't ever even air a mini ramp. If you tried that jump with little/no experience, you'd get completely wrecked. The jump itself (the first) requires very precise foot placement to get the board to 'pop' at those speeds. The grab needs to be perfect to not let the thing fly away, and the landing needs to be straight on (or you'd slide out sideways) and needs to be correctly compensated (so you don't fall forward or back.)

The second jump takes a completely different type of foot motion to 'pop' the board, so you don't fly in too far (and hit flat ground) and don't stay out too far (and hit the top decking/lip and get fucked really bad.) The second jump is probably the harder of the two because of the height and the grabbing required.

Of course, this sort of thing takes many many tries to get right. You can bail out relatively unharmed if you know how to do it right (a technique called knee sliding, that also has to be learned so you don't face plant) and have to use a very precise board setup to handle that kind of ramp.

Cool kid, I envy his talent. I might head down to the skatepark tomorrow and make an ass of myself.