English Translation:

Skateboarding is an extreme sport that involves gliding and performing acrobatics on a skateboard; it is also a leisure activity, an art, a profession, and a means of transportation.

For most people, skateboarding seems dangerous, but in fact, as long as you have professional guidance and enough practice, you can enjoy the excitement and satisfaction it brings after mastering it. As time goes by, today's skateboarding is not only the standard skateboard of the past, but also has evolved into cruisers, longboards, and surfskates, etc. There are endless varieties of skateboards suitable for players of different ages.

Ho Ji Zan (49), who works as a marketing planner for a media company, discovered skateboarding when he was 10 years old and began practicing near his home. He became more and more interested in it. However, there were not many skateboarding venues in the local area at that time, and his busy schoolwork forced him to temporarily put this interest on hold.

Decades have passed in the blink of an eye. Ho Ji Zan, who has entered middle age, passed by a skateboard shop about half a year ago. He saw the colorful and exquisitely shaped skateboards displayed on the wall cabinets, which evoked his childhood memories. So he bought a skateboard on the spot and picked up the interest that had been shelved that year.

He said: "At first I watched YouTube teaching videos and learned by myself, but I found that my progress was slow and no one pointed out my mistakes. In order to master the skills and improve my level faster, I decided to formally sign up for skateboarding courses."

At present, in addition to taking one-on-one skateboarding lessons once a week for one hour, Ho Ji Zan also spends 10 to 20 minutes practicing skateboarding after returning home from get off work every day.

He said: "Skateboarding is different from running or swimming. It requires 100% concentration. You can't think about work at the same time or else you might fall. Skateboarding became a time for me to be with myself. ”

He said frankly: "I think when you reach a certain age, you should not hesitate to do what you want to do, but go all out to complete it immediately, because time will only keep passing, and if you don't do it now, you will miss it."

Manager Luo Litong, 50, and civil servant Zhuang Jiaqi, 32, met at a ski camp because they were both keen on snowboarding. Zhuang Jiaqi said that in addition to skiing, she also likes surfing and has always wanted to find a similar sport to improve her skills and increase her sense of balance and flexibility.

"At Luo Litong's suggestion, we found a skateboarding school and started learning skateboarding. The three sports I tried are all board sports, and they all require physical fitness, balance and flexibility. I hope they can complement each other."

Luo Litong said that he wanted to stay healthy and also yearned for some more alternative sports, so he started learning skiing.

Luo Litong said: "I was a little nervous when I first took a skateboarding class. I am tall and it took me a long time to get on the board. I also fell a few times during the process. I believe it will take some time to adapt to this sport."

Dave Wee, owner of the skateboard academy SKATEBRUH, started skateboarding at the age of 14. "I never found skateboarding difficult because it's so much fun... But it took me about 2 to 3 months to master the basic movements such as pushing, turning and maintaining control. The key is that skaters must persist and enjoy the process in order to learn it."

Dave Wee admits that the biggest challenge for adults learning skateboarding is the higher risk of injury compared to children, because adults have less flexibility, are heavier, and recover more slowly after a fall, so the impact force is greater.

“We ensure that all students, especially adults, wear full protective gear (helmets, knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards) to reduce the risk of injury. Our coaches also emphasize proper falling techniques and how to minimize the impact force.

Dave Wee said that skateboarding is not only a sport, but also taught him life lessons. "It taught me that failure is also a part of growth. I can apply this principle to all aspects of life. Every fall is a learning opportunity, and every success is a proof of perseverance. This mentality has shaped the way I deal with challenges, both on and off the skatepark."

Dave Wee revealed that the number of people learning skateboarding has increased year by year. One of the reasons is that during the COVID-19 pandemic, people are looking for new outdoor activities and have started to try skateboarding. In addition, skateboarding was listed as a competition event in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which significantly increased people's attention to it. By the 2024 Paris Olympics, skateboarding has further consolidated its status as a mainstream sport.