New Skateboarder Confidence

#1

Hey everyone

I’ve only just started skateboarding about a month ago and can go down ramps, kickturn (slowly! ) and all those basics but have started trying to drop-in and have had my confidence hit hard as I’ve only ever sustained two injuries so far and both have been dropping in! I can slam my board good on the floor and can kind of do it with someone holding me but I’m having such a massive confidence issue :sob:
I stand poised and ready and just cant do it… Does anyone have any tips to help me get over my fear? Its really frustrating!

From a newbie skater

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#2

Skateboarding is hard and a lot of it is mental. Small steps. Improvement is slow and you need to figure out how best to learn new things for you. Every fun little thing you learn like a power slide or a revert or whatever will help you improve at some thing else

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#3

I did it in reverse. So practised rolling fakie up to the coping over and over and over on a 3ft mini with my wheels just touching the coping. Then gradually went further and added little tail stalls. Then tried drops ins after that.

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#4

Once you’re comfortable on your board, it’s just one of those things that you need to gather enough bravery to just keep trying it. But once you’ve done it a couple of times or gets less scary. A few more times and you won’t even think about it!

I recommend you spend as much time as you can pumping up and down the ramp, both doing kickturns and coming back down fakie (backwards). Try and get yourself up near the top of the ramp, so you’ll know how it feels to be on the transition. As long as you’re comfortable doing that, dropping in is just getting to the same place from the top, rather than the bottom. So once you’re confident just get yourself up there, put your board over and stomp on it. Don’t hover over the edge too long and over think it, you’ll just scare yourself off.

Anyone can do it, it’s basic, it just takes some balls initially!

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#5

I used to have this thing where before I did a trick I would know if I would make it or not based on my mindset. Sometimes blindly committing to it can just be foolish but sometimes trying something over and over again is a good way of building up memory, technique etc to do it better. Everyone has their own approach. Also sometimes when you just experiment without giving it much thought it suddenly works

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#6

Thanks all, I might give doing it in reverse a go and if i get stuck i might go and try something else and come back to it once im confident again. Maybe try and find a smaller pipe to drop in off…
I know its all mental, I’m nearly 28 and don’t bounce like a kid! :rofl: Wish me luck I’m going again on Wednesday :crossed_fingers:

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#7

i’m 36 and have become a complete pussy now. i skate a lot and am able to build up to tricks fairly well though it takes me ages to warm up. your mountains aren’t the same as someone else’s mountains but that doesn’t make it feel any less great to climb

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#8

I can’t do stuff I could years ago due to lack of confidence time on the board etc. I can’t do transition at all. Could drop in a 5ft ramp and kick turn clunk my front truck off the coping and that’s about it. Skateboarding is brilliant because you don’t have to be the best to enjoy it. If you’re out skating with others and you land your first drop in or kickflip people will be stoked even then they might be better then you because it’s still awesome to watch someone achieve something they have been trying no matter what level they are at.

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