A Boy and His Board

So at this point he explains that he will be either a quarterback when he grows up....or a professional skateboarder. But at least he's willing to put in the work for either.

Jake has been riding his skateboard a lot lately. He started riding it to school, first with him just coasting along and then with me holding onto him, like I am in the photo, so he could practice his kick turns. He also likes to skate at the Merc on Friday nights when they block off the parking lot. I have to say he has gotten a lot better with just a couple of weeks of practice.

So Sunday, he decided he wanted to try out the skills at the skate park in Eagle. It's really close to the house so we all headed over. Two minutes in, he was down hard. He got up though...and then went down again, but got up again and again. He was crying, he was hurt, but he kept at it. We worked around the outside together he and I and he made some progress.

Skateboarding is s little bit of a leap of faith into the world of physics, and if you don't trust in the motion and leverage and try to play it safe, that's when you get hurt. He's still trying to understand why you have to lean INTO the turn, or lean OVER the board when you are heading downhill, when your natural tendency is to go the other way, to try to slow it down. He'll get it. The kid has got great hand-eye coordination and a well developed body sense. The trust and the confidence will take awhile to get.

I couldn't have been prouder than to see him keep getting back up yesterday. A few months ago (a few weeks ago even), he would have headed for the car after the first fall. I think 1st grade is agreeing with him. My little boy is becoming quite a little man.