Sarah bruh your ability to analyze skating astounds me, from the psychology of skating to the physics of the board itself, i constantly come back to your content for tips. Not only are you comprehensive and sympathetic, in my 15 years on a board ive never seen a guide/tutorial like yours. A genuine boon to the culture
wow, that means a lot. I know my style can be slow and even unnecessary for some skaters. But, it always gives me a lot of courage and motivation to hear someone connect to the video or topic. So, thank you! 🙌
Really good point on desensitization in learning skate tricks. It is so vital for me in skate tricks. That basis of getting my mind around a thing by failing a bunch to build a basis of understanding has actually been super vital in any complex pursuit I’ve committed to.
This was a much needed video, especially when the progression from ollie to kickflip is exponentially steep!! Skating transition was what kept me motivated to trying out new things all-around in skateboarding, and the most satisfying.
I've been able to drop in for like 2 years now, but get terrified every time. I've just been beating myself up for being such a coward and starting to dread skating. This video made me feel a lot better about that fear and my ability to overcome it. Thank you so much!
You're so lucky to have that low, mellow transition to build your confidence up on. My local skatepark just doesn't have that, so it's hard to gain that confidence and technique that you can then take to the higher transition. Unfortunately I'm thousands of miles away in Wales, so I can't join you there! It looks ideal!!!
I totally get that. It's what took me so long to get into transition myself. There might be a bigger jump in confidence from bank to a large quarter, but it's not impossible! Might take a lot longer though. Will be cheering for you thousands of miles away 💪
Hey there Sarah. Just discovered your channel here in TH-cam and I have to say I love your videos. I'm in my late forties and have just started stepping into the waters of my long forgotten youth hobby. Your videos are really nice and I absolutely do love the mix of thorough, clean-cut, rationalized dissection of the mechanical movements that you make, but also the mental and psychological description of your journey towards conquering fears and improving by baby-steps (loved when you say "I'm really a scary cat" in one of your videos ), which is really helpful for me as it really connects with the way my brain is wired. I feel like a total newbie around my also newbie board (just bought it a month ago) and we're starting to get to know each other and - bones of the trade - the second time I went to the park for a test-the-waters session, I landed a nasty fall and twisted my ankle, so im out for the next few weeks, and not really even warmed up my engines... So a quick question for you is how do you protect your ankles, shins, etc. I wear knees and elbows pads and helmet (being an old-timer I can't and shouldn't presume of a youths physical elasticity and resilience anymore) but noticed that in your vids you seem to wear some protective pads around your shins and lower legs. Could you maybe consider doing a vid on protection gear and exercises to robust you knees, ankles, etc? I feel like there's lots of stuff on the technical aspects of tricks , pushing and riding techniques but very little on the best protection gear and routines to robust your joints and prevent injuries to your body. Thanks a lot in advance. Greetings from Southern Europe. You have a new fan. Take care and keep it up with your work - you're a natural. (personal note: one thing I absolutely love about your videos is the soothing, calm and gentle tone of your voice and the soft nuances to your explanations. So refreshing to find these calm yet enlightening videos of yours in a world that is so taken up and overwhelmed by this in-your-face ferocious self-inflated attitude everywhere.)
Hi there! Thank you so much. I'm really glad to hear you've liked my videos so much. I do have a little bit on these topics already. As for the shin guards, I do have a pair of freestyle skateboarding ones that I got from decomposed skateboards. But, I often just wear ⚽️ shin guards haha So, I have a couple pairs I use. As far as the knees and ankles go, I hesitate to go too in depth on that because I'm not a physical therapist and worry about giving incomplete information. But, I have found strengthening the lower body (front and back), and improving my lower body flexibility has helped my own knee/ankle pain and resilience a ton! I did touch on it in this video here th-cam.com/video/OK5SQ_SjO0w/w-d-xo.html But, I highly recommend looking up lower body strength and flexibility for other athletes. I looked at a lot of basketball programs since I jump a lot haha And the "knees over toes guy" too. I got a few great exercises from him.
oh wow! your drop in turned out incredibly well. It's great that you got your fear of it under control. This is such an important part of skateboarding. To recognize your fear, work on it and conquer it. I'm incredibly impressed with your progress. And seeing that makes your videos so incredibly cool for me. I always enjoy it. keep it up.
Now Sarah you have become my guidance to improve my skating skills, I need to work on my fear of fall, I tried transitions on a medium quarter pipe and I think it was much for my skills even though I tried and practice and also I fall badly once lol, but i got up and continue practicing, I should find maybe a low quarter pipe or something similar to practice...
You are easily the best skateboarding channel I'm subscribed to, the way you present the same concepts and tricks as everyone but in such a unique and broken down way is amazing. I love the way your mind works, and you always have such a special way of explaining things often overlooked. It's just the right amount of analytical yet encouraging. As someone that is very cautious and not very daring at all, I really appreciated you talking about the psychology of fear and the process of desensitization. It's a process we all go through but no one has put into words until you said it. It makes so much more sense now that I seemed to struggle feeling the "heartbeat" of my ollie, and always thought to myself "how does anyone have time to pop and THEN flick??" But I guess you are right in that at the beginning we are so tuned in to the sensation and fear of falling that our brain can't focus on any other sensations or thoughts during the trick like "drag the front foot up a bit more". Which is why the drills that you break down are so useful in making those actions thought-less and almost instinctive!
Ah thank you so much. I’m so glad to hear some of the concepts that I talk about have been so helpful to you and that you’ve seemed to have gotten so much out of the channel. Hope you continue to have fun learning to skate 😃
I actually have started to play around with transition about 3 months ago and have been skating for about two and half years finding nice mellow ramps to start has been a huge game changer to my approach to transition
Transition and bowls are becoming a personal favourite. Less impact on the knees and my Ollie is so bad haha. Pumping and just cruising up and down is too much fun.
Nice Sarah! Wise words. The grit your teeth method, with no idea of any progressions or how to bail is a great recipe for disaster. My favourite tip for drop ins is not to worry about the front foot, you HAVE to unweight the back foot. Any weight on the back foot before the front is on the deck is a back slam brewing. I haven't even seen the Gods of Skate manual into a vertical half pipe.
Thank you for this important stuff from the park! Your angle on it is super helpfull, and the flow of your speek makes your points come through brightly😀
Little bummed this video skipped over pumping, took me about 5 hours at the park going up and down banks to really get a feel for it. It's what makes transition a lot of fun, maintaining and gaining speed without pushing. I am going to try learning how to drop in and those 50/50 stalls next.
You are so lucky with where you live. Sooooooo much space. I would just be happy to sit there..without skating even. Just to be able to grab some space.
Thanks for posting! I recognize some of those skateparks you were at! I've been looking for stuff with mellow ramps for my son and I to learn/experiment on. Wakefield and Lake Fairfax are great, but not ideal for learning. Where is the skatepark with the blue ramps at? Those look mellow enough for my son and I to build some confidence for new tricks.
I totally agree. Awesome parks, but a little steep and tall. The new addition to Wakefield does have some better sizes now compared to a year ago. The other park I skated in the area was Van Dyck. It does have a small metal mini and quarter if those were the blue ones you were thinking of. I'm not in VA anymore though, so the other parks are in NY haha
@@SarahParkMatott Yeah, I was a little confused about the fence at Wakefield, I don't remember that being a thing. Too bad they are in NY, the mellow 2-3 foot quarter looked nice to learn new things on.
Girl, i dont even skate no more, i just got no energy nor the time for doing so but i believe that ill start again. I complicate things a lot tho, im the kind of person that has to know what you do in every single second of a trick to know how to do them, and that enfurates me a lot cause i see people just not overthinking like i do and be able to do ythem.must say in all imense yt channels and videos i saw on here in how to teach for example ollies or no complys, you were the ONLY one that helped. im not exagerating for real. There was a popular skate guy who had like millions of views in how to teach how to know how to ollie and he gave full steps you know, but he forgot to say you needed to jump, neatherless to say i was doing everything he did and still didnt ollie because i didnt know jumping was the crucial part hahaha. you cant laugh at me tho, i know that a normal person would intuitively know they needed to jump, im not normal in that part since overthinking gets the best of me. All i wanted to say is that you re the best on here, for real, u actually help alot of people,like you helped me and if i ever skate again (witch im thinking of doing so by just whatching this vid) youre going to be my first option on helping me. Sending lots of love
Yeah she does that ! I can relate to overthinking but I can tell you also that anyone can feel what is right. You just know it when you let it just go. To get there, visualise, breathe calmy. All the best !
Wow, thanks for such a kind comment and sharing that. I think there are a lot of skaters like us. Overthinkers or just skaters who could use that one little detail to get closer. Like not pinching the tail to ollie/not jumping off the tail while it's squished into the ground. Skating is a tough hobby because the barrier to "entry level" tricks is really high, and the time you have to dedicate to "skate well" is also high. But, I think we can all enjoy at our own pace and on our own terms. The more I skate, the more I enjoy the "beginner" tricks and cruising myself. So, if you come back, I hope you have fun with it 🙌
Sarah bruh your ability to analyze skating astounds me, from the psychology of skating to the physics of the board itself, i constantly come back to your content for tips. Not only are you comprehensive and sympathetic, in my 15 years on a board ive never seen a guide/tutorial like yours. A genuine boon to the culture
truly
Fax
wow, that means a lot. I know my style can be slow and even unnecessary for some skaters. But, it always gives me a lot of courage and motivation to hear someone connect to the video or topic. So, thank you! 🙌
Really good point on desensitization in learning skate tricks. It is so vital for me in skate tricks. That basis of getting my mind around a thing by failing a bunch to build a basis of understanding has actually been super vital in any complex pursuit I’ve committed to.
This was a much needed video, especially when the progression from ollie to kickflip is exponentially steep!! Skating transition was what kept me motivated to trying out new things all-around in skateboarding, and the most satisfying.
Or... so many of us dont want to Ollie at all. My goals are just fakies and 50 50 and kickturns vert.
A really nice psychological journal for beginners. I saw a lot others learnt the hard way. The right mindset sometimes more important than skill.
I've been able to drop in for like 2 years now, but get terrified every time. I've just been beating myself up for being such a coward and starting to dread skating. This video made me feel a lot better about that fear and my ability to overcome it. Thank you so much!
You are such a great teacher; thanks for all your videos!
ah thank you Dave! 😃
So proud of you Sarah! 💪🏽 your dedication to getting better and learning new things in skating is inspiring 🙏🏾
ah, thank you so much Phil! 🙏 It's been exciting to push myself in new areas of skating
You're so lucky to have that low, mellow transition to build your confidence up on. My local skatepark just doesn't have that, so it's hard to gain that confidence and technique that you can then take to the higher transition. Unfortunately I'm thousands of miles away in Wales, so I can't join you there! It looks ideal!!!
I totally get that. It's what took me so long to get into transition myself. There might be a bigger jump in confidence from bank to a large quarter, but it's not impossible! Might take a lot longer though. Will be cheering for you thousands of miles away 💪
Hey there Sarah. Just discovered your channel here in TH-cam and I have to say I love your videos. I'm in my late forties and have just started stepping into the waters of my long forgotten youth hobby. Your videos are really nice and I absolutely do love the mix of thorough, clean-cut, rationalized dissection of the mechanical movements that you make, but also the mental and psychological description of your journey towards conquering fears and improving by baby-steps (loved when you say "I'm really a scary cat" in one of your videos ), which is really helpful for me as it really connects with the way my brain is wired. I feel like a total newbie around my also newbie board (just bought it a month ago) and we're starting to get to know each other and - bones of the trade - the second time I went to the park for a test-the-waters session, I landed a nasty fall and twisted my ankle, so im out for the next few weeks, and not really even warmed up my engines... So a quick question for you is how do you protect your ankles, shins, etc. I wear knees and elbows pads and helmet (being an old-timer I can't and shouldn't presume of a youths physical elasticity and resilience anymore) but noticed that in your vids you seem to wear some protective pads around your shins and lower legs. Could you maybe consider doing a vid on protection gear and exercises to robust you knees, ankles, etc? I feel like there's lots of stuff on the technical aspects of tricks , pushing and riding techniques but very little on the best protection gear and routines to robust your joints and prevent injuries to your body. Thanks a lot in advance. Greetings from Southern Europe. You have a new fan. Take care and keep it up with your work - you're a natural. (personal note: one thing I absolutely love about your videos is the soothing, calm and gentle tone of your voice and the soft nuances to your explanations. So refreshing to find these calm yet enlightening videos of yours in a world that is so taken up and overwhelmed by this in-your-face ferocious self-inflated attitude everywhere.)
Hi there! Thank you so much. I'm really glad to hear you've liked my videos so much. I do have a little bit on these topics already. As for the shin guards, I do have a pair of freestyle skateboarding ones that I got from decomposed skateboards. But, I often just wear ⚽️ shin guards haha So, I have a couple pairs I use.
As far as the knees and ankles go, I hesitate to go too in depth on that because I'm not a physical therapist and worry about giving incomplete information. But, I have found strengthening the lower body (front and back), and improving my lower body flexibility has helped my own knee/ankle pain and resilience a ton! I did touch on it in this video here th-cam.com/video/OK5SQ_SjO0w/w-d-xo.html But, I highly recommend looking up lower body strength and flexibility for other athletes. I looked at a lot of basketball programs since I jump a lot haha And the "knees over toes guy" too. I got a few great exercises from him.
The part where you talked about "blacking out" really resonated with me, I experienced the same thing. It's great to hear your perspective.
oh wow! your drop in turned out incredibly well. It's great that you got your fear of it under control. This is such an important part of skateboarding. To recognize your fear, work on it and conquer it. I'm incredibly impressed with your progress. And seeing that makes your videos so incredibly cool for me. I always enjoy it. keep it up.
ah thank you so much Daniel!! It's definitely been exciting to explore new areas of skateboarding 😃
Now Sarah you have become my guidance to improve my skating skills, I need to work on my fear of fall, I tried transitions on a medium quarter pipe and I think it was much for my skills even though I tried and practice and also I fall badly once lol, but i got up and continue practicing, I should find maybe a low quarter pipe or something similar to practice...
You are easily the best skateboarding channel I'm subscribed to, the way you present the same concepts and tricks as everyone but in such a unique and broken down way is amazing. I love the way your mind works, and you always have such a special way of explaining things often overlooked. It's just the right amount of analytical yet encouraging.
As someone that is very cautious and not very daring at all, I really appreciated you talking about the psychology of fear and the process of desensitization. It's a process we all go through but no one has put into words until you said it. It makes so much more sense now that I seemed to struggle feeling the "heartbeat" of my ollie, and always thought to myself "how does anyone have time to pop and THEN flick??" But I guess you are right in that at the beginning we are so tuned in to the sensation and fear of falling that our brain can't focus on any other sensations or thoughts during the trick like "drag the front foot up a bit more". Which is why the drills that you break down are so useful in making those actions thought-less and almost instinctive!
Ah thank you so much. I’m so glad to hear some of the concepts that I talk about have been so helpful to you and that you’ve seemed to have gotten so much out of the channel. Hope you continue to have fun learning to skate 😃
I actually have started to play around with transition about 3 months ago and have been skating for about two and half years
finding nice mellow ramps to start has been a huge game changer to my approach to transition
Transition and bowls are becoming a personal favourite. Less impact on the knees and my Ollie is so bad haha. Pumping and just cruising up and down is too much fun.
Really appreciate this vid while snowed in. Got to disensitize to going to an indoor skatepark. Wish me luck!
good luck! 💪
Exactly what I needed to try to progress a bit further. Desensitisation. Thank you!
Desensitization! Every day is a little less scary! 🔥🔥
Nice Sarah! Wise words. The grit your teeth method, with no idea of any progressions or how to bail is a great recipe for disaster. My favourite tip for drop ins is not to worry about the front foot, you HAVE to unweight the back foot. Any weight on the back foot before the front is on the deck is a back slam brewing. I haven't even seen the Gods of Skate manual into a vertical half pipe.
So happy I found your channel, love it!
Glad you enjoy it!😃 thank you!
You are so good at fully articulating little things that I get a tiny inkling of as I skate - it helps bring it into focus. Desensitization! Yes!
ah, thank you Sophie! 😃
Good progression
Thank you for this important stuff from the park! Your angle on it is super helpfull, and the flow of your speek makes your points come through brightly😀
thank you Lars! 🙏
Congrats on the big drop in. Falling/failing (a lot) and the desensitized that came along with it, has really helped me ✌️
thanks Greg! 😃
Thanks!
thank you! 🙏🙇♀️
Little bummed this video skipped over pumping, took me about 5 hours at the park going up and down banks to really get a feel for it. It's what makes transition a lot of fun, maintaining and gaining speed without pushing. I am going to try learning how to drop in and those 50/50 stalls next.
Being padded to hell and wearing a helmet definitely helped me progress faster and get over my initial fear 😊
You are so lucky with where you live. Sooooooo much space. I would just be happy to sit there..without skating even. Just to be able to grab some space.
Very grateful for this spot! 🙏
@@SarahParkMatott thats beautiful
Very very nicely spoken
Sarah’s approach to skateboarding is very Karate….skating in essence is very martial arts and Sarah is a black belt, in my opinion
banger
Thanks for posting! I recognize some of those skateparks you were at! I've been looking for stuff with mellow ramps for my son and I to learn/experiment on. Wakefield and Lake Fairfax are great, but not ideal for learning. Where is the skatepark with the blue ramps at? Those look mellow enough for my son and I to build some confidence for new tricks.
I totally agree. Awesome parks, but a little steep and tall. The new addition to Wakefield does have some better sizes now compared to a year ago. The other park I skated in the area was Van Dyck. It does have a small metal mini and quarter if those were the blue ones you were thinking of. I'm not in VA anymore though, so the other parks are in NY haha
@@SarahParkMatott Yeah, I was a little confused about the fence at Wakefield, I don't remember that being a thing. Too bad they are in NY, the mellow 2-3 foot quarter looked nice to learn new things on.
@@Stunsnroses Hope you can find something though! Or try Van Dyck 💪
Girl, i dont even skate no more, i just got no energy nor the time for doing so but i believe that ill start again. I complicate things a lot tho, im the kind of person that has to know what you do in every single second of a trick to know how to do them, and that enfurates me a lot cause i see people just not overthinking like i do and be able to do ythem.must say in all imense yt channels and videos i saw on here in how to teach for example ollies or no complys, you were the ONLY one that helped. im not exagerating for real. There was a popular skate guy who had like millions of views in how to teach how to know how to ollie and he gave full steps you know, but he forgot to say you needed to jump, neatherless to say i was doing everything he did and still didnt ollie because i didnt know jumping was the crucial part hahaha. you cant laugh at me tho, i know that a normal person would intuitively know they needed to jump, im not normal in that part since overthinking gets the best of me. All i wanted to say is that you re the best on here, for real, u actually help alot of people,like you helped me and if i ever skate again (witch im thinking of doing so by just whatching this vid) youre going to be my first option on helping me. Sending lots of love
Yeah she does that !
I can relate to overthinking but I can tell you also that anyone can feel what is right. You just know it when you let it just go.
To get there, visualise, breathe calmy.
All the best !
Wow, thanks for such a kind comment and sharing that. I think there are a lot of skaters like us. Overthinkers or just skaters who could use that one little detail to get closer. Like not pinching the tail to ollie/not jumping off the tail while it's squished into the ground. Skating is a tough hobby because the barrier to "entry level" tricks is really high, and the time you have to dedicate to "skate well" is also high. But, I think we can all enjoy at our own pace and on our own terms. The more I skate, the more I enjoy the "beginner" tricks and cruising myself. So, if you come back, I hope you have fun with it 🙌