5 Tips for Getting Confident Skateboarding

The main question I have been getting from people about skateboarding who want to start out is about confidence and how do I deal with nerves going somewhere new or trying a contest.

Some people have told me they are really nervous even to go into the skatepark (that makes me 🙁 !) . I know that telling someone not to worry just totally dosen’t help at all so I have put together 5 tips for building up your confidence and hopefully eventually getting rid of those jello legs.

If you are he type of person who is even afraid to go into the skatepark then don’t put too much pressure on yourself. You could set a goal each time you go and the first step could be just bringing yourself to go inside. You will probably definitely realise its not so bad.

And then next time it could be to go inside and stay for half an hour.

Don’t be too hard on yourself and hopefully you will find you are eventually really enjoying yourself.

If you are really aware of everyone else (believe me they are worried about themselves so the last thing they are probably doing is thinking something negative about you.) It could be a good idea to listen to some music whilst you are skating about to distract you from the other people there.

I know if someone has really bad anxiety that this might be a bit of a big step. It is totally worth just saying hi to people who are close by.  Obviously you will have to gauge this as it could seem odd if you start talking to everyone you see haha, but most of the time people are a lot more friendly then you think and you will make friends really quickly which will make those nerves just melt away. Its very rare for someone to be mean or rude and if they are chances are they are just a knob!

One thing that really helped me in the beginning was putting some time into learning a trick which I thought was ‘hard’ turns out it wasn’t that hard and made me feel a lot more relaxed about being totally awful. Mine was a front rock :).

Falling over is really not that bad and I think once you realise that falling over if you don’t get hurt is even kind of fun it will make you feel a lot more relaxed about trying tricks and being creative with your skateboarding.

Sorry for the lack of pics I am on the train 🙂 I hope this will help some of you xx

Images- Elle Woods from Legally blonde

Myself and amazing photographer Natalie Baxter in Lydia Bolton