When I was five, my dad brought home a double-kick street skateboard. I remember riding it nonstop around our kitchen.
From that day on, skateboarding consumed me.
When I was in school, I’d think about skateboarding. When I was playing other sports, I’d think of skateboarding. Everything involved skateboarding.
I spent most of my childhood at my local skatepark, Small Empire (RIP). It had super fun street features, but I spent 99% of my time in their bowl or mini ramp. There, I discovered my love for transition skating.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I connected with the flowing aspect of skateboarding. I loved pumping the corners of the bowl or doing buttery reverts on wallrides.
I always felt pressure to attempt more technical flip tricks because street skating was the norm. But it wasn't what I connected with.
After my local skateparks shut down, skateboarding faded out of my life. I didn’t connect with it anymore because I only knew street skating. Other styles never even crossed my mind.
It was part of my identity for most of my life; without it, I felt lost.
Until I discovered longboarding. One of my friends introduced me, and I felt that same feeling when I got my first skateboard at five years old.
That feeling of freedom. All my problems seemed to fade away, and what mattered most was the present.
Skateboarding consumed me once again.
But this time through surfskates, cruisers, longboards, and electric skateboards. The flowing aspect that made me fall in love with skateboarding was perfectly captured in these styles.
I found a new love and appreciation for skateboarding.
Or maybe this was the style that I connected with all along.
This reconnection with skateboarding made me want to start Shred Shack. The mission is simple - Shred, then share.
So you can find the style that best fits you.