"What is it about skateboarding, anyway? All that back and forth and up and down and hanging around? All that noise, those ramps, those kids so focused on that seemingly unattainable trick…

What are the rules? Are there rules? It's cheap enough, as far as I can see. There's no major outlay for equipment. There are no team colors... as a matter of fact there are no teams. There are no coaches. There are no referees. And that suits skaters just fine, this solo effort amid a sea of others so like-minded.
What is it about skateboarders? The confident way they swagger around and seem to be directed by someone or something that no one else seems to hear? To an outsider it’s just a game, a distraction… but to skaters it’s a passion, an unavoidable and insatiable draw that only a few understand.
It's the body language that sets them apart. The slouching and casual way they set up a trick, all loose and swimming in their baggy clothes. The daredevil approach. Once they push off and start to execute a trick, there is no turning back. I would say they're showing off except they don't seem to care if anyone notices or not.
Everything is on the down-low. Everything is between them. It's private, an inside joke. Watching them talk and laugh is like watching a group of jazz musicians strike a chord or hit a note and then snicker and chortle. What's so funny? What's the joke?
For years I've thought of them as bandits, roving miscreants wandering the streets looking for concrete to navigate, looking for ways to get into trouble.
But leaning against the fence at the local skatepark, I started to have a different take. I saw a community. I saw people outside, exercising, working on skills. At first, all I saw was movement then I began to notice the synergy, the orchestration. No one waited for a coach's command. They were not practicing in sync or following directions. They were focused. When they messed up, they got up and did it again. And again. And again. “Dude, you’ll NEVER stick that, NEVER!!” and silently “Dude” rolls off to prove the nay-sayer wrong… over and over again.
No one was holding a cell phone; no one was texting.
And they had the look - the decals on the helmet, the T-shirts, the baggy pants, the talk ("Man, you should have seen the back tail revert I did. It was gnarly.") - but here's the thing: They were legitimate, they were legal.

If not for the public Skatepark where would this group be? Downtown? In their living room playing video games? Skaters are athletes, no different than any others with the one exception- dedication. Skaters practice not because of a screaming coach, not because of a league title… they practice day-in and day-out for the love of sport, the unattainable trick, the passion that cannot be described…"

-Anonymous...