The World Needs More Skateboarders

Happy Holidays, readers.

I would like to acknowledge the growing respect that I hold for the sport of skateboarding. I am not saying that it is an especially sophisticated sport, nor is it mainstream or flashy. However, as I was watching a skateboarding competition a day or so ago, I noticed something that is seen in few other sports, especially in exhibitions as competitive as those that I have seen. I saw, in each participant, a great awe and respect for every other player in the competition. When they were being interviewed by journalists on the scene, they mentioned the other competitors without fail, and said how honored they were to be in competition with them. They would mention that yes, they had been working hard and they would really like to win the competition, but it would really be OK if they didn't because they would have been fairly beaten by someone with greater skill who had also worked hard. When they were not being individually interviewed, they showed solid comradery and unparalleled sportsmanship.

In skateboarding competitions (and in similar sporting competitions such as surfing and snowboarding) there is always an extremely diverse group of competitors. They hail from all around the planet in a patchwork of accents and ethnicities, always showing great respect for one another as athletes and peers, and a great admiration for the sport to which they devote their time and talent. Also, skateboarding is one of the few sports that allows people of all ages and both genders to compete and be successful as equals. As skateboarding is a technical sport involving very little brute force, men and women compete together, and children as young as eight or nine years old are doing the same tricks that their 25-year-old co-competitors, sharing the same ramps and high-fives.

You could see that the people that were not actively competing or were waiting their turn were watching the competitors and enjoying it immensely. When someone did something especially good, they were thrilled for them, as if they were watching their favorite athlete or even their sibling doing something amazing. In other sports, this would never happen. The other competitors would be watching to find ways to take them down, and would see them as obstacles in their path to greatness. Skateboarders seem to be just as happy to see other people in their sport succeed as they are to see themselves. Even so, there is always a winner, and every competition brings forth winners and great successes for most people who participate.

If the whole world were run in this way, I wonder what it would be like. Very different, I suppose.

Peace,
DJ