Have skateboarded most of my life. Made flow team for deck company in early 2000s but wasn't able to break into am; a spot never opened and I didn't want to travel to compete. Getting banger footie for company reels especially at famous nugs like El Toro, Hubba Hideout, and Hamburg's Congress Centre, then placing in comps are how you get tracked for team pro spot, typically. Teams will vibe-check you as you come up from flow and am, to add, so it's important you've potential to get along or fit a kind of attitude local to that team.
Have skated with former Blind teams, Geoff Rowley, Gershon Mosley, Donger, Ed Templeton, Ronnie Creager, Chet Thomas, and some others.
Skating is medicine; it's healing. The pain and pride of every trick, every line, every session tunes you in to that very moment, zooming your mind out of all your yesterdays and possible tomorrows. The sound and feel of your wheels rolling over street as soon as you drop your deck and shove off is...like nothing I've ever experienced. I close my eyes and I'm there. It's forever.
As an entry point to MMA, I could see it from a pain tolerance as well as balancing standpoint and catching yourself, or intuitively self-correcting when imbalanced (like stuffing a single-leg), then in turn manipulating your opponent's balance. Have done judo myself under an Argentine (judo is all about balance conversion – yours and your opponent's) and felt as an extension to skating that I'd learnt transitioning/falling really fast despite being great at getting my butt kicked elsewhere.
