Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/12/08/somehow-tony-hawk-gets-better-with-age.html
…
6 Likes
“Sorry, Tony, the camera ran out of battery life; can you do it again?”
Personally, just climbing up the ladder would do me in.
6 Likes
I think his “last 540” was about a year ago though, right? He’s just packaging it into an NFT
Can’t blame him for cashing in on the NFT craze while it’s still viable though.
3 Likes
I’m impressed by how smoothly he lands on his knees every time he fails.
6 Likes
And how he manages to throw his board away every time. I can only imagine he caught it in some pretty painful places before he figured that out.
5 Likes
All I can say is “years of practice”.
6 Likes
Our city has a free skate park. I was walking by with a partner and was like - this is free, I should really get a skateboard and learn for fun. They were like - you’re 39, and going to break yourself. I responded BUT TONY HAWK is over 50. But to their point, Tony Hawk is fucking Tony Hawk and was one of the world’s best skateboarders - not just learning now lol.
5 Likes
He’s very good at falling, that alone takes years of experience.
I taught myself to ride a unicycle around 12 or so with a unicycle I bought at a garage sale for a couple bucks. Once I mastered it I saved up and bought a very expensive one.
I later taught myself to juggle while riding.
I’m 57, I still have that same unicycle, I used to take it out every year and ride it. When I turned 50 I had it completely refurbished so I could ride it on my 50th birthday.
I thought about taking it out this year but even with proper helmet and pads I do not mend as fast as I used to and I certainly did not want to end up in the hospital reliving my youth with a pandemic raging on.
When I turn 60 I’ll pull it out and give it a go.
I give Tony Hawk credit for still getting on that thing.
5 Likes
About 15 years ago, I got to see Tony Hawk live, in person, at a very small event. It was as awesome as you would imagine it being.
But the way he fell, and got right back up to do it again is what really stuck with me. He was doing a new one for us, and he had trouble hitting it. He fell at least 4-5 times; at least 20’ - 30’. Combined, he had to have fallen several hundred feet. But he kept going. He didn’t give up, he just grabbed his board, and climbed back up, and did it again. He nailed it.
5 Likes
One delightful human hanging out with another delightful human!
9 Likes
he’s my age. he is so inspiring, and he seems like such a good guy.
4 Likes
I just love that when he blows it, he doesn’t try to smash his board, or blame it for his failures. A poor workman blames his tools. He hurled his helmet away in celebration once he nailed it, kinda like the bat flips seen when baseball players hit home runs.
2 Likes
Interestingly enough, our son had a related skill within about a week of learning to walk. He never fell on a toy he was carrying - he always threw it away mid-fall. It was pretty cool to watch, especially since neither of his parents are athletes.
2 Likes
Ugh, that brings up horrid memories of watching my oldest son fall down a flight of stairs directly onto the hard plastic toy he was carrying. Fortunately he was still at that “bones are basically rubber” stage, so no more damage than tears, but… [shudders] ugh.
2 Likes
Ow. Poor baba. And yes, the “bones are basically rubber” stage is a very helpful thing.
2 Likes
Well he sure doesn’t seem very happy about landing that trick.
The first time I heard of Tony Hawk was way back in the '80’s when a girl I knew in high school wrote him a fan letter. He responded personally saying he was glad she was part of the skating community and not deterred by challenges she faced.
Getting better with age? He seemed pretty amazing even back then.
3 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
