Bob and I were driving around while skating different spots one day and the idea came into play of how exactly do you define what kind of skating we do?
Bob the ever consummate flatlander and freestyler, myself a self described bank hound. I’m always on the look out for the perfect ditch. Together we’ve had a friendship based on the love of these smaller practices for over 30 years now.
Thats when it came to us – we practice what could be defined as “the small arts” of skating – that is, the styles or elements we gravitate to are things on more of the basic or the smaller side of skating – curbs, banks, ditches & freestyle. As opposed to the big, of pools, vert and big staircases.
We are skaters born in a time in-between skate parks. We had them, then we didn’t, then we had only one, then we didn’t, now we have them again.
So we really only had our own imaginations, along with the limitations of the urban planers, creating a world not for us but defined by us in a different way. The ever rolling waves of concrete expanses of the city’s landscapes.
We of our ilk still scour business parks, loading docks and warehouse areas. Our eyes catch glimpses between buildings and off the sides of freeways and underpasses, for any area that fits the criteria: – A ridable accessible bank with a good approach. Or an undiscovered curb with fresh paint or the holly grail – a perfectly formed, ridable, drainage ditch with good lines.
Years of our childhood visual scanning obsession pays off sometimes, to many a cherished secret spot, leaving an indelible imprint in our cortex database for future sessions.
The small idea has culminated into a zine and became a decision. To share this obsession with everyone else who shares the same passions –
– the passion for the small
J Dale
— several years ago