Broken bones won’t keep them off their boards
"I break two to three boards every two months through wear and tear.'
MBOMBELA – Bailing and falling are as pertinent to skateboarding as a canvas is to a painter.
The brush they use to colour the streets are their skateboards. All of them have their own unique look with decks battered, bruised and sometimes broken from countless hours of skating. The locals of G-skate live out their passion on Saturdays. Their shoes are worn, scuffed and scraped by the incalculable attempts of landing a slick new trick.
Simon de Goede and Jonathan Liebenburg have both been shredding the Lowveld landscapes for a number of years. Trophies and medals have been accompanied with just as many scars.
“The worst bail I experienced was about three years ago. I remember skating at the entrance to Makro on the speed bump. I landed a few tricks and then tried a pop shove-it, which was a simple flip trick.”
As Simon tried to execute it, his feet did not land on the board correctly, and his right foot slipped and twisted in the wrong direction.
“I tore all of the ligaments in my ankle all the way to my calf. It immediately became purple and blue. I started skating again after three months,” he said.
Jonathan on the other hand has a different style to that of Simon’s, and has experienced various injuries in his four years as a skater.
“I once damaged my groin area during a pole jam. I also scraped my entire back after going over a gap when trying to clear a hole,” he said undeterred as he rushed off to take on a new gap in the streets of Valencia.
Simon has won and participated in several competitions and events. He has won decks and money but also felt the bumps and bruises of his passion.
“I break two to three boards every two months through wear and tear.” This streetwise skater definitely knows his way around a skateboard, having started eight years ago when he bought himself his first board.
“I remember I bought it at Game and it wasn’t top of the range, but it did the job and gave me my first taste of skateboarding.”
Through countless broken and snapped decks the passion for skating burns brighter each day.
“Once I started I could not stop. Skating has defined who I am,” said Jonathan.
Simon gave one last piece of advice, before he and the rest of the locals skated off into the distance,
“Always remember no matter what, just keep your feet on the board.”
