Welcome to the beginning of my TALONS in-depth project for 2022! Here I will introduce you to my topic (skateboarding), and discuss a little bit of my mentor and the overall process that I plan on taking over the next five months.

Why Skateboarding?

The general goal of in-depth is to get a chance to learn all about and/or improve on a specific skill that is not already offered as a school course. Over the past year I have taken a great interest in skateboarding, without an idea of how I would begin to learn. Already owning a board of my own that has seen little to no use over the last few years, I saw this as a perfect opportunity to dive into this upcoming in-depth project with something that I will genuinely enjoy. The hope is that by the end I will have developed somewhat of a baseline skillset which I will then use to decide where I want to take this skill after the project.

How do I Plan on Achieving my Goal?

I understand that a skill like this requires a lot of patience with getting comfortable with the basics, so I am prepared to spend weeks at the beginning without even learning any tricks as long as I can ensure that I don’t rush through this project too fast. Another crucial factor is the weather controlling when I am able to get out and practice. As I am not really able ride much in the rain, I must make sure that I am using the sunny days to my advantage and practicing at least as consistently as possible.

My Mentor

Finding a mentor for this project was my only hesitation for choosing skateboarding, because I thought that finding someone suitable would be much more difficult than it ended up being. My mom helped me out with this part, as she was able to put up a quick Facebook post to see if any of my parents’ friends had skateboarding experience. After contemplating a couple of good options, I decided to go with a friend of my dad’s named Brayden Douglas. He claims to have “lived” at the skatepark for around seven years no longer than five to ten years ago, and seems quite enthusiastic about being a part of my project. I have been in touch with Brayden since January 16th, and am now waiting on a follow up regarding his criminal record check.