At this point in my in-depth project, communication with my mentor has been, to say the least, not very ideal. However, I am still in the simple introductory stages of the project so I have not been held back too much yet. While I haven’t gotten the chance to learn any specific tricks yet, I think that this is the right approach to the project. I certainly do not want to get too far ahead of myself, and ultimately struggle to make any progress. Slow and steady.

Reflection on In-depth so far:

• How did your mentor gain their experience/expertise?

The way he introduced himself as a former skater, is that for about seven years of his teenage life, he “lived at the skatepark” with his friends. This phase only stopped because of injuries, but the knowledge is still there.

• What were those experiences like for your mentor?

The actual time that he spent skateboarding was probably more casual than anything, however, I do not think that matters when we are talking about seven years of experience with a skateboard.

• What wisdom have you gained from your mentor so far?

Before the communication on my mentor’s end slowed down, he did give a couple of brief pointers on where he thinks this project should start and end up going. He told me that for now, I should only be focussing on getting comfortable with the board before getting into learning some more specific things. This is pretty much what I had in mind from the beginning, so it looks like we at least won’t struggle with having common goals for me.

• What have you learned so far, in terms of facilitation strategies, that might contribute to your own development as a mentor?

The main factor that determines who I chose for a mentor was not only how much experience they have in this area, but more importantly how long they have been experienced. It is very useful when my mentor relates what we are talking about with his experiences with skateboarding in childhood because that is the time of life I am going through right now.