Skating goes back to 'old school'
By KRISTY GRAY
Star-Tribune staff writer Steve Ford rides across a ramp at the Casper Skate Park for a fun cardio workout. Photo by Tim Kupsick, Star-Tribune. [oas:jacksonholestartrib.com/features:Middle] One look at Steve Ford, 51, and you know he works out.
His muscles are long and lean. He's agile and sure-footed. There doesn't seem to be an ounce of fat on him.
So how does he keep himself in shape?
Running? Nope.
Cycling? Uh-huh.
Swimming? Power walking? Jazzercize?
Not even close.
Four days a week, Ford straps on his knee pads and wrist wraps and hits the concrete. He's a skateboarder, and his sport has kept his body, and mind, in tip-top shape for 30 years.
"It's the freedom of it, the independence. It's the flowing, surfing movement of it and the tricks. Once you get it in you, you're hooked," he said.
"Doing it this long, I feel like it's kind of a spiritual connection."
Once the sport of the younger and more limber, skateboarding is growing up with the kids who started it in the 1950, '60s and '70s.
Ford's first skating idol, Tony Alva, is 50 now and still wowing crowds. Rodney Mullen, the inventor of most old tricks, still inspires new skateboarders who are trying to master anything and everything "old school."
"He's 40 years old and still absolutely killing it. He's skating with the skill and grace of a Tai Chi master," Ford said.
Across the country, some schools now offer skateboarding units in P.E. class. It's part of a trend in which physical education teachers are veering away from regimented, team sports and moving to individual, fitness-promoting activities kids will be able to do on their own and all their lives, if they choose. Team sports just aren't for everyone, proponents say, and individualized activities can help kids stay more active.
The same is true for adults.
Take Ford, who started skating 30 years ago at age 21. Team sports never appealed to him. They seemed too regimented. But watching a kid skate intrigued him. Skating was something he could work at and practice on his own.
"You have to have a team for team sports. I think team sports are way too serious sometimes," he said.
"With skateboarding, you just pick up a board and go. You don't have a coach yelling at you and you don't have to sit on the bench."
Ford has been the old man at the skate park for so long, he's been called the Godfather of Casper skating. Now, kids are asking Ford to show them the old-school tricks he's been doing for years.
Ford recently retired from the United States Postal Service and is celebrating his 30 years of skating by travelling to skate parks around the state and region. All parks are different and all offer different challenges. While skating is still dominated by younger kids who are a bit more daring, he's seeing more and more older skaters hitting the parks. He recently met a guy at a Colorado skate park who was 38 and just learning because his child had started skating.
As for Ford, he's working on some "new-school" tricks to find new challenges. And he'd like to get better at "pool-riding" before the new Casper skate park opens at the end of August. That will feature Casper's first skating bowl -- a large, rounded concrete hole meant to mimic the empty pools skaters used to ride in the '80s.
Ford said no doctor has ever warned him against skating and the slips and falls that may come with it. He wouldn't care if one did. Skating is a lifestyle for him, not a hobby, and he'll do it as long as his body allows.
"I don't think there are any rules yet. Tony Hawk is 40 years old and still looking great."
Skating fit
Looking for a way to get moving? If you've got the nerve for it, consider skateboarding. Skateboarding-for-fitness programs are gaining popularity as people look for new challenges and ways to stay in shape. People who skateboarded as kids are pulling out their boards again to get some exercise and relive glory days.
And skateboarding is good for the body, says Steve Ford, 51, who's been skateboarding in Casper for 30 years. He skates four days a week from 1 1/2 to 3 hours. Here's a list of benefits he's seen:
* It builds balance and timing.
* It promotes hand-to-feet-to-eye coordination and agility.
* It builds cardiovascular fitness. Tricks often require bursts of acceleration.
* Longer rides, on the ever-more-popular long boards, build stamina and endurance.
* It promotes self discipline and a better sense of well-being.
"It brings a sense of achievement and shows yourself anything is possible if you push yourself hard enough and want to do it. It just helps you believe in yourself," Ford said.
* Ford has asthma and fought bronchitis for many years. Skating helps clear and strengthen his lungs, he said.
On the net
oldmanarmy.net: A site run by and dedicated to aging skateboarders who were the skating idols of the '70s, '80s and '90s.
Skating for beginners
If you think you'd like to give skating a try, Steve Ford offers this advice:
1. Stay within your skill level. Start small, build up to harder tricks and know your limit.
"Beginners shouldn't try to hop into a 9-foot bowl," he said.
2. If possible, skate with someone who can show you some moves and offer pointers.
3. If popping Ollies is intimidating, consider cruising on skateboards first. Long boards are built for cruising paths and sidewalks, and provide a great cardiovascular workout.
4. Wear the safety gear. While kids once thought knee pads, helmets and wrist guards were too uncool to sport, Ford says his safety gear has saved his body and allowed him to skate as long as he has. People who don't wear the gear will likely give up the sport, either because of injury or because their bodies just won't be able to stand the abuse.
Ford has suffered three major injuries in his 30-year career, including a ruptured kidney, a broken foot and a cut that required stitches above his eye. But, safety gear has kept him safe and limber for three decades. A good set of gear includes knee pads, wrist wraps, elbow pads, skating gloves, and helmets when doing more complicated tricks.
5. Get up. If you fall, and you will, get up and try again.
New skate park
Steve Ford, 51, skated 22 years in Casper without a skate park. Then, the park near the YMCA opened in 2000 and gave his skating a rebirth, he said.
"I learned new tricks and was doing things I never thought I'd be able to do."
Now, another skate park is set to open in Casper at the end of August. Ford thinks it will catch Casper up to the rest of the skating world.
It will feature 13,000 square feet of bowls, ramps and rails and be located next to the Boys and Girls Club.
Ford has been practicing his skating at bowls at other skate parks so he will be ready when the Casper skate park opens.
"It looks like it will be pretty good, but I won't know until I skate it," he said.
I can appreciate the story and always good to hear some ol' buzzard's still at it....but that picture....man....I almost ralfed on my keyboard. Not quite as bad as if it had been Granpa Simpson in a thong, but close enough
...searching for Pepto...
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"If I donate $100 will you all just shut the blessed f_uck up?????" - Boe, Momona Boe
But either way, good for him! When I was coming up in the late 80's there weren't too many older guys on boards. But now, old man jams at parks are a regular occurrence.
Shoot, I'm an old man on a board really, 33 yrs old, skating for 23...of course I look no older than 25 heh...
__________________ Solitary Skates For Sale: 90mm Flys 75a, 85mm Hawgs 78a, 62mm Stingers 100a, Green Tree Evo, never crashed, no damage just some paint chips. PM me for details or to make an offer. All gear is almost new!
hell ya brother keep old men pumpin viagra,cool boards and good trucks priceless
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scarecrow coffin(ridin the wheels off of it) dregs classic pinner(first longboard so its got memories good and bad dont down it) Eastside Dropkick(tryin to find the tail)
Skatin' Satan! I used work with this cat... quite the character. He can rip though. I was gonna post this but it looks like I got beaten to the punch. (it's actually from Casper, Wyoming... Jackson Hole just puts their name on our newspaper)
old school dude...
Steve Ford rides across a ramp at the Casper Skate Park for a fun cardio workout. Photo by Tim Kupsick, Star-Tribune. [oas:jacksonholestartrib.com/features:Middle] One look at Steve Ford, 51, and you know he works out.
heh...
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