Skateboarding is certainly one of those activities where everyone seems to have an opinion about it. Even worse, most opinions come from people who have never skateboarded in their life.
So is skateboarding nerdy or childish? Absolutely not, as skateboarding is great to enjoy and challenge yourself, have fun, and even make plenty of friends in the process.
I understand that this topic can be quite controversial at times, so allow me to further explain why skateboarding is certainly not nerdy or even childish.
Reasons Why Skateboarding Isn’t Nerdy (Or Childish)
Skateboarders are often stereotyped as being nerdy or uncool. This is far from the truth, in fact, skateboarding has been around for many decades now and it’s become a mainstream sport.
In fact, skateboarding is even an Olympic sport. I did an article about how Jagger Eaton won the Bronze medal while wearing AirPods.
I’ll leave a link to the article down below in case you want to read up on that too.
Related: Skateboarding, Olympics, and AirPods.
I’m getting ahead of myself though. It’s not often that you see such a “nerdy” activity (or sport) being featured in the Olympics.
Let’s take a look at a few more reasons why skateboarding isn’t nerdy like some people believe.
1) Skateboarding Is A Great Way To Make Friends
I mentioned this earlier, and I also wanted to put it as the top reason as to why skateboarding isn’t nerdy.
I’ll be forever grateful to skateboarding and the numerous amount of friends (and good times) that I’ve had. Because of all the gatherings and opportunities that skateboarding brought me, there’s no way that I could have ever have seen it as nerdy.
For me, skateboarding was pretty much the complete opposite of being nerdy and childish.
Keep in mind that I would skateboard as a hobby too, as I was nothing close to being any type of professional skateboarder. So you don’t have to be a professional in order to skateboard either.
It’s my firm belief that many other fellow skateboarders out there have been in the same position, and there’s no way that you can tell them that it’s been a nerdy activity.
In many cases, skateboarding is relaxing, and you can even go as far as to say that it’s also been life-changing for many skateboarders.
2) Skateboarding Requires Tremendous Dedication
Being nerdy is often seen as being super-introverted and lacking social skills. While I certainly define myself as being introverted, I definitely don’t classify myself as being nerdy for liking skateboarding.
I bring this up because skateboarding is going to require a tremendous amount of practice and overall dedication. That is if you really want to get good at skateboarding.
- You’re going to need to speak to more skaters.
- You’re going to need to meet more people face to face.
- You might need to travel a little more (even to skate parks).
- You’ll probably have to look into being coached by someone (if needed).
Related: Is Skateboarding a Hard Sport?
There’s a quote that I really like (although I’m not sure who originally said it):
If you want to get somewhere fast, go alone. If you want to go the distance, take a team.
Eventually, you’ll only be able to go so far by yourself when it comes to skateboarding (and any other worthwhile sport). So while most people see skateboarding as a solo thing, it’s much more complex than that.
That’s why making more skateboarding friends can be more beneficial for you. With the difficulty that comes along with skateboarding, it allows you to overtake many challenges.
All in all, skateboarding allows you to grow into a better person, almost like leveling up.
I don’t know about you, but there’s nothing nerdy about leveling up and getting better at a sport, hobby, or anything that you’re truly interested in. Others can think otherwise, but I’ll still disagree.
3) Anyone (At Any Age) Can Skateboard
Childish is simply defined as being appropriate for a child. There are certainly times when some skateboarders can act childish, which I’ll be addressing in the following section.
However, I feel that most people forget that skateboarding can be for grown men and women. Don’t believe me?
- Legendary Tony Hawk did his last 900 at age 48.
- He also did his last ollie 540 at the age of 52.
It’s phenomenal to see anyone even come close to landing those tricks, let alone be around 50 years old, and accomplish them. So much for being childish, eh?
The fact of the matter is that skateboarding is, in fact, for everyone. Whether or not everyone will choose to skateboard is a completely different matter.
Why Does Skateboarding Have A Bad Reputation?
Lastly, I want to talk a little bit about why skateboarding often comes along with a bad reputation, or in other words, skateboarders can be quite toxic.
When it comes to hobbies or sports, there are always going to be a certain amount of individuals who make everyone else look bad. These are considered skateboarding troublemakers.
Examples of their destructive and toxic behaviors/activities include:
- Loitering.
- Causing noise complaints.
- Skateboarding where they shouldn’t.
- Constantly getting in trouble with the police.
- Bullying, always being angry, and breaking other skater’s boards (NOT cool).
If you ask me, these are the types of individuals who act childish. Just because a small number of individuals act this way, doesn’t mean that every skateboarder should be treated that way.
From my skateboarding experience, there aren’t that many individuals who act rebellious and partake in some of the activities that I included in the bullet points above.
When you come across those types of individuals, be sure to ignore them at all costs.
Is Skateboarding Childish? Closing Words
You now probably have a good idea about how I feel when it comes to this specific topic.
No, skateboarding certainly isn’t childish or nerdy. Don’t let the few bad apples that skateboard, ruin the reputation of skateboarding in general.
Skateboarding can be an enjoyable, fun, and even challenging experience, regardless of your age or experience.
So if you’re looking into giving skateboarding a try? Give it a shot. And if you’re worried about people saying that skateboarding is nerdy or childish? Ignore them and do it anyway.
