What seemed to be hammer blows on the surface turned out to be two boys going up and down on the ramps of the skate park. An indoor skate park at the basement of an art center. The art center that’s located in an unremarkable turn in Neb Sarai. Skateboarding in Delhi is as obscure as the location of the only skate park around. Freemotion Sk8 is one place that does everything for you. Open from 2PM to 8PM everyday, for a small price you can practice, get coached and rent a board as well. With rails, benches, launch ramps for the experts and the mini training pipe for beginners, it is a perfect place to motivate yourself and try out new stuff.
But where and how do you start? Start with getting yourself a skateboard. Sure you can rent one at the skate park but that won’t be with you all the time and to get better, you definitely need one around you all the time. Get one online or at adventure stored around the city. You can even buy one at the Freemotion Sk8 park. A cheap board would cost not more than Rs 1500 and a decent one is just about Rs. 2500. That and concrete surface is all you need to get started. Find yourself an empty basketball court, your society’s pavements or even a smooth road to practice every day. It’s not about a culture, an age or a kind of person. It’s about doing something that is fun, keeps you fit and gets the adrenalin pumping.
While every aspect of skateboarding oozes fun and excitement it also comes with risk- the risk of falling and hurting yourself. As most of us are used to sitting at desks and working or at best playing sports that have a set range of motion, we aren’t used to falling and falling hard. Skateboarding is a lot more random than your ordinary sport and is packed with a high dose of uncertainty. Once you get your basics right (and getting them right is key) you’ll want to move on to some tricks and gain speed, this is where you need to be careful. Getting yourself some protective pads is the best thing to do because though the learning curve is high, so is the curve of how much you’ll fall and hit against concrete.
Getting started-
- Getting on and off the board.
- Gaining speed
- Stopping
- Turning
- Tic-tacs
Get boards at Decathlon, Noida. Freemotion Sk8.
Address- Freemotion Sk8
NIV Art Centre, Basement IGNOU Rd. (Just before IGNOU)
Nearest metro station: Saket
