Skateboarding - The Progression Never Stops

Looking at this poster of Chris Cole tre-flippin’ Wallenberg that came in the new Thrasher, it makes me think about how no matter how much you think skateboarding has peaked out and there’s nothing left to be done, there’s always someone who will come along and do something you never even thought was possible.

I remember when H-Street’s video Not The New H-Street Video came out about 15 years ago and Matt Hensley did a one-footed caballerial over a picnic table and I thought that was the end of it all. How could you top that? If you’re old like me, do you remember when you saw the Blind video in 1991 for the first time and Guy Mariano did a nose blunt slide on a curb like it was nothing? I had never seen the trick before and it blew me away. That was also the first time I had seen someone do a kickflip out of a manual, and he was doing it clean.

I’ve been thinking for 15 years now that skateboarding has reached the end of its progression, and there simply isn’t anything left to do. Then you see Rodney and Daewon’s parts in the Almost DVD and you realize the rest of skateboarding still has a lot of catch up work to do.

Sure, Chris Cole did a 360 kickflip down the biggest three-stair in the world, but a year from now someone will switch flip it. Then Then someone will do a switch backside 180 down it. Then someone will switch tre-flip it. I’m making the prediction right now that someone will pull it off. All it takes is someone believing it’s possible. If Chris can do it normal, someone can do it switch. All it takes is knowing that it can be done.

So where will it all end? Will there come a day when there’s nothing bigger to be done? When no one can do it any more stylish than it’s been done? Although 15 years seems like ancient history for some of you, it wasn’t that long ago really. I’m guessing that 15 years from now many of you kids will be looking back on skateboarding and thinking what I’m thinking right now. “Man, when I saw Chris Cole tre-flip Wallenberg I thought it was all over. But look where we are today.”