Last week Wednesday, there is the usual basketball game and the weather was
looking fine until it reached game time – it rained, like when one takes
laxative. Ganesh and I was just
sitting at a restaurant hoping for the rain to just subside but unlikely as it
would, we continued having drinks and caught up. From a catch up turned
into an informal interview – Ganesh educated me about his life as a skater.
Ganesh
Venugopal, born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, age 28 this year and currently working as a TV Producer at Prime Works Studio. He
has strong interests in Filmography and Photography that he sees as a work of
art. Months ago he was also part of the Cleo’s
Most Eligible Bachelor 2012 as a contender.
He enjoys facing
challenges no matter how difficult it may be as he will always do his best to
overcome it. Generously, he shares with me his passion which lies towards skating and to him skating is a
challenging sport. He has been skating properly for almost 2 years plus of consecutive experience and all this skill he currently
possess is based from his self-taught and persevered attitude.
Never the less,
it was pretty frustrating for him as it took him 7 months to jump with the board because he had no one to teach him
then. Now with YouTube around, things are made slightly easier to understand
and to learn the schematics. It was
initially a sport he could do on his own and all he needed was a Skateboard and his pair of Skater Shoes which he always puts on
every day.
This sport has been around for a good solid 20 – 30 years
in the international region, perhaps even more. But, there are two types of
skating – Vertical Skating (Half-Pipe)
and Street Skating/Freestyle Skating.
Many people know Tony Hawk – he is
well known in the Vertical Skating scene. However, naming a Star Skater who is
amongst the Masters of Street Skating would be someone like Rodney Mullen who so often creates his
own tricks as a past time and he is currently at the age of 46. Not forgetting Killian Martin who’s an expert in
freestyle skating. We also have a local champion skater in Malaysia by name of Padin Musa. These people are what
inspired further Ganesh to be even
better in skating.
Q&A
What’s
the craziest stunt you ever pulled in your years of skating?
“I
would say a Line stunt where you perform a series of successful tricks – It was
first a ‘Front Pop Shove it’, ‘Rear side Pop Shove it’, ’50 – 50 grind on a
flat bar’ and a ‘Kick Flip’ respectively.”
What’s
your advice to the young skaters out there who recently started this sport?
“Learn
how to ride the skateboard would be an excellent start. Wear a proper gear and
start up with some protective gear. Keep practicing it and understand the
working mechanics of the board. Always have your board wherever you go cause
you will always find an opportunity to skate. Be open to learn from other
skaters who are more experience.”
You mentioned skater shoes, any particular brands you would recommend? Also, how much would a start up gear cost?
"Skate
shoes like Vans, DC or Nike. Well, If you are serious about the sport then do go to a proper skate shop to
get a decent setup. A basic setup would cost roughly up to rm600."
Any
methods for the young-bloods to keep themselves motivated?
“Hang
around with other skaters and make new friends as they are all generally friendly. It is also recommended to search online for a skating
community like www.skatemalaysia.com.
Watch youtube videos they help a lot, like a lot… It would also be good to do
some reading on Trickypedia or Wikipedia. You may fall a few times definitely,
but never be afraid to try again.”
Inspiring
words Ganesh. So where would you recommend people to skate, especially when you
are just starting up?
“Hmm, there is one in Shah Alam called Extreme Park,
one in Putrajaya called Challenge Park and around here in Bukit Kiara there is the Rakan Muda Club. They could also skate
in any family parks when they are
feeling more comfortable with the board.”
Ganesh also recommends these few shops for you guys to
check out for your gear below:-
Wheel love – Subang
Cool Element – Times Square
Zone 5 – time square
Thank you Ganesh
for your time and it has been a good share and personally hope that you
continue skating and advance further for more neat tricks! Cheers buddy!
-
If you
like this post, please like my facebook page, Subscribe and add it to
interest page to receive more updates in the future. :) – Thank You!
or follow me on twitter –
https://twitter.com/sjimmyjames
No comments:
Post a Comment