Without skateboarding, Eric Diaz’s life might have taken a much
different path.The East L.A. native probably wouldn’t be two years away
from earning his civil engineering degree. He guesses at a much darker
outcome: crime, prison, maybe even an untimely death.
Children skateboarding in Shanghai
“I had a friend, may he rest in peace, who didn’t make it to 17,”
Diaz said. “I saw myself going that way, and I knew I’d probably end up
dead like some of my other friends or in prison.”He feels incredibly
fortunate that a few skateboarding ramps caught his eye one day as he
rolled along Atlantic Boulevard not far from his home. The young teen
had stumbled on The Garage Board Shop, a neighborhood hangout for
skaters and other kids from the community. If they did a few hours of
homework at the shop, the store’s founders let the kids practice their
kick flips and axle stalls in the shop’s makeshift skate park.
The more time Diaz spent there, the more he could picture a brighter
future for himself. Looking back now at age 20, he can see how
skateboarding not only created a safe space for him to relax and burn
off stress but also taught him skills like determination and focus that
helped him succeed.
“I’ve always seen it as therapy, and most other kids do, too,” he
said. “It helps you find yourself — who you are and what you want to
do.”
That insight is like gold to researchers at USC who have been
exploring skateboarding culture and how skaters view their place in
society. Led by Zoë B. Corwin, a research associate professor at the USC
Rossier School of Education, the team has been crisscrossing the United
States to interview skateboarders in diverse communities, seeking to
understand their experiences and the support they need to thrive.
“Skateboarders have this tenacity to practice a trick thousands of
times, they are creative, they have cross-cultural interactions not
common in other spaces,” Corwin said. “How can they translate those
skill sets and their passions into educational and career
opportunities?”Backed by a $264,000 grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation,
the USC researchers have already completed a national survey of skaters
between ages 13 and 25. They are also conducting in-depth interviews
with skaters and community stakeholders in seven regions of the country
to gain greater insight into the challenges and opportunities facing
skateboarders.
We’re taking the time to figure out what skaters and young students
are dealing with in their lives, what they see as impeding them from
going to college and being successful in a career,” said study
collaborator Neftalie Williams, an adjunct professor at the USC
Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and an expert in skate
diplomacy and issues of race and diversity in skateboarding culture.
“We want to take the next step, to encourage young skaters to succeed in
academia or the next phase of their life.”
A major goal of the study is understanding how skateboarders are
perceived and how they view themselves. Some people still picture the
counterculture skaters of the 1960s and 1970s. Others think about the
glossy multibillion-dollar skateboarding industry of today, with its
lucrative clothing brands and high-profile televised competitions.
That tension continues to exist. Many young skaters embrace the
sport’s underground roots even as it gains greater visibility as a new
competition in the 2020 Olympics.
The Wall