ASHWAUBENON (NBC 26) — Dakota White has been riding on four wheels pretty much since he could walk.
“Saved my life," he said. "I’ve been doing it since I was two years old. That’s what I put all of my energy and focus into, it’s made me form these amazing relationships with some of my lifelong friends and honestly, if I didn’t have a skateboard, I don’t know what other things I maybe could’ve gotten into.“
Now, a skateboard instructor, he shares his love for skating with everyone.
“Watching the sparks on the kids eyes when they learn a new trick is 100 times more rewarding for me than learning a new trick myself," said White.
Four new sports will debut in the Tokyo Olympic games: karate, sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding. There are two skateboarding competitions for both men and women: 'park' and 'street.' Park skaters will navigate tricks in a course that resembles an empty swimming pool, performing tricks off the sides of the walls, and street skaters will navigate a course with stairs, handrails, benches and walls, using the obstacles to perform tricks. However, the skateboarding community wasn’t always keen on having the sport in the Olympics.
“At first I didn’t like it because I was trying to guard it," said Chad Brinker, Operations Director at GBASO. "It was something that we all didn’t want to go mainstream.“
Now, Brinker sees that showing skateboarding as a real sport is a good thing.
“I think it’s good for the sport," he said. "It’s a good alternative too to stick-and-ball sports. It’s an individual sport. It’s good for creativity. It’s good for getting through fear."
GBASO even plans on hosting a watch-party this Saturday night for the men's street skating competition. Skaters will be watching out for different professionals this weekend.
“Nyjah Huston, he’s been a world champion for a lot of years," said Brinker. "Shane O’Neill is really good, he’s from Australia.“
“Watching like Zion Wright and some of those guys, that’s going to be really fun," said White. "And actually, even though they’re not the U.S. team, I've got some friends on the Brazilian team, so I’m going to be watching Pedro Barros.“
Not every skateboarder can be Tony Hawk, but they can certainly dream.
“I’m going to do this till my legs give out," said White. "I’m going to be doing this when I’m 90 years old if I can.“
It’s just gonna open it up to a lot of people that maybe have never seen skateboarding before.“
