Introducing... My Skate of Mind

 My Skate of Mind    

    Hello hello hello my fellow skaters, cruisers and every plank pushing individual that falls in between. My name is Kaitlyn Massey and I am a writer/ skateboarding coach based in the East Sussex area. Oh yeah... in case you don't believe in ghost writers, that's me in the picture above. 

    The catalyst for MySkateofMind holds its foundation in countless years of personal struggle with depression and PTSD.: I found a therapist in a moving plank of wood. I've been skateboarding on and off since the age of ten. Growing up in a very rural part of Iowa, the skateboarding scene was sparse and mostly went unrecognised. My love for skateboarding was sparked by, my elementary school best friend: we'll call him Shredder. Shredder's family owned a business- in a small industrial estate- where they had their own warehouse space. The estate was some of the smoothest flat ground for skating and the foundation to Shredder's skate journey. 

I remember him always coming to the playground- absolutely stoked- telling me all about his battles trying to land varial flips and different slides n' grinds- on this little flat rail that his dad welded for him. Shredder's energy and enthusiasm when speaking about skating was more contagious than the Swine Flu, that was sweeping its way through our school one grade group at a time, making me fall madly in love with the sport. 

I recall typing "best tricks of 2010" into Youtube and countlessly binge watching the same video billions of times analysing every trick. At some point the rabbit hole of Youtube skateboarding videos led me to a Plan B Ryan Sheckler skate edit: filmed within his indoor warehouse skate park where from that point onwards I became entirely consumed with fascination for the Plan B team. 

    My mom was always super supportive of my interest in skating. Christmas 2010, she bought me my first ever skateboard- an OP complete. Not long after receiving this setup, my grandparents came down from California to our little town in Iowa and took me Christmas shopping. My grandpa took me to Zumiez: a controversial skate store in modern day. But this place was the Routeone of American shopping malls, at the time, and where I set up my first custom complete. A raw wood and blue logo real skateboard deck, silver base plate//blue hanger Independent trucks, sky blue spitfire classics, Bones Reds bearings, Independent hardware and- of course- classic black MOB grip tape. 

If I had to pinpoint the exact moment when I classed myself as a skater as opposed to a kid with an unrealistic dream to post one "sponsor me video" and suddenly skate for Vans and Independent, I would have to say that it was during the summer of 2012. We moved to these new boujee apartment blocks, in North Liberty. Each flat had a correlating garage: which was located just behind the apartment blocks. This move opened up my eyes to an entire new world of smooth flat ground skateboarding. When I started skating, there weren't any skateparks near my house. In turn, I ended up spending hours on end trying to get clean manuals and reverts down the sides of the garage block doors. 

       During this same time, my family was struggling financially and in turn causing major disruption in our relationship. We ended up having to move all of the time and adapt to completely new environments. Skateboarding gave me a reason to stay positive about moving around when all else felt hopeless by offering new street spots. Skateboarding fed me in a way that the North Liberty Food bank couldn't. This was the first time that I can recall truly reflecting on the powerful positive impact that skateboarding was having on my mental wellbeing.