Moderators: Jonathan Harms, Ron Barbagallo, Maria Carrasco, Russel Cantor, Lynn Kramer, Brian Parsons
Aaron, how are you, man? Where the f*** have you been? Send me a message on MySpace. Do a search for JBH, or check your dad's friends list. I'm on there somewhere.Aaron Morris wrote:hey to all. I'm tryin to skate soon. Is there going to be any winter races? I'm down if there is.
Dude, I full-on agree with you. I'm just trying to expand my own course setting skills by getting different parts of my noggin to work. I've laughed that I'm very meditative about my courses, but now I'm examining structure. You know.. what works, what doesn't. Try as many things as possible and see what comes out.Andy Bittner wrote:Lenny, this is not really the proper forum, but, without meaning to be confrontational or negative, I'd like to ask you the following questions... Would adding a little more structure to your course setting and actually measuring things off a bit be a good thing? If so, why?
The reason I'm asking, is that I've always felt one of the most important things slalom skateboarding has going for it, in terms of preventing the sport from becoming too rigid, esoteric or boring in the long term, is almost infinite creative possibilities for setting courses. Personally, I've obstinately refused all requests to measure, diagram or "can" my courses, because every day and every hill is different. If I set a course for a race on the G-Burg Park 'n' Ride, for a warm day when the wind is blowing down the hill, and someone comes along the very next day and rides the very same cone set with a chilly wind blowing up the hill... it'll be a completely different course. What makes anyone think that getting someone to take all the time to measure, diagram and deliver the dimensions of their course is a good idea or would result in anything close to the same course in a completely different location?
It seems to me the best thing any aspiring slalom racer can learn, aside from the skating itself, is that course setting is best approached as art, not science (and DEFINITELY not rocket science!), and how to set exciting, challenging and creative courses, from scratch, on any venue or hill. It's not that hard and, in my opinion, trial, error and courage are the best teachers from which to learn course setting.
Give a man a fish and he eats tonight. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.
