Question:
What the hell is my problem? I love riding ramps and pools but I blow
when it comes the coping. I can do limited tricks and stuff on the
coping but for the most part I'm kinda scared of it. I really want to
get better so that i can actually do shit in the vert ramp.
Answer:
just imagine all the tricks you're doing on the lip as variations of
dropping in. it helped me. also try doing something to relax you before
you go skate. what else helps is telling yourself this isn't the real
thing. make up some stupid excuse why the trick doesn't count. "oh, this
doesn't count, because i'm on a mini. it's not vert!" "oh, this doesn't
count, because no one's watching me."
"oh, this doesn't count, because people are watching me."
i think that helps more than anything.
I used to have the same problem when I first started skating vert. In fact,
when the first skateparks were built in the 70s, they didn't put in coping,
even in the so-called "pools". I used to think of coping on pools as a
necessary evil, something that just came with the territory. After skating
several real pools, as well as the park "pools" that didn't have coping, I
realized that coping made things easier because you have an indicator that
tells you exactly where you are on the lip. The coping-less bowls at the parks
began to be more difficult for me to skate, because I couldn't feel exactly
where I was on the lip. It was a real plus for me when parks started putting
coping on pools. But even so, the only thing in a park back then that would
have coping would be the pools...everything else would just have a smooth lip.
That's one of the big improvements I've seen with today's parks, is that they
have coping on nearly everything (of course, the steel pipe they tend to use
doesn't grind like real coping!).
If one of the problems you have with coping is worrying about rolling over it,
try using a slightly larger wheel. The larger the diameter, the easier it will
roll over coping.
Find some Do or Die type skaters to ride with so you can get stoked off
their trying to pull stuff and slamming. Busch beer helps, too.
something that helped me was just heading straight for coping and
popping over it ( in bowls and 6 foot minis ). it reminded me that
riding towards coping isn't that frightening.
and andy's advice about skating with 'Do or Die' types helps too. i
tend to go faster, harder, ( and slam more often! :) when a friend of
mine who just goes big shows up.
When my friends call me a pussy when I'm not making something, I get mad
and will try to drag it in.
