Fear as Motivation in Skateboarding
Skateboarding with fear is completely normal. From experience, our coaches at Siren Section know that fear can be a motivator or demotivator. Skateboarding forces you to face it up front and it's extremely personal. The mental skill it requires to overcome the challenge deters many people away from this extreme sport - that's why many people are unable to continue after a certain point.
Fear can look like:
going to the skatepark alone.
looking stupid.
people watching your every move.
trying then failing.
injuries.
feeling like you’re doing it “wrong”.
not being sure of where to start.
That's why we create safe, simple learning spaces for our new skaters. Because skateboarding was historically a male-dominated sport, it makes it even harder for women and queer skaters to get into the sport. At Siren Section, our mission is to help our skaters switch their mindset of letting fear take over to shifting it to a tool.
Understanding the Origins of Fear
To switch fear into a motivator, we have to learn where it comes from. For example, if you're afraid to fall, is it because you're worried about feeling pain or not knowing how to protect yourself? Does looking silly discourage you from trying something new? Or is the fear due to not knowing what the next steps are?
Identifying the main cause of your fear is the key to slowly shifting you to a growth mindset.
Once you are clear in the problem, then we can find the solution!
For our skateboarders out there worried about injuries. You can work through it. Falling and failing is going to happen. It's what makes us resilient. Learning how to fall is the most important factor in preventing higher risk injuries, so we’ll teach you how to stop, drop, and roll! Additionally, at Siren Section, we suggest taking new tricks slower to better ensure your safety prior to approaching big tricks for big rewards.
Skateboarding, Fear, and Growth
What makes skateboarders unique? Their resilience and ability to adapt.
Skateboarding is not easy, especially if you are taking risks to learn new tricks. The more a skater pushes themselves to reach new levels of complexity, the further fear can be built up in their minds.
By using fear to motivate us to better ourselves, we can shift how we see failure and challenges.
Doing hard things is a part of sports. The further we push to grow, the better we can learn to overcome the limitations we set for ourselves. Every step of the way is hard, but the best way to learn is to try different solutions to solve each challenge with the support of a community.
We’re not saying you should get excited to fail, but excited to demonstrate to yourself that you are willing to try something scary or something new - that’s confidence!
At Siren Section, our coaches try our best to share our knowledge to reduce risk of injury and demonstrate how we can overcome fear. We acknowledge the difficulty in the nature of the sport then provide all the tools available to build confidence in our women & queer skateboarders.
Curious to learn more about our strategies? Don't be afraid to reach out to us on social media @sirensection or https://www.sirensection.ca/contact
