A First Skateboarding Lesson in London’s Hyde Park

Toby and Millie-Mae were recently invited by Skates and Ladders to sample a 1-hour skateboarding lesson in London’s Hyde Park. Having never attempted to skate before, both children were keen – yet reluctant – in equal measure. They associate skateboarding with half-pipe tricks and thrills, and YouTube posted spills. Both were convinced they wouldn’t be able to do it. Yet skateboarding and longboarding are great reasons to get outside, get some exercise, and to speed up your journey between points A and B.

Getting there

We took the London Underground, Piccadilly Line, to Knightsbridge. It was such a lovely day we wanted to walk along Kensington Road. As we were ahead of time, we stopped off at the Will To Win Sports Centre Café within the Royal Park for a coffee and piece of cake!

It was only a 200m walk from the café to the impressive Albert Memorial, where our lesson was to take place at noon.

The lesson

Dimitar was the children’s skateboard teacher, and we met him helping two younger children put on their safety gear. Everything had been provided for Toby and Millie-Mae – helmets, elbow, knee and wrist pads. We were then taught about the skateboard … the names for each component and their purpose etc.

After this, it was time to stand on the board …

Individually, Dimitar helped them onto the skateboard, checking their feet were in the right places. Whilst holding them, he walked them down the road and back again – several times.

Remember that day when you learned to ride a bike? When you felt secure being held, but then had to pedal off on your own? Well, the skateboarding equivalent of that came next in the lesson. With a foot on the board, they had to push off and step up. Toby managed this quicker than Millie-Mae (who blamed her huge feet!) However, Toby did get a little overconfident at one point …

He was really enjoying himself. The smile on his face said it all! He was so worried that he wouldn’t be able to do it, yet here he was in the middle of London skateboarding back and forth in front of the Albert Memorial!

Millie-Mae eventually got her balance, and both were tentatively skating up and down.

At this point Dimitar suggested moving across to a grassed area to learn how to flip and jump onto the board (yes, I thought that sounded a bit technical too!) However, after a few attempts, they could both do this.

However, the rather trickier manoeuvre of flipping, rotating and landing on the board was less successful – yet they both managed it independently once each!

And that brought their lesson to an end.

Confidence

Both children were BUZZING at the end. So convinced were they that they wouldn’t be able to do it, now they realised they could they were so happy! And, of course, the inevitable questions quickly followed … “can I have my own board?”, “I’ll buy it with my own money”, “Can I have an early birthday present?”

Unknown to the children we had been invited to pop along to the famous Slick Willie’s skate store on the Gloucester Road, about a 5-8 minute walk from the Park. So that’s where we headed – having made NO PROMISES whatsoever!

Slick Willie’s

Established in 1970, this is London’s original skate store. There’s nothing they can’t help with if you have questions about skateboarding, long-boarding, rollerskating, inline skating and scootering. In fact, their small store is full of colourful examples of all these things … with a good selection of branded merchandise too.

We met Ben, and discussed our options with regards to ‘beginner’ skateboards. The children were shown several brands and designs, and both decided on the same brand, Enuff, in different colours. However, before agreeing, we took both children to the nearby pub to double-check they were going to use them (we were also thirsty!) Convinced they’d found their new preferred mode of transport, we headed back to purchase two boards.

On the way home, Millie-Mae was mentally designing a transfer she wants to put on her board!

Protective gear

Once home, I popped online and ordered two sets of elbow, knee and wrist pads. They can wear their cycle helmets for the time being. Well, they arrived yesterday, and within half an hour both children had gone off to the park to practice.

What next?

Well, the children are walking home from school today (first time ever) because they want to see if any of the footpaths have uneven surfaces … they are planning on skateboarding to school as soon as they are confident enough. When they get home and get changed, I predict they’ll be heading back to the park for another practice. I’m really pleased so far, and I hope it continues. They’ve asked for more lessons, so we’ll see.

Skateboarding was really popular ‘back in my day’, but was superseded by BMX and then more recently scooters. However, with skateboarding being an official sport in the 2020 Olympics, I think it’s going to become HUGELY popular again. You never know, Millie-Mae and Toby might be teaching their friends how to skate next summer!