Youth Corner: Skateboarding just the trick to deal with life’s struggles

Published 1:30 am Thursday, July 30, 2026

When I first started skateboarding almost 30 years ago, I was unaware of the many ways skateboarding would prepare me for the challenges of everyday life. Skateboarding has provided me with tools to help deal with stress, bolstered my resilience, self-esteem, mental health, and taught me about community.

When skateboarding, daily stresses and anxieties seem to just disappear. Skateboarding takes a huge amount of focus. When trying a trick, it forces your brain into a state of meditation, a place where you can escape the noise around you. It’s just you and your skateboard, hyper-focused on the trick you are doing at that moment: foot positioning, body movement, then hopefully landing back on your board.

Skateboarding is a constant practice of trial and error. Every new trick learned takes a lot of time, patience and resilience. Falling and getting back up is a big part of skateboarding and a great lesson learned.

Skateboarding can be a great tool for building resilience, teaching the nervous system how to get past fear and safely move forward.

Skateboarding is unique in that you are sometimes doing it by yourself with no one watching. Social media is a big part of our culture these days. Individuals are often doing things for the approval of others, skateboarding can teach you how to succeed on your own, for yourself.

The hyper-focus required for skateboarding can be a great outlet for individuals with ADHD, trauma, anxiety, and depression. I struggled with some of these and still do, but skateboarding has always been there to assist me through it. It helped me burn off that excess energy and really helped with focus. Landing tricks provides a steady dopamine and endorphin reward keeping my restless brain engaged and aids with mental health. The balance required for skateboarding helps work out the cerebellum, which can help individuals improve attention, focus, and emotional regulation.

Community has been a huge part of human existence since we’ve been around. Skateparks foster a unique, diverse, supportive community. I have skated at skateparks all over the world with individuals across the board. I bring my skateboard whenever I travel because: One, it’s a great mode of transportation; and two, it’s a great way to find your people wherever you are.

Skateboarders all speak the same language (literally, the trick names are all the same around the world). With the language barrier broken, all there is to do is skate and have fun. The skateboarding community is very supportive. When someone lands a trick, no matter the skill level of it, you bang your board on the ground and cheer them on.

No one was born a professional skateboarder, we all started at the beginning. We know the extensive amount of work it takes to land a trick and how good it feels, so you hoot and holler no matter what. In skateboarding we all play on the same team.

We started the Homer Skatepark Project to help reintroduce skateboarding to this community. We’ve been giving skateboard lessons here in town and it’s been a great reminder of why I started skateboarding. Watching the youth try something difficult and succeed, and seeing that face of joy is what skateboarding is all about. That feeling is something they can bring with them through the many challenges they will face in life to come.

Together we can build a new skatepark to provide a safe, healthy third space for the youth and adults in this community that can be enjoyed for generations to come.

Kevin Lahaie is a teacher at Cottonwood Buds Forest School and project manager with the Homer Skatepark Project.