It’s not that learning by yourself is bad…but learning with people just seems to hit some sweet spot in the human brain.
Tom Vanderbilt (2021), author of beginners: the curious power of lifelong learning
A freestyle skateboarder can skate anywhere that has flatground: garages, tennis courts, the footpaths in front of homes. This freedom is both a blessing and a curse. No one will see you eat dirt, but no skate homie will strike up a conversation with you either.
I made some skate friends from my brief stint at park skating. But once I switched to freestyle, whenever I went to the park, I felt like an outsider. While others got hyped over treflips, I had little concept of how such tricks operated or how hard they were.
I didn’t mind being surrounded by folks who spoke a different skate language, since this was to be expected. After all, Rodney Mullen, the original freestyle GOAT, infamously skated alone in the stupidly early hours of the morning and epitomised socially awkward skateboarder. ‘Freestyle’ was synonymous with ‘solitude’ and ‘on the outside looking in’.
The realisation that things could be so much more came when Jocelyn Teague (Northern Territory, Australia) and David Schmiede (Germany) visited Melbourne in late 2023. Here were people who said ‘rail’ instead of ‘primo’ and rode proper freestyle decks. It was serotonergic. When they left, I didn’t want to go back to skating alone. This feeling of camaraderie was just too good to let go.
So I started actively seeking freestylers in real life and now I skate regularly with a local crew (@melbournefreestyleskaters) and connect with freestylers from other states. These are some observations based on my experience:
Skating in public
I was visiting the Rockdale skatepark one night, lazily flicking railwhips at the most out-of-the-way spot I could find. A skater approached me, asking if he could try my Waltz board. There was nothing out of the ordinary about him. He rode a popsicle board, did tricks on transition. How surprised I was when he proceeded to work through nosehook impossibles, no-handed pogos, walk-the-dogs, and rail flips.
Never underestimate the power of skating in public, be it a skatepark or in front of the local skate shop. Invariably, most of the skaters who talk to you will just want to try a kickflip on your freestyle board. But if you’re lucky, you’ll meet a closet freestyler or inspire someone to give rail tricks a go.
No more hiding
Rather than doing a jam in some car park somewhere, people are…saying, ‘Right, let’s get into these much more public places where skateboarding happens and make freestyle more visible’, you know?
Denham Hill, pro freestyle skateboarder, in an interview (2024) with Dustin Umberger
So people are kind of getting out in different parks, places where there’s other skaters, and making sure they can be seen and they’re taking up space.
Leveraging the socials
There’s some really nice freestylers on Instagram out there. David Schmiede, who visited Melbourne last year, forwarded me a profile. ‘Guy from Mike Osterman’s story is from Perth.’ Hurrah! Another name to add to the list of Australian freestyle-curious folk.
I know that social media seems like a time-destroying black hole full of pet memes and skate-progression videos that invariably make you feel bad about your own skate journey.
However, they are also a powerful networking tool. The freestylers you meet online may not necessarily live in the same city/state/country as you. But they may stop by for a skate when they travel through. Or they may share potential leads that help you find crew near you.
If you’re an Australian looking for freestylers in your area, try posting on private Facebook groups like Freestyle Skateboarding Australia and Australian Freestyle Skateboarding. There’s also the ‘australia-meetup’ thread in the Waltz Skateboarding Discord.
If you have a TikTok, YouTube or Instagram account that’s dedicated to skates, put your hometown in your bio to make it easier for locals to find you.
Be brave
Even though I knew I lived in the same city as freestyle pro Josh Dunstone, it took an organised meet with interstate and international people to get me skating with him.
And even then, being relatively fresh to freestyle (and skateboarding in general), I was nervous. We barely exchanged words at that first sesh, and I couldn’t do any tricks in front of him. I needn’t have been so tense. Josh was genuinely stoked to meet someone who enjoyed freestyle.
Talking to a stranger is daunting, but if they genuinely like freestyle as much as you do, they’ll actively listen to what you have to say, because stumbling across another freestyler is like stumbling across a good flat white outside of Australia; only emoticons can best express what one feels at such moments. 🙌.
A final word
Yes, freestyle skateboarding is a lonely sport, but it need not be. Do take up space at the local park. Do network online, and seize those opportunities to meet IRL when they come your way.
Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the flatlandia blog and follow us on our socials (Instagram: @flatlandiafreestyle) for Australian freestyle skateboarding content. Help us help you make some community happen.