5 minutes with Carolyn Nguyen

Want to tell me what got you into freestyle?

Skateboarding for me started with one of the COVID lockdowns. I followed female skateboarders on social media—people like Sarah Park-Matott (IG: @sparkmatott) and Jane Falconer-White (IG: @skatejanefw). Both had accessible skate content. Sometimes they would showcase freestyle. I remember watching Jane trying to figure out monster walks and thinking, ‘That looks like a fun way to get better at 180-kickturns.’

Those first few months, I mostly focused on park skates. However, I did pick up a Waltz Bixby Mini along the way and dabbled with basic freestyle tricks: backside switchblades, monster walks, and rail walks.

I fractured my foot maybe 6 months into skateboarding? Speed wobbles at Northcote Skatepark. :’(

X-ray of foot with surgically inserted plates, screws and wires.
Doctor’s report (2022): ‘Comminuted fracture with mild impaction of cuboid…Minimally displaced fracture…of the lateral cuneiform’. Fixed with plates, wires and other stuff.

It took 4 months before I was allowed to skate again (not really, but I did it anyway). Bailing on transition was too hard on the injured side, so I just worked on my flatground. When things were 99% recovered, freestyle felt good; everything else kind of sucked.

A 4-month period of no skating would have been difficult. It’s a short time frame in the grand scheme of things but it does make a huge difference when you’re physically active. When you came back to skating after your injury, what got you to go for learning freestyle tricks? Was it experimenting with what tricks felt better to do?

Freestyle was done out of necessity. I lost a lot of muscle mass and ankle mobility that year. When I stepped back on board, I’d fall within half an hour due to fatigue/poor balance*. Putting skateboarding on an indefinite hiatus while I worked on strength, mobility and endurance was not an option so I picked tricks that could be done stationary or at a slow roll or done with an assist: toeside rail entries, rail-to-rail hippie varial, thrusters, walk-the-dogs. Lots of rail and footwork. 

*You lose your sense of balance and proprioception when you stop using your leg(s). Something else to relearn while rehabbing.

Carolyn Nguyen stands in rail on her freestyle skateboard.
Carolyn Nguyen does a rail whip at Noble Park Skatepark.

With all the footwork and rail you’ve done, the effort you’ve made has without a doubt paid off. You noticed the lack of freestylers here in Melbourne as well while you were learning freestyle tricks, didn’t you? Is that what inspired you to create Flatlandia?

Not just Melbourne. There’s a lack of Australian freestylers. Though maybe freestyle skateboarding in Australia is like an iceberg: only a fraction of it is visible. 

Because it is so hidden, skate shops and skate brands don’t think that there’s a local market for freestyle decks. Freestyle-curious skaters don’t stick with the discipline because there’s a perceived lack of peers.

For a while, I was hoping for someone with better skate cred (more skilled/experienced at skateboarding or already in the industry) would pick up the slack. You know, raise freestyle skateboarding’s profile here? Start something similar to what they have in Europe, the States, Japan, or Malaysia?

No one did though, so I decided to be that person for a while. I don’t think I’ll ever be Paderborn Freestyle Skate contestant material, but I have writing and editing experience. Hence Flatlandia came into being. It’s my off-board project: online articles highlighting Australian freestyle skateboarding.

The lack of a market definitely is felt, both of us have seen local freestylers use popsicle decks. With the perceived lack of people, is it that got you to do your ‘5 minutes with’ articles on local freestylers?

Yes, I’m hoping the ‘5 minutes with’ will raise awareness. More importantly, it will hopefully help connect the interviewees with their locals. And if there are no locals to skate with, at least they all know a little bit more about each other and it’s easier to get an online conversation going. 

Plus I get to ask people stupid questions like ‘Saran Wrap or Glad Wrap?’

That sort of thing is great! Being able to ask questions like that doesn’t happen to often. How else do you go about promoting freestyle and Flatlandia? By going to skateparks to show off freestyle and talk about what you do?

Yes, sometimes it’s something as simple as taking up space at the local park. Someone invariably comes up to you to ask what you are doing or why your setup looks different. Those who already freestyle get hyped because sometimes this is the first time they’ve seen someone else (and another freestyle setup) ‘in the wild’. 

I’ve written an article which discusses the importance of being visible in order to find other freestylers. Hopefully it encourages freestylers to start skating at skateparks as well as the usual somewhere-out-of-the-way flatground.

Lastly, got any tips for those interested in taking up freestyle?

Skate journeys are better with people. Find like-minded friends online or in person so that you’ve got someone to talk freestyle with. The freestyle community is really supportive; even contests feel like a big reunion amongst friends instead of rivals (or so I’ve heard). 

Also, find some offset wheels. That’s your first piece of hardware you should get if a complete is too challenging a purchase (financially or logistically). Most skate shops stock Powell Peralta’s Nano Cubics but if you can, try to get Waltz, Sk8kings, Decomposed or Momentum wheels as these are from dedicated freestyle brands that fund freestyle skaters/events. You can buy them from Aikenheads Skate Shop or from the Flatlandia shop. 😉

Connect: Carolyn regularly skates with the Melbourne freestyle crew (IG: @melbournefreestyleskaters) at Marvel Stadium, Docklands. She also keeps a skate diary on Instagram (@skaternoon), which mostly focuses on freestyle with the occasional tuxedo cat photo.

Fostering freestyle-skateboarding communities

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?

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.

Denham Hill, pro freestyle skateboarder, in an interview (2024) with Dustin Umberger

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.

This dog skates obstacles better than me.

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.

A screenshot of the Freestyle Skateboarding Australia group on Facebook
Facebook is one place to find 182 new freestyle-skateboarding friends.

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.

Freestyle skateboarders meet outside Melbourne IMAX (October 2023)
October 2023 freestyle meet at Melbourne IMAX: Josh Dunstone (VIC, Australia), Carolyn Nguyen (VIC, Australia), Jocelyn Teague (NT, Australia), David Schmiede (Germany)

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.

5 minutes with Hillary Chan

A portrait of Hillary Chan, drawn by an anonymous friend.
Portrait of Hillary Chan drawn by an anonymous friend.
What Hillary Chan rides: a Moonshine 'Karma' complete.
Hillary’s Moonshine complete, imported from the UK.

Why freestyle?

I love watching all styles of skateboarding, but freestyle is probably the most accessible one for me. I don’t see myself jumping down rails or massive ramps, and I really have to go out of my way to do these styles of skateboarding.

With freestyle, all you need is some flatland, music, and you’re set. I love the freedom, fluidity and flair you can have with freestyle compared with other styles of skating. The way each trick seamlessly transitions into the next compared to street or vert skating. It’s like watching a well-choreographed and technical dance.

What music do you listen to when you skate?

My music tastes range from K-pop to indie rock/pop music. For K-pop, I mainly listen to girl groups like IVE, STAYC, and tripleS. There are also a few solo artists I listen to, like Luli Lee and YOUHA. For my indie artists, these days I’ve been listening to a lot of WHALES•TALK and Dream, Ivory.

If I ever compete in a freestyle competition, I already have one song in mind I’d want to skate to—’Slowly Spilling Out’ by Saint Motel. It has a range of musical swells that I can imagine working nicely with tricks if you execute them at the right time.

Have you been watching much of the overseas competition runs? Seen anything that inspires you?

I don’t actively look for competition runs, but if it comes up on my feed, I’ll definitely watch it. If there’s a skater I enjoy watching most and aspire to be like it’s Kai Tanabe. She’s got such a great flow and interesting ways of transitioning between tricks. Just look at this reel and you’ll see so many insane things that no one else does. She puts the board into a rail stand, one-legged spins it out into a tailstop. Later she caspers the board, falcon stomps to another casper before doing another falcon stomp to rail. IT’S CRAZY. Yeah, basically I think Kai is the best.

Is there something from Kai’s trick bag that you’re trying to emulate? (For me, it’s the falcon stomp to rail.)

I can do neither of them properly yet but I’d like to be able to get into a no-handed truck stand, then step into a casper and flip out. A 360 switchblade is something I also want to be able to do one day.

You recently learned handed truck stand exits from Josh Dunstone. What was it like, learning a freestyle trick in person instead of the usual online tutorial?

The difference between learning a trick in person vs watching footage of people and trying it yourself is night and day. There’s a sense of support and encouragement you get from having people around you and it’s so much…easier to get instant feedback or tips from people who have had prior experiences learning the same trick.

[Also w]hen you’re learning on your own, it’s a lot easier to bail or not commit to a trick and it definitely takes more time for you to feel out the nuances of what is and isn’t working.

Yes, I was amazed by your level of commitment to the trick that night. Peer pressure can be a positive force sometimes.

Hopefully the sesh you had with the Melbourne crew inspires you to find like-minded skaters closer to home.

Is there any message you’d like to give Sydney skaters thinking of trying freestyle?

GIVE FREESTYLE A GO!! Whether you want to dance on the board or just want to try something new, I think freestyle helps you get comfortable with the many ways you can find yourself on the board. So even if you find freestyle is not your thing, you’ll definitely get something out of it.

To persuade the unconverted, can you give us an example of a freestyle skill that translates to other skate disciplines?

I think freestyle helps you get comfortable on the board in a way other styles of skateboarding skip over. Jumping or flipping the board is a terrifying feeling if you don’t feel comfortable on your board.

Freestyle helps you ease into that with some footwork tricks or fingerflips. I think it’s a lot easier to break down freestyle tricks into simpler tricks to learn.

Last random question: if you had to use an ollie kickflip in a line, how would you freestyle it up?

This is my evil scheme of getting a street-skater friend of mine into doing freestyle lines.

I’ve seen some kickflips to caspers so there’s that. I can imagine kickflips to tail or nose stop or even spacewalk. Maybe if we’re feeling daring, kickflip to no-handed truck stand.

Hah! He’d die.

But he’ll proudly die as a freestyler. 😎

Connect: Hillary and other like-minded skaters are in the process of organising Sydney freestyle meet-ups. If you’re keen to join said meet-ups, please let her know via her Instagram (@_c.hilly).

MLM Skates ‘Goose Country’ Deck: A Top Modern Freestyle Choice

The ‘Goose Country’ deck from the Canadian freestyle brand MLM Skates is a new take on the traditional freestyle board with some modern-comfort features.

A freestyle skateboard setup, featuring MLM Skates' 'Goose Country' deck.
Canadian made: MLM Skate’s ‘Goose Country’ deck is cold-pressed in Quebec by Control MFG.

Specs

The ‘Goose Country’ deck comes with a 7.375” width, 28.125” length, and a 12.75” wheelbase. These dimensions complement each other by presenting a standard freestyle recipe while also creating a deck that doesn’t feel too small under the feet. The deck features a mellow concave with a nose and tail, both being different in shape, with the nose being less squared off than the tail.

Quality

The quality of the deck is absolutely A1 with both the wood and graphic being of exceptional quality. This means the deck feels extremely strong when doing a range of different tricks, rarely flexing even when my full body weight (approx. 65kg) is pushed against it.

Skate-ability

After three sessions skating the deck, I can honestly say that it is amazing and very easy to get the hang of. My entire ‘career’ skating freestyle, I have struggled to like and use double kicks. However, this deck has changed my mind. I was able to comfortably perform rail-to-rail combos due to the roundness of the nose and still be able to perform truck stands and pogo Saran wraps because of the blocky tail. Casper variations also felt great, with toeside caspers from rail being extremely easy to ‘pop’ as well as catch. The deck naturally wanted to spin.

Gripes

I do have one gripe with the board. Because of the transition from board rail to nose/tail, I found it difficult to work out where I needed to hook my foot for underflips and M80s. However, this is more of a user issue than anything.

Final thoughts

After skating, testing and thinking about this deck, I truly think that this is a contender for one of the best modern freestyle decks you can get at the moment, even comparing to the greats like Waltz (still love you Daddy Mike). If you get the chance to grab a MLM deck, do it!

Ways to get this deck currently include online through Decomposed or the MLM Skates website.

5 minutes with Fahad Alghamdi

Melbourne skater Fahad Alghamdi stands in cross-footed rail stance.
Fahad Alghamdi skates the flatground outside of IMAX Melbourne. Photo credits: Instagrammer @benjaminbuckmaster.

Why freestyle?

I’ve always thought freestyle skateboarding was a very unique style of skateboarding.

Growing up, I used to watch Rodney Mullen and have always wanted to get into it but wasn’t sure how to…until I met Josh [Dunstone] for the first time at Marvel Stadium and watched him doing freestyle tricks. I got even more excited to get into it and I did, thanks to Josh’s tips and skate sessions.

Freestyle felt very natural to me and that’s why I chose to stick with it.

So you watched skate videos when you were young?

I did!

How long have you been skating generally and what styles?

I skated as a kid for a year or so until I injured myself and I stopped…

I got back into it in 2019 when I first moved to Melbourne. I skated mostly street and skate park until 2021 when I met Josh and properly got into freestyle.

Did the two years of skating street/park influence your freestyle (and vice versa)?

It definitely did. As I got into freestyle, I did not want to give up street/park so I just decided to combine both into my own skate style. I managed to learn freestyle tricks on a street setup which I find very unique and flexible.

What street + park + freestyle combos do you like to do the most?

I do mostly primo, pogo and Casper tricks on banks as a way of drop[ping] in. I do the same with street off stairs or off a curb. Still learning…but it has been fun so far to mix it all together.

Current dream trick or combo?

I go with the flow in terms of learning tricks. Currently trying to get different variations of primo tricks.

I always get scared watching you in rail with your regular street wheels. How are your axle nuts going?

They’re going okay hahaha. I struggle with taking them off and on but it’s not impossible to do it.

Damage to axle nuts due to primo/rail tricks on a regular street setup.
Fahad’s axle nuts. No offset wheels make for some abused nuts.

Skating freestyle on a regular setup is something I’m most proud of. Unfortunately freestyle setups are not cheap and limited in terms of street skating. That is why I skate on a regular setup.

Is there someone who inspires your skating?

Rodney Mullen 🫡

His freestyle runs, his street parts back in the day or his general oddball genius?

Everything! He is such an inspirational character.

We see you skating with the OllieFans Melbourne crew. What is it like, learning freestyle and other skate stuff with others?

I find it to be such a good environment…I’m the only one who skates freestyle at most of the seshes. The comments and support I get are very motivating. I love helping people get into freestyle or even find out that there is such a thing as freestyle skateboarding.

For all of those skaters who want to try freestyle, where would you recommend they start?

Start with getting comfortable with the board. Have the right-sized trucks and wheels that enable you to do primo tricks if that’s your aim. Practising to balance on your board in primo, pogo, manuals, etc.

And finally, the best flatground skate spot in Melbourne?

I’ve got three skate spots I skate regularly:

  1. iMax
  2. Les Erdi Plaza [for street]
  3. Marvel Stadium

Connect: you’ll find Fahad skating his favourite flatground skate spots or at Riverslide, the iconic Melbourne skatepark next to the Yarra River. Alternatively, check out his street-freestyle skate antics on Instagram (@sk8melb).