USC researchers explore how skateboarders can succeed in school and life

Posted by freemexy on September 23rd, 2019

Without skateboarding, Eric Diaz’s life might have taken a much different path.The East L.A. native probably wouldn’t be two years away from earning his civil engineering degree. He guesses at a much darker outcome: crime, prison, maybe even an untimely death.Children skateboarding in Shanghai

“I had a friend, may he rest in peace, who didn’t make it to 17,” Diaz said. “I saw myself going that way, and I knew I’d probably end up dead like some of my other friends or in prison.”He feels incredibly fortunate that a few skateboarding ramps caught his eye one day as he rolled along Atlantic Boulevard not far from his home. The young teen had stumbled on The Garage Board Shop, a neighborhood hangout for skaters and other kids from the community. If they did a few hours of homework at the shop, the store’s founders let the kids practice their kick flips and axle stalls in the shop’s makeshift skate park.

The more time Diaz spent there, the more he could picture a brighter future for himself. Looking back now at age 20, he can see how skateboarding not only created a safe space for him to relax and burn off stress but also taught him skills like determination and focus that helped him succeed.

“I’ve always seen it as therapy, and most other kids do, too,” he said. “It helps you find yourself — who you are and what you want to do.”

That insight is like gold to researchers at USC who have been exploring skateboarding culture and how skaters view their place in society. Led by Zoë B. Corwin, a research associate professor at the USC Rossier School of Education, the team has been crisscrossing the United States to interview skateboarders in diverse communities, seeking to understand their experiences and the support they need to thrive.

“Skateboarders have this tenacity to practice a trick thousands of times, they are creative, they have cross-cultural interactions not common in other spaces,” Corwin said. “How can they translate those skill sets and their passions into educational and career opportunities?”Backed by a 4,000 grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation, the USC researchers have already completed a national survey of skaters between ages 13 and 25. They are also conducting in-depth interviews with skaters and community stakeholders in seven regions of the country to gain greater insight into the challenges and opportunities facing skateboarders.
We’re taking the time to figure out what skaters and young students are dealing with in their lives, what they see as impeding them from going to college and being successful in a career,” said study collaborator Neftalie Williams, an adjunct professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and an expert in skate diplomacy and issues of race and diversity in skateboarding culture. “We want to take the next step, to encourage young skaters to succeed in academia or the next phase of their life.”

A major goal of the study is understanding how skateboarders are perceived and how they view themselves. Some people still picture the counterculture skaters of the 1960s and 1970s. Others think about the glossy multibillion-dollar skateboarding industry of today, with its lucrative clothing brands and high-profile televised competitions.

That tension continues to exist. Many young skaters embrace the sport’s underground roots even as it gains greater visibility as a new competition in the 2020 Olympics.