Guest interview #3

My name is Natalie and I’m 31 years old.

Tell us a little about yourself, what do you do, why have you started to skateboard and how long have you been skating?

I’m an Optical Advisor from the North East. I started skateboarding about 20 years ago along with my sister, and skated solid for a good 6-7 years, then stopped for a bit, and have recently in the last 3-4 years started to get back into it. I feel like I've always had skateboarding in the back of mind even when I wasn’t skating, I was still following the culture and saw the rise in girl skateboarders, there wasn’t many when my sister and I first started and would more often than be the only girls there. 

How does it feel to do something as cool as skateboarding?

There’s no better feeling than when you’ve been working on a trick and you finally land it, the commitment and persistence it takes to get there is like nothing else. 

How do your friends and family think about it? About you starting a crazy pastime at this stage of your life?

My parents have always been really supportive of my skateboarding, especially when we first started out, they’d take us to our local skatepark every Sunday. Even now my friends are all really supportive and encouraging.  

Have you had any injuries since you started? And if so has it deterred you from skateboarding in anyway?

I’ve never had any broken bones from skateboarding, just a few sprains here and there. I’ve probably jinxed that now! 

How has skating changed you as a person? 

It’s definitely made me more outgoing and confident.