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Style Magazine

Scott Becker

Sep 30, 2008 05:00PM ● By Super Admin

Scott Becker remembers when skateboarding wasn’t as simple as going to the local skate park. A veteran of the NorCal skating scene, Scott has watched skateboarding change from an underground group of “pool riders” to a legitimate sport backed by the X-Games. “Kids today don’t realize how hard it was. As a teen in Placerville, it was illegal to ride a skateboard anywhere. My first ticket in the ’80s was a skateboarding ticket. We rallied, met with city council and got land donated [for skate parks]. It only took 20 years to make it happen.”

Back then, Scott and his friends hunted for empty swimming pools to conquer, a tradition that started in the ’70s. “We used to drive around at about 7.5 miles an hour, looking through slats of fences [to find] one that was empty or close to being empty.” Sometimes they’d ask permission from the owners, but other times the mission was to catch as much air as possible before getting chased off the property.  

When asked why he still skates after more than 20 years and a host of broken bones and injuries, Scott admits that skating is his own form of therapy. “When you’re standing at the end of a deep swimming pool, going horizontal to vertical, zero to 20 miles an hour, everything you were thinking about before – it’s gone. You’re just thinking about holding onto that skateboard.”  

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