A 67-year-old man will tell you why local skateboarding is losing its spirit

Skateboarding officially became an Olympic sport at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. With skateboarding on the Olympic podium, some believe that the cultural roots of skateboarding are being challenged.

By Luo Yefeng, NowThat

Updated: 20 June 2022 06:20AM (SGT)

A skateboarder free skates at the skatepark in Somerset. (PHOTO: LUO YEFENG)

Eddie Goh was the first person to successfully open a local skateboard store and run it for 37 years. His skateboard store, Go Sport, is an imprint on the minds of a generation of local skaters.

At 67 years old, he is known as "OG" to local skaters.

Eddie Goh in his shop (PHOTO: CEN XIAOHUI)

In his eyes, it was inevitable that skateboarding would enter the Olympics and gain attention and support as time went on.

"But I still miss the old days when everyone was free to run the event about skateboarding." He recalled.

"Skateboarding events used to be very easy to organize."

Eddie used to organize street skateboarding competitions with skaters around the world.

He believes that skateboarding used to be managed with a lot of joy and freedom, and now it has become very restrictive.

"Everything belongs to the NSA (National Sports Associations) now, you have to play by their rules and a lot of things are out of control," he says.

For him, skateboarding has lost its fun and spirit at a certain point, and everything is now about rules and regulations.

'IOC is losing its audience'

As skateboarding makes its way to the Olympic podium, many skaters revolt and believe that skateboarding should be a culture or art form rather than a competitive sport on a mainstream platform.

Eddie agrees.

"But you see, I feel like the IOC (International Olympic Committee) lost a lot of viewership and audience support," he says. "So they need younger sports to get the attention of a younger audience."

He believes young viewers have lost interest in traditional sports, so young sports such as skateboarding, surfing and BMX are being moved to mainstream events by the IOC to keep the Olympics' viewership up.

"It's all about the money." he said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYNTCJ6q4Fw

'Don't go skateboarding just to compete'

As skateboarding's influence has expanded, it has become a legitimate sport. Meanwhile, skateboarding is becoming more mainstream.

Competitions such as the X Games, known for its extreme sports, and various skateboard-themed video games and films have made skateboarding an impression on young people.

But the mainstream acceptance of skateboarding reached a new level with the debut of the Olympics.

"It (skateboarding) is definitely becoming more mainstream." Eddie says, "Those who are managing the sport are mainstream figures."

But in his opinion, some of those people may not really understand the sport.

"People shouldn't start skateboarding just to compete." He says, "In fact, many good skaters don't want to compete."

In his opinion, competition is not the core of skateboarding.

He feels that most skaters are still keen to pursue the outlaw cultural nature of skateboarding. They prefer to have their skateboarding tricks out on the streets and recorded and posted to social media, rather than shown at mainstream events.

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'Skateboard store business is nevertheless getting better'

While many people, including Eddie, believe that skateboarding is losing some of its original culture, the careers or businesses of the people involved are getting better.

Eddie is one of them.

Those who didn't support the sport in the past are now slowly changing their minds.

"Because now a lot of new blood is picking up the sport and parents are supporting their kids to get into the sport," he said.

"They start skateboarding, then they need to buy a skateboard. When they need a skateboard, they can come to me, or somewhere else, or buy a skateboard online. So business will definitely get better. "

For now, Eddie believes he will still support the Olympic skateboard program.

"I'll support them, but I'm not going to give them my full support," he added, "Let the new generation take over the sport in their way, the future of skateboarding will be in the hands of these young skaters."