Boarders (2021) - full transcript

Oh, street survival.

Street survival,
that's what it's all about.

Being a skateboarder

isn't just about going
skateboarding,

it's all the other things
around it as well.

80%, 90% of skateboarding
is not skateboarding,

generally, most of the time.

Certain cities
in America and Australia

have already banned
skateboarding from their streets.

They are dangerous.

I think people in the UK
are quite intimidated by



groups of people in,
you know, hoodies.

But skaters aren't like that,
you know.

We're going out to skate

and use the city
in a different way.

We're bringing life to the
spaces that are pretty dead.

A lot of people just
didn't understand it

because it's not national,

it's not put in front like
football or rugby.

Now
skateboarding has been announced

to make its debut
as an Olympic sport

at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The skateboarders they
have chosen on the UK team,

how different their styles are,
are completely right.

These are the best
skateboarders in the country right now.



You skate,
you come home, you eat dinner,

you go skate at 10 or 11,

skate till, like,
three in the morning.

They were like,

"You can't just skate your way
through life."

With the Olympic thing,

they're now, like,
super-ecstatic about that.

I just think that's funny,
'cause to a skateboarder,

it's not proper,
it's kind of the reverse.

The general consensus
right now is that

the Olympics will have quite a negative
effect on skateboarding as a whole.

When I found out about
the Olympics,

I was scared that the Olympics,

they would, like,
divide skateboarding

and take the soul out of
skateboarding.

On a global stage,

the UK's still
a little bit behind.

In the UK, skating
definitely has its own identity.

Skateboarding in the UK
is, like, just very loose,

very aggressive.

We don't have athlete
aspects in our skateboarding.

People were like,
"Oh, you were in California?

Why... Why would you move back?"
you know?

If you see
the weather forecast

and you see it's raining for
the next four days,

it's like your heart sinks
a little bit

and you're like, "Oh."

We are not in California.

Hello.

Beckett, cup of tea!

Changes pitch with
the water as well.

Brilliant.

The little things, eh?

Beckett,
your tea will go cold.

Poor tea.

I'll have to drink it.

When you find skateboarding,

it just fills you with
excitement.

Everything, like the smell of
skate stickers and magazines.

One of the really exciting
things about skateboarding

is just, like, flow.

You lose everything.

It's like you're losing
your ego, you know?

You're not thinking about
anything,

you're just doing these things

and that's, like, a really
beautiful state to be in.

I don't know that I was the best
at meeting people,

or just, like, feeling
comfortable in social situations,

but it's given me, like,
something solid within me

that makes me able
to deal with those things

so I can be comfortable.

I've learned every lesson
in my adult life,

and most of my childhood,
from skateboarding.

Yeah, it's weird,

it's like you're floating,
but it's a bit...

It's fast as well, it's...

Especially as a kid,
you just feel invincible

and then,
as you get a bit older,

you start to realize, you know,
you're not invincible,

but then, it's like, you know,

you can push your body
to crazy limits,

do insane tricks
and stuff like that,

and skateboarding is
endlessly creative.

That's why it never gets boring.

Skateboarding is definitely
self-love.

Uh, it's a banjo

and I've been playing it for,
like, three years, more or less.

But, yeah, it's really fun.

It's, kind of, one of the things
I'm glad I discovered,

'cause it helped me, like, find a
bit of time to spend doing something

that wasn't skating
and wasn't as physical.

But still gave you the same
sort of satisfaction and outlet.

I love skating 'cause it's all
I ever really wanted to do.

Yeah, when I saw someone on a
skateboard for the first time,

I was like,
"I really wanna do that."

And they weren't even
standing on it.

They were just rolling across
on their belly.

It just looked really fun.

When I first moved in here,
I didn't wanna end up, like,

having to, like, clear up
my brother's shit

and clear up my own stuff
upstairs.

So I ended up moving into the
cupboard as a result of that,

when I was, like,
16 or something.

And it was quite cozy,
it was really nice.

This is what it looks like now.

But now it's just storage again.

So, yeah, that's that.

I had, like, a... like,
a Japanese futon mattress.

it was really... It was, like,
perfect shape for it.

It had a light as well,
but I, like, kicked it out...

actually kicked it off the wall
in my sleep at one point.

It's all fucked now.

To be fair, I mean, like,
the area I lived in

was right next to an estate
called Monkwick

and that place has always been
pretty sketchy.

Especially, like, skateboarding
down a street like that.

You can, like,
bump into people

and they did not like you,
like, skateboarding there,

even if they were kids,
they'd just heckle you

or try throw something
at you sometimes.

Like, how you conduct yourself
in town on a night out

is very important.

And you learn that very quickly,
like, growing up skating.

It's not just drinking,
but loads of other things,

like judging people's character
and all sorts of different ways

to avoid getting yourself
into trouble.

I think the hardest challenge
at first was, like, money.

Not having the ability to get
a board when you needed it.

But I'd get one for my birthday
and skate that

until it was absolutely
not even really recognizable

as a skateboard anymore.

Here's Sam Beckett,

he's sitting in 11th place
trying to best that 48.

Got the bronze medal
last year,

so he has been on
the podium...

I didn't know
that I was gonna be

a professional skateboarder.

I guess the dream is that you can
make money doing what you like,

that you get to skate forever.

I am part of the Tony Hawk
Pro Skater generation,

like, those games had blown up.

- Let's go.
- What?

I think what really
kicked it off was, like,

just the UK vert scene.

There were older dudes
that had, like,

a really good community
of vert skaters.

And that is the end of
the session.

Over to the rollerbladers.

I didn't feel like I was trying
to go somewhere with it,

we were just really just
doing it a lot.

Like, we were just
going skating all the time.

And there was, like,
certain brands

that were looking to
sponsor people

and I was in the right place
at the right time

and it was, like...
gained momentum like that.

Did that!

I was pretty much
18 when I moved to California.

So, it's, like,
coming up on ten years

that I've had a base out there
and stuff.

Basically, I hurt my knee
at a mini-ramp contest

and I figured if I wasn't gonna be
skating for the next nine months,

I would want to be
back in the UK,

like, where I'm from and
my friends and family.

Because all the people that I
know in California kind of skate,

and it's, like, if you're not
skating, it's quite hard.

Like, I've been traveling constantly
for that time, you know, like...

constantly going to events,
constantly being in the States.

And, I think,
before I hurt my knee,

I realized I hadn't been in
one place for more than, like,

a month or two months at a time.

The life that
someone like Sam lives is...

looks quite glorious,
doesn't it?

And he gets to travel everywhere
all the time

and skate all these
incredible places.

I don't really make much money
skating.

So, I have to have
a normal job.

But at the same time, like,
I'm still in Nottingham

'cause I've traveled so much

and that's made me appreciate
my hometown

and appreciate that,
you know,

life is pretty similar
all over the world,

no matter where you are.

There's some trophies.

All crap really.

Just on the shelves.

They are, uh...

Nepalese festival flags.

We were in Nepal and India.

We went with a skate charity
called Skate Nepal.

Went to visit
the skate communities there

and we helped them out.

Yeah, they put these up around
Nepal when the festivals are on.

Guess they're a good omen.

But, yeah, I'm very grateful
for traveling and having a home

and being able to
balance the two.

And, yeah, maintain
a relationship and stuff.

Like, I love having
my house here with Chloe,

it's the best thing ever.

Yeah, all that stuff is very
important... as well.

Done.

Now, skateboarding will be making its
first appearance as an Olympic sport.

Skateboarding today
is a multi-billion dollar sport,

now headed to
the 2020 Summer Olympics.

What this is is an opportunity
for the sport of skateboarding

to grow around the world
and for us to communicate

and engage with skateboarders
around the world.

Once skateboarding
was announced in Tokyo,

we spoke with UK Sport
and they said,

"What do we have out there,
what do we have?"

And all we really kind of had
at the time was the knowledge

that Sam Beckett had won
an X-Games gold in vert

and he had skills and
the ability to do really well.

We looked at Alex deCunha,
who had been traveling Europe,

skating in all these different
skate comps

and getting really good results.

The other two that were really
noticeably traveling

and going to events
and doing really amazing tricks

were Alex and Jordan,
Alex Hallford and Jordan Thackeray.

Of course,
with Skateboard GB,

we were able to
get them some money

to help them travel to
the events

and also their own team manager
to help deliver that.

Whoa!

So, the role as team manager,

it was quite unknown
what it would mean.

When you get to this level
of skateboarding,

like, mentorship and
guidance and support

and looking after your people
is just a massive part of it.

Sam Beckett was
an interesting character

to try and, like,
be involved with.

He'd done so much in
skateboarding, I thought,

how can I help somebody who's
won a gold medal at the X-Games,

or had basically been the first
person to do a 540 in the country,

how do you help someone
like that?

Like, it's not about...

it's not just about
technical things,

it's not just about,

like, say, data or
spreadsheets or...

or trying to teach somebody
how to do a trick,

it's just by caring,
just be there for them

in the way they need you to be.

Can we get Alex or Sam or Jordan
better physio support,

can we get them better
mental health support

and how will that actually
enable their lifestyles

and actually how will it
help them grow as people,

not just as
Olympic skateboarders.

We're just trying to get
a bit more funding

to help us with practicing
for the events,

'cause, you know, there's not
really any bowls in the country

that are of that level,

so, it does make it
a bit difficult

for keeping up with some of
the other dudes,

'cause they go home and they've
got ten bowls to choose from

that are as big and as gnarly
as the qualifying events.

The only reason me and Alex and Sam
have got anywhere with skateboarding

is 'cause we've left the UK and
traveled around to other places.

Where did skateboarding
come from?

When did skateboarding
arrive in England? How?

Skateboarding, you know,
really started out in California

on the back of surfing.

It was this thing
that was created

because a lot of the surfers
were waiting for waves.

Someone had the brilliant idea
of, like,

trying to emulate the surf moves
on the street.

People that were out there
visiting

would then bring skateboards
back to families

and then, like, certain kids
would get these skateboards

and try and skate.

That was the beginning of
skateboards coming into England.

So, it was like this new thing,

everybody was investing in
skateboarding.

Like, the UK,
like, Sports England,

or whatever it was at the time,

it became this huge,
you know, like, craze.

And then the BBC got hold of it.

The Southbank,
with its worldwide reputation

for pioneering in the arts,

introduces a new kind of
art form,

but one definitely more suited
to the outside rather than in.

They called it skateboarding,

and it's the nation's fastest
growing craze amongst the youngsters.

And then it was crazy.

It ended up in
all kinds of shops.

Booths were selling skateboards.

Any little shop was cashing in
on this skateboarding,

you know, fad thing.

Skate parks were built in
the '70s here in the UK,

off the back of, you know,
having this huge explosion in the media

and it being really popular.

The skateboarders
of Luton queued for hours today,

all keen to be the first to
demonstrate the latest attraction of

an open-air swimming pool
in winter.

The pool manager
said to me that they'd been

racking their brains for years

to think of a way
of using the pool in winter.

And what do you all think of it?

- It's fantastic.
- Really good.

It's gonna improve
our skateboarding a lot.

To give you an idea

of how big skateboarding was
in those days,

you could afford
a five-story building

that was dedicated to
skateboarding

opposite Harrods.

So, I got a job there.

On a more ambitious note,

promoters from America
have been here too.

They're anxious to encourage
skateboarding

in as many countries
as possible

so that it'll become
an Olympic sport.

A consideration which could help put
pressure on the British sports promoter

to provide facilities
and training

for our obvious
skateboarding talent.

We're at
Spit and Sawdust in Cardiff.

And we're having a little session
on the brand-new vert ramp.

They did a
fundraiser on the ramp, like, uh...

about a month or two ago,
to try and get it built,

and people chipped in really,
really quickly, got it built.

Come up out of nowhere,
more or less.

Yeah, it's gotta be like
the quickest, I've seen,

like, from when
they were like,

"Oh, we want to get
a vert ramp,"

to having all the money for it,
and it being up.

Only took them, like,
ten days to put it up, so...

This is the closest I've ever
lived to a vert ramp in the UK.

Which is pretty good.

It's still about five hours away
from where I live.

Yeah, I do miss the
lifestyle that I was living in America.

We've got a good crew
that do skate here.

Seeing, like, how stoked they
are on seeing their improvement

has actually give me loads of
motivation and energy,

although the level's quite
different to being in the States.

Going to the States,
where people do it every day,

and then you can skate with people
every day on, like, amazing ramps,

it's really much easier to
get to a level, you know?

Whereas, then here,
if you're like...

if you don't have a good crew

and you're waiting for people
to finish work

and they go, like, once a week,
or twice a week,

it's, like, you're not really
gonna improve so much, you know?

And I've probably, like,
lost a load of stuff as well,

from living in the UK,
like, not skating every day.

But now, it's like...

I feel like it's
coming back a bit.

For sure, bruv.

- Yeah.
- Sam's back with it.

It's coming back
a little bit, yeah.

Yeah, definitely.

It's like, you've just got to
remember, yeah,

these are the best skateboarders
in the country right now.

When I got asked
to be part of the team

and travel to all these events,

and see these places,

and hopefully try and
inspire people,

I couldn't really say no,
when the...

Yeah.

Yeah, it's just, uh...
just got to happen,

so you've got to go with
the flow, haven't you?

And, uh...
Oof, playing the guitar?

It's just like a "why not?"
kind of thing.

You know, like,
the opportunity's there,

and especially with
the crew of people

that are doing it right now,

like, Alex, Jordan, myself,
they're, like, my friends,

and to get to go and travel
with those guys

was kind of
the biggest draw for me.

Next up,
we've got Alex Hallford, his magic.

Skateboarders
from across the world

will go through
a qualification process,

travel around the world
to different countries,

try and secure points,
basically,

so they can get to
the Olympic Games.

Yeah,
he is one of the funded skateboarders

by UK Sport's
Aspiration Fund.

He is really looking to try
and qualify for Tokyo.

Oh, my word,
that was incredible.

The qualifying
process is pretty nuts.

They've just got...

yeah, as many events
as they can squeeze in

and they're kind of all
getting ranked on the Olympic...

on the Olympic...

What would you call, like,
scoreboard, shall we call it?

- Oh, he's...
- That was amazing.

He is stoked on that.

So, 80 people can qualify
for the Olympic Games in Tokyo,

40 women and 40 men,
across two disciplines.

So, we've got park and street.

I mean,
we did just see there, Ben, 347 points.

Oh, damn, a clear leader.

So, for it to be
in the Olympics is kind of, like,

it's a question mark
in my mind.

It's about how are you gonna go
about judging something properly

with a category and a criteria
for skateboarders?

It's, uh...
it's something that's, uh...

it's basically putting
skateboarding into a box.

It's not like a race, or like,
a point scoring competition, like that,

not on its own actual nature
anyway,

it's not like football or basketball
or pool or anything like that.

You don't go to a skate park
and say,

"Oh, yeah, this is
the winner of today.

This is the winner of
the session."

It's not like that.

It's like, who's having
the most fun,

is pretty much the winner
at the end of the day.

Pretty much everything
that I've seen come out of it

with me involved, is like,

"This guy's dream
to be in the Olympics."

And it's like, people want a good
story, you know, they want, like,

the struggle of some kid from
wherever to do this thing, and...

From my point of view, it's never been
something I really took seriously.

And even when it was, like,
becoming a real thing,

I still didn't take it
seriously.

'Cause I'd been skating vert
my whole life, really.

It wasn't vert that was
gonna be in the Olympics,

so, even now, I'm, like,

trying to do these contests
for park,

which is cool,
'cause I like skating that stuff,

but I've never competed in it,
really.

Although Sam can do some of the
biggest tricks on a vert ramp,

or he can do some of the best
spins or flips or whatever he does,

he just knows how to
ride transitions,

he knows how to move around
a park or a ramp.

He had skills that were
very transferable to park,

because in the bowl,
there would be a vert aspect to it.

Vert skateboarding's
when you're skateboarding a ramp

the size of your house,

park skateboarding is, like,
skating, like, wavy transitions

and just, kind of trying
to maintain a flow.

It's more like a navigational
sort of skateboarding,

trying to find your way around
different obstacles.

Over the, sort of,
different eras,

skateboarding has changed
quite a bit.

Because that first one,

was very much still surf based.

Was sidewalk surfing,

and pools and skate park
simulating pools.

Within the world of
organized skateboarding,

there were these, you know,
attempts to introduce into skateboarding

or layer onto it,
things that could be measured.

Slalom was quite a thing
at first.

It tended to go down a bit
and become a lot more niche.

And then there was freestyle

which in that era
tended to be regarded as,

I don't know, quite fiddly.

But, it's
like, more using the flat ground

and doing various tricks
and turns and spins, you know,

a lot of people used to spin,
you know, like crazy.

And then there
were some very strange anomalies,

like high jump.

Which was very Olympic.

And then you'd jump off your
board and jump over this thing,

and land back on your board.

And then there was this
downhill skating.

People that used to ride down
really steep hills in parks,

and they had these big gloves
and they would do, sort of,

S-slides around corners and stuff
like that with the gloves on.

And then you've got
your full pipe skateboarding.

So, it's lots of kick, turn,
kick, turn, kick, turn.

And little airs,
little early grab airs and things.

And in the '80s,
the full pipe

then started to become
half pipe with flat ground

because it was too quick,
so someone decided

it's too quick to just keep
going like that,

so let's extend the flat bottom
and it gave you time

to, you know,
catch your breath,

you know, relax your muscle for
a moment and then pump.

You know, so then that
changed everything,

and that, sort of,
then became vert skateboarding.

And then
we see another transition

which is the vert stuff starts
to change a little bit,

as in mini-ramps appeared.

Which suddenly make the whole
thing much more accessible

and this very much
coincides with

the beginning of
the new boom.

When ollies started to happen,

that then changed everything,
you know?

Because it was, like,
doing things without using your hands.

You could just use your feet
to get off the ground,

whereas before you'd
grab the board and you'd hop,

you know, if you could find
any kind of kick,

you know, any kind of bank or
anything like that, you'd get air.

Then street skating, sort of,
blew up from there.

Street, for
me, was just absolutely magical,

because that really
blew it all wide-open,

that everybody could do it,
everywhere.

I think it became
a bit diverse, I think,

certainly geographically.

Still not gender-diverse,

it was still
largely male at that point.

Skateboarding is now
a part of the Olympics.

And we never ever thought
it would be.

I don't know how
it's gonna work,

you know, in terms of skating
for countries,

uniforms and all these things.

This is a whole weird world
that we've stepped into.

Some of the other
countries, they have pretty strict, like,

regimes as to what
the kids are doing

and how they're training

and how they're treated,
you know,

by their managers and stuff
at these events

which is, like,
quite a hard thing to see.

But you can see, like, how that would
happen in gymnastics or whatever.

It's
crazy that a lot of the teams

show up in uniforms already
at hotels and stuff like that.

You see them all fully rock up
with, like, Chile or USA

or something written on there.

Yeah, it's crazy.

You see a lot of team managers
that have, like,

flags with them
and stuff like this.

In those early days,

it was not
a healthy lifestyle thing.

And the competition aspect
of it,

I feel, although there were
lots of events and contests,

which were actually just more seen as
a way of focus, semi-social, almost,

you know, the notion that
somebody would actively train

or weight train or do
something of that type

didn't sit well
with that culture.

Like, not taking
care of your body was almost, like,

promoted to a skateboarder
for a long time.

Some of the lifestyles people
lead are definitely not...

don't have longevity to them,
you know?

A lot of the time when you
stood on top of a ramp,

even though you're having fun
with all your mates,

you're having some sort of internal
mental battle with yourself

about how to get yourself
to do a trick

that you haven't done before.

And it takes a long time
to be able to learn

how to zone your head out
completely.

I still can't do it every time,

it takes a lot for me
to be able to do it.

That's why I used to drink
and skate a lot,

because your brain turns off
when you drink.

So, I'm skating
and I've got more confidence

because I'm not
thinking as much,

but through not thinking,

I'm able to do stuff
I can't even do.

But then also, you're drunk,
so when it goes wrong,

you're not aware
that it's gone wrong,

so your reflexes aren't up,

so you'll just wipe yourself
on the floor

and won't protect yourself
properly,

so I had to stop doing that
as regularly.

I mean, we all know there's benefits
of, like, being healthy and fit.

Like, it doesn't matter
what part of life...

whatever you do, whatever sport
or just general day to day...

the healthier you are, the better off
you're gonna be, we all know that.

I think the thing with
skateboarding is that

we haven't ever
really trained on the side,

your skateboarding
is your training.

I don't know, for me, I couldn't just
be an athlete or something like that,

I need more in my life.

I actually have never really
taken my body seriously.

I eat pretty good,
and I'm quite into, like,

trying to stay healthy and
looking after my body, but really,

like, there's people that are,
like, athletes,

they're actually doing that
all the time, you know?

Like,
it's becoming very, very athletic,

the way people are doing
their tricks now.

Everyone's going
as high as they can,

as long as they can
on the grind,

and as fast as they can.

And jumping, like,
as far as they can on the gaps.

Yeah, it's becoming more taxing
on your body as a result of that.

All right, man.

They've not had people telling
them what they needed to do,

or having to be part of a club

or had to do
any of these things.

I'm also conscious that they're
adults, I don't want to...

I'm not gonna try and
call them every day

to make sure
everyone's all right.

It really is about everybody's
personal journey.

Whatever they want to achieve,
it's up to them.

I have a role where
sometimes you have to

try and make
those sort of things happen

and, like say, hopefully,

if I can add value
to their journey,

then they can help add
some value to mine.

Sometimes, you can feel
quite lonely in the role,

and that presents challenges.

We don't have much money,
that is the truth of it.

I personally feel
a sense of guilt,

even though maybe it shouldn't
come from me,

in a sense that I want to do
everything I can to help these guys,

and I don't mean
just to reach the Olympics,

but to have a good, positive
skateboarding experience along the road.

And that's difficult when you've
not got much to work with.

I wasn't quite sure what the best
way of supporting the team was

with not much resource.

It kind of comes back to trying
to be a good person,

and just caring about
the people you work with.

And if you do that well,
I think you earn their respect.

There's a new generation of
skateboarders

that may approach it slightly
different to the ones before.

Yeah,
Olympics has definitely changed, like,

how skateboarders are thinking
of themselves.

So now we actually have
these opportunities to...

to be called athletes.

It's the essential part.

The stretch!

Just, like, stretch your back
a little bit more.

Yeah, that's it, that's it,

I think that's it,
you've got it.

And that's why he's the TM.

You can stretch anywhere.

You can stretch at home,

you can stretch at
the skate park.

Stretch in the shower.

- Stretching's for everybody.
- Everybody.

I do want to keep
myself in the best shape I can

so I can be at my peak
when I'm skateboarding.

So, there's a lot of training.

But, as far as it goes
right now,

it's kind of just based on me
trying to eat a bit healthier,

go for runs every now and then.

I've never drank or done
any stuff like that anyway.

So, that stuff is not
a problem for me whatsoever.

The other skateboarders on
Instagram, you see, like,

their countries have
provided them with, like,

personal trainers
and things like that.

Right now, it's kind of just
all on me,

if I want to do that.

So, I am a street skateboarder.

I like all the technical
sort of skateboarding

with, like, the flip tricks,
and, like, the spins.

Stairs and rails
and things like that.

I like to try do tricks
that happen

almost as quick as possible,

like, I like to try and
give myself fast feet

so I can land
and do a trick

or do a trick into a trick and
do something else straightaway

and just kind of mess about
a bit like that, I suppose,

rather than, like,
the bowl skaters

where they'll do the high airs
and things like that,

which looks amazingly fun,

but I can't do any of
that stuff, really.

I've been skateboarding
since I was six years old,

so it's always been
a part of my life,

like, I don't really remember
anything before skateboarding.

Even, like, going to school,

everyone always knew
I was that skater kid.

It used to be a thing, like
finish school,

run home, quick time, get changed
and, like, straight out skating

to the Buszy,
meet all my friends there.

And we'd just be out for hours
every single day.

Growing up in Milton Keynes,
has definitely affected, like,

the way I skate because
my local place to skate

is ledges
and nothing but ledges.

So, not only do we have
the Buszy for that,

all of our street spots,
more ledges.

We have stairs, and, like,
handrails too, just not as many,

and some of them, like,
are a bit sketchy,

so they're not, like,
the best to learn at.

The guy who got me into
skateboarding,

his name's Lee Blackwell.

Ooh!

Little Alex,
as I still call him,

he'll always be little Alex,

I don't think he'll grow
anymore.

I first met him, we were on one
of the Eastpak Transition tours

with the Death guys.

And we stopped off in a place
called Milton Keynes.

In the city center
in Milton Keynes,

they had, like, a ramp set up,
like, a half-pipe.

Him and his dad, just so happens
they were walking through,

and I was trying to launch
out of the barrier,

do, like,
my attention-seeking bit,

and, out of the mini-ramp
over the barrier,

and they just walked past,

and I pretty much nearly killed
him, nearly squashed him.

And I just remember, like,
being six-year-old me was like,

"I wanna do that."

And Alex was so taken back by it
that him and his dad

decided to start following us
around the tour.

They met us at
some of the spots.

And we put him on the ramp,
got him on a board,

and that was it,
he just took off from there.

Alex hasn't put a board down
since,

he was the most quietest little
boy in the world as well,

you couldn't say anything
to him.

He was just... Yeah,
he was so timid.

And now he's just turned into,

not only an incredible
skateboarder,

but, just a great human being.
Like, he's a real cool kid.

Yeah, so, we have
some certificates

for when I did
Guinness World Record shows.

Alex is the youngest individual
to attempt a record

here on Guinness World Records
Smashed.

In three, two, one...

Go!

So the one on the left is the
most no comply flips in a minute,

which is, like, a trick I used
to do a lot when I was younger.

It's like, you flick the board
into your hand

and literally flip it with
your hand.

I got 56 in a minute, somehow.

Which I was pretty surprised
with myself.

Tonight, Alex, you did 56.

A new Guinness World Record.

The other two are
the most for...

the most kick flips
in 30 seconds,

and then the most kick flips
in a minute.

You know, they're just
super random things,

like, got an email, like, "Yo,
do you want to come be on our show again?

Come to China,
come to some place,"

I was like, "Let's do it."

So, I think, right now,
I'm ranked...

I think I'm 30th in the world.

But then there's also a thing
of each country

can have a maximum of
three people,

so say there's...

I don't know, say there's, like,

seven Americans above me
in the list,

only three of them
actually count.

So, on that list,
I think I'm 22nd or something like that,

so, I need to step it up
a little bit

and, hopefully, there's a good
chance of making it through.

Oh, yeah,
Jordan, where are we going?

Oh, we're going Brazil, baby.

Yeah! The boys in Brazil!

It was all very last minute.

We were all, kind of,
thrown in to the deep-end.

Not through anybody's fault,
that's just how it played out.

We've got the funding and we've
gone ahead and done what we can.

I really enjoy
traveling with Jordan and Alex.

And, actually,
this trip was the first time

I actually spent time with
Alex deCunha.

And he was super sound.

Everyone was super sound.

Everyone was grateful
to be there.

Smile, Jordan.

Hello, mate.

Nobody's skated it yet,
not a lick.

Checking the coping,
seems to be in order.

Go on, go on.

Top of the world, Jordan!

Come on, brah.

I think that,
from a lot of people I talk to,

they think, you must be going to
these Olympic qualification events,

they're probably not very much
like skateboarding.

And, actually,
it's not really the case.

Obviously, there's got to be
a certain level

of infrastructure and
process in place

because you're trying to get through
a lot of people in a competition.

There's sometimes over a hundred
people entering a competition.

They've got a lot of work
to do to make sure

that that can happen
over a small period of time.

But, the reality of it is,

is that it's still just
a bunch of skateboarders

at a skateboard event
going skateboarding.

Next up,
from Great Britain, run number two,

we got Sam Beckett.

You know,
I'm going to these events,

I want to be true to me,
but I also want to do my best.

I'm gonna take an international
plane ride across the world,

I'm not going just to,
like, waste it.

Adjusting to
the 45 seconds has been tricky.

For most of the qualifying events,
we've had two 45 second runs

and a minute and a half is not
very long to express yourself.

Your individuality
needs to be part of it,

'cause that is part of
skateboarding.

If you're just doing the
same thing as everybody else,

you lose your kind of
creative flair

and your own direction with it.

I wouldn't want Olympic
qualifying to do that to me.

From Great Britain,
Jordan Thackeray.

I always have,
like, an idea of what I want to do.

And then the moment my name
gets called out,

everything just
falls out of my head.

The majority of the people that
make it to the semis and the finals,

they can all do 540s but then it's
for an audience to watch that,

they're being desensitized
to, like, the harder shit,

just because
everyone's doing it.

It's more impressive to me
because I know what it entails,

but I'll do something that's
not even that hard,

but something that no one's
really seen before

and that will get me
a similar sort of mark

to something that's, like,
physically way more demanding.

The stuff I do,
it's more like precision sort of things,

so my foot needs to be in
the complete right position,

I need to, as I pop,
I need to flick the board right

to then catch it
with my other foot

and have my other foot ready
to land exactly how I want it.

There's a lot to think about.

In all honesty,
I don't think my style of skating

really fits into the format.

I don't necessarily think
I'm well adapted

to just doing loads and loads
of tricks and runs

to get better scores.

If I want to do better,

I should probably
switch that up.

To be honest, I don't know
what my chances are like.

If I do well in
the next few events,

then it's possible.
Anything's possible.

My first reaction to skateboarding
going into the Olympics

was like, "Oh, great,
here we go again,

it's another thing that skateboarding's
gonna sell out to and sell off to."

And I thought it was gonna be
a really bad thing.

The general consensus right now

is that the Olympics will have
quite a negative effect

on skateboarding as a whole.

I have my discrepancies
about it.

I think it's gonna struggle
with so many rules, regulations.

And also, there's gonna be
a lot more pressure.

It's not just about
the act of skateboarding.

Like, we all love going
skateboarding and doing it,

but it's so much more than that.

If we can find
a balance between

being included
in this Olympic world,

but also retain our integrity,

our culture,
our values, our beliefs.

There's just so many beautiful
things about skating that...

Yeah, normal people
wouldn't know,

like all the community stuff,
like, you know,

I can take my board to
any country in the world

and meet a skater
and we're best mates.

He'll show me his city
just like if he was...

I bumped into someone here,
and, you know,

it's like that kind of thing
that, you know,

when you find out about when
you're properly a part of it.

It's like a universal
understanding between each other,

that, like, you're a
skateboarder, I'm a skateboarder,

I've got your back and
you've got my back.

I am slightly worried about

this new generation of
skateboarders

being exposed to enough
skateboard culture.

Boxing Day, 1977, is the day
skateboarding died.

Nobody was buying skateboards
in the run-up to that,

it wasn't a Christmas present.

But as soon as it, sort of,
died out in the public eye,

and then it wasn't in
all those shops

and it wasn't, like, on TV

and it wasn't in
the newspapers anymore,

people just had this, like,
negative response to skateboarding.

It's the same old story.

People are always
scared of things

they don't really
understand or know.

There was this period which a lot
of us refer to as the Dark Ages,

there was no funding available
for the one thing

we believed we really needed,

which was places to skate.

The British skate scene,
at that point,

was very, sort of...

very gritty,
very sort of homemade,

very much cobbled together out
of everything that you could buy.

The passion was so strong

that we would do anything
to skate.

You know, like,
literally do anything.

The amount of times that we'd
set fire to the floor,

'cause we'd worked that one out,

like, this is the way
to dry out a skate park,

is to get some petrol
and sprinkle it everywhere

and set fire to it, literally,
it will burn all the water out.

So, we had all these
techniques,

but to the outside world,
it looked like chaos.

So, the Southbank
is located in, like,

the center of London,
by the Royal Festival Pier.

And somewhere in the '70s,
people discovered it.

'Cause, as skateboarders,
we're always looking for the perfect spot.

Do the five again.

And when you went to Southbank,
it had it all.

Because it's full of banks,

just like,
perfect angled banks,

super smooth,
'cause it's undercover.

For some reason,
they really started to

discourage us from
skating there.

And, a lot of the times,
you'd turn up on the Saturday,

and it's a sunny day,

and you'd turn up there,
and it'd be wet.

I think they worked out,
by watching us,

that, like, when it's wet,
it's not good for us to skate,

and we'd slip out and fall.

So, there's always been a sort of,
ongoing battle, really, us and them.

The punks and the skateboarders shared
the same kind of, like, you know,

animosity from the public.

As did people of color.

In terms of the public

and what the government thought
of all of these people.

We were all in the same group.

I remember, Waterloo Bridge
we'd get chased,

you'd have to be really careful
when you got off the bus

to get down into the skate area
because they were like,

"Oh, skateboarders," and they'd
start chasing you with bats.

With skateboarding at that time,
it was like do or die.

It was like, either you were gonna
dedicate your life to skateboarding

and deal with all the stick
that you get from everyone,

or you're gonna give into it
and stop skating.

And you're pressured,
because everyone's like,

"You should be
playing football,"

you know, you should be doing
all these other sports

that they understand,
and it's like,

you have to really decide
for yourself what you wanna do.

Yeah,
beautiful day, you could actually

take your clothes off
and sunbathe

if you wanted to.

It's that warm.

We're close to the sun,
aren't we?

This is my first time on
the mountain.

- Is it?
- No.

Beautiful, we've done
a bit of snowboarding.

Jordan has learned to snowboard,
which is awesome.

Picked it up pretty quick,
a few slams along the way.

Skateboarding event,
not snowboarding event.

Don't be fooled.

Air is a bit thin. We just did,
uh, 700 push-ups.

Just a bit of altitude training.

I literally just ran up to
the top of the mountain

and then kind of
skipped back down.

Yeah, just altitude training.

You can tell a lot by...
about, like,

conditions of forests
and conditions of mountains

and air conditions by
different lichens that grow.

This fungi is growing nicely
on this rock.

And there's usually two parts.

And they, uh...

Snowball.

When they reproduce,
they reproduce...

they don't reproduce
more lichens,

they reproduce fungi
and algae.

Get him!

So, uh, you know,

then they have to
find each other out and then...

form something else...

Basically.

We are in the middle of
the Swiss Alps.

But, yeah, the format's
really good, team contest,

it's a bit more social,
it's a bit more, uh...

a bit more, I dunno,

just fun, I guess.
Not so serious.

This is definitely kind of
an adult contest, shall we say.

There's a fair bit of drinking
and a fair bit of camaraderie.

Hello.

I mean, this thing is
just about getting everyone together

and the team thing is meant to,
like, take some pressure off

it being a contest type thing,

and it's much more about
being with your friends,

having fun, doing stuff
together.

The Lovenskate crew
got a fancy apartment.

Our friend Skinny had
a fight with the lamp

that was hanging a bit too low
for his liking.

So...

I don't know. People just get
drunk, don't they, and...

piss on each other
and that kind of weird stuff.

He literally picked up
Nico's board

and fucking threw it at
the window with aggression.

And then he was like,
"Do you think it'll smash?"

I think we've confirmed
that it will not.

See, that's why
I'm in that hotel, 'cause...

my team's loose.

They throw boards at windows.

Uh, yeah, I'm gonna actually
go and skate.

LAAX, are you ready

for Lovenskate?

Skateboarding's
heavily psychological.

Makes me anxious,
though, skating in front of people,

you know,
like when it's time to rip.

I think for
me, it's more the microphone.

Soon as your hear someone say your
name on the microphone, like, "uh!"

You know, the crowd wants
to watch people going nuts and showing off.

Weird situation,
because you're, like,

you wouldn't skate like that,

you know, if you were
just having a session.

I think it's
'cause if you go to a skate park

and start showing off instantly,

it's gonna bum out the people
that are around

that aren't the same ability
as you.

Like,
I've definitely had sessions with people

where you're really
vibing on it,

and then you have sessions
with people

when they're trying to
show you something

and you're, like,
couldn't care less, you know?

And there's a difference between
sharing a session with someone

or making them watch you do
your shit.

You've got to kill it
without showing that you're killing it.

Judging skateboarding is, um...

is pretty hard,

because it's a personal thing.

'Cause skateboarding
is for everybody different.

So, I like more the funny
tricks, you know, like,

I'd say more playing around
and original things.

Maybe other guys more like,

"Yeah, I like these
big, high airs."

Alex, Alex, Alex!

It was super
quick, caught me off guard.

I knew instantly that
I'd done something.

Like, I just felt it snap,
you know?

Uh, came home, had, like,
two days chilling at home

and I was, like, I'm 100% sure
something's broken,

'cause I was, like,
playing with my leg

and it was, like, crunching,
you know? So...

That was the color of my foot.

Pretty impressive color.

Went to hospital, got an X-ray,
obvious fracture in my fibula,

and I'd torn some ligaments.

Got my MRI checked out
and then they were like,

yeah, you definitely need
surgery,

had surgery the next day.

I was in a boot for,
like, five, six weeks.

So, we're here at Bath
University in the Sports Village.

The EIS, has got a center here,
English Institute of Sport.

I just got out of the boot
last week

and Skateboard GB have
kind of, like, helped me out

with getting in with these guys

to rehab from this injury
that I've had.

I mean, this is a completely new
thing for me as a skateboarder.

And for, I think,
with Skateboard GB,

they want to, um...

give us the opportunity,
you know, to get...

to get healthy and learn,
you know,

and to recover from an injury,

so although, like,
it was a bad time to have an injury...

terrible timing, um...

Like, this whole process has been
a really interesting learning curve

and I think, for them, it's been
important too, to, kind of, like,

make these connections with, like,
these kind of things that aren't...

we don't normally associate
skateboarding with.

It's so much easier when you've got
a little distance to go to, like,

have the crutches, you know?

Like, I can go pretty fast
on these things.

Um...

But, yeah, like,
my walking speed is...

is pretty slow,
you what I mean?

Makes you, um...

think about your steps,
you know,

like, there's a mindful... ness
required

like, just to walk,
which is quite nice.

I mean, it's...

it's not nice, but I'm seeing
the positive side to it.

I've been sitting around for
two months over Christmas,

and I'm kind of like, "Shit, there's
a lot of work to do if you wanna be...

healthy, or, you know,
an athlete or whatever.

I don't know.
There's a lot to be done.

And I think, like, seeing these
people working at this kind of level

makes me realize, like,

you know, how much
you can be doing

as opposed to, like...

how much I have been doing,
maybe. I don't know.

They've been really helpful
and friendly.

Which isn't always, like,
the kind of treatment

that you get as
a skateboarder.

Yeah, obviously,
we wouldn't be getting

this kind of help and treatment

if we weren't trying to qualify
for the Olympics.

The last year and a half,
I was chatting about it before,

have been, like,
really difficult for me,

like injuries and
personal stuff.

Just been focusing on my, like,
mental health and wellbeing

and fitness and stuff,
and it's been really positive.

Here we go.
How's it going?

Yeah, it's like a big
playground, I guess.

Yeah, we just started
setting up this space

as a place to do whatever creative
thing it is that I want to do.

When I'm not skating or when the
weather's not good or whatever,

it's quite hard to have
a bit of a purpose,

so it's nice to have,
like, a space.

There's a bunch of different stuff
that I can, like, do at home,

you know, I'm, like, working on
range of motion stuff.

Like, I can pretty much do it
anywhere, like, I've got, like...

'cause I don't have much
range of motion in my ankles,

so it's just, like,
increasing that motion.

I've basically got this list of
things that I've got to do.

Some of them are pretty
like, basic,

so I've just got to do them
throughout the day,

like standing on one leg.

'Cause, like, I've got no muscle,
like, control firing in my leg,

so, I'm like...

Just standing on one leg is
quite difficult at the minute.

Everyone's injured.
Like, that's just how it is.

Being a skateboarder,
you subject yourself to

living with pain for,
pretty much, forever.

Over the years, I've managed
to fracture my wrists and...

like, my knee went really weird
this year,

like, it just stopped working
and took months and months

to put the strength back on it
to be able to pump again.

My hips are pretty bust,
actually,

I've got, like,
these horrible lumps everywhere now,

where I've, like,
repeatedly hit the...

the flesh until it's, like,

turned into a swollen ball
that's gone solid.

And because of that,
I've got, like,

bone fragments missing
in my hips,

that's what they said
when they X-rayed me.

A lot of skaters end up
changing their tricks

based around how
injured they are.

People are skating in completely
different ways to the ways they did

just simply because they can't
afford to slam in that way

by trying those sorts of tricks,

so they learn different stuff that
doesn't put them in the same danger.

Still puts them in danger
though,

so eventually they get wrecked
and have to change it again.

There's not really ever been,
like...

thought of as necessary for skaters
to be given medical care and stuff

by their sponsors,
that's not normally a requirement.

Well, in anything
I've experienced, anyway.

Skateboarding
is getting into the Olympics,

and we don't necessarily know
what it is

that we're getting into,
you know?

It's all new for
everyone involved.

It'll be interesting to know,
like,

who is benefiting from it?

Like, who's making the money off
skating being in the Olympics?

'Cause there's all kinds of
people coming into skating

that weren't there
a few years ago.

I've not
thought too much about it.

Not that I don't care, but...

it just is, isn't it?

Where does the money come from?

Where does it go?
I don't see any of it.

Skaters are completely
replaceable

in this industry, as well.

It's, like, if you don't want
to jump down that thing,

or you don't want to do,
like, kill yourself

trying to do something,

some kid will do it for free.

Like, some kid will do it for
some shoes, you know?

If you're not skating
to your 100% ability,

you know some little kid
down the street

is gonna be, like,
chasing your tails behind you,

wanting that sponsor, wanting the
money, and wanting that pressure.

It changes over time,
for sure, like what people expect of you,

and especially if you're getting
paid more money by someone,

then they expect certain things
from you.

All of that stuff comes
internally, I think.

You know, it's very rare
that there's some guy

at one of your sponsors, like,
your team manager's, like,

"You're just not doing enough,
you're just not, like...

we haven't had enough pictures
of you."

Like, yeah, it happens.

But now you've got these big brands
involved, it all becomes very political,

and becomes really serious,
and it's like, wait a minute,

we're talking about the act
of riding a skateboard,

there's no agency that
represents skateboarders,

in terms of dealing with contracts
from massive corporations.

We don't want this
added pressure, you know?

But it feels like
getting sponsored now

is quite a lot of pressure.

Um, but, yeah, many brands
have come and gone, you know,

and got involved with
skateboarding and then got out.

And then in the Dark Ages,

skateboarding was so uncool,
it was unreal.

It was the definition of
something that went out.

If you somebody wearing Vans,
you looked up

and knew that you would...
Expected to recognize the face,

because they were into skating,
nobody else was.

The re-emergence of
skateboarding

was beginning before
Back to the Future.

It gets popular, you know,
all the waves,

you know, every single wave,
it's always the same.

It gets popular and then
certain other brands

outside of skateboarding,

that don't understand it,
try and get involved in it.

Try to make a bit of money,
you know?

Like, the resurgence of like
Puma States, for instance,

and Adidas Gazelles,

it was because of
skateboarders.

They cost nothing. That was why we
bought them, because they were cheap.

And then the brand saw, like,
how everyone was wearing them.

And then they were like, "Oh,
let's sponsor some skaters."

Then Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
is going around

and it's blowing up the spot,

and everybody's looking
at skateboarding again,

and then X-Games started,

and then that blew up
the spot as well.

The whole skate look and all
this stuff became very cool.

We've always been doing this.

Like, you know, we're here,
we're the skaters.

You know, the ones that you
spat on when we were skating,

you know, the ones that you chased,
the ones that you'd swear at.

The ones that you'd
call the police on.

You know what I mean,
the ones you'd try and beat up on.

We're the same people,
you know, but now, it's like,

"Oh, skateboarding's cool."

The idea of being a pro skater
seems wicked, you know?

You get to skate all your life
and you get paid,

and that's cool.

But then, that's not...

realistically what it is,
it's like, you get paid because

the company can market you
to other people.

Like, realistically,
skaters that are sponsored,

they just advertise
for a company.

Like, the skate industry
is a cool game,

you know,
it's about who's cool,

who do people
want to be like,

who can companies
parcel up their image

and sell it to younger people?

You can be a really good skateboarder
and win lots of competitions,

or make the best video parts,

but it's, like, if people don't
wanna be like that person,

then it doesn't really work,
you know, for companies.

I think that has been
one of the hardest things

for me to come to terms with
in skating, is that, like,

uh...

I guess, like...

Maybe it's this thing
that I've created in my head.

But, it does feel like
I'm not someone that, uh...

is cool, necessarily.

Like, I'm not someone
that is, like...

maybe setting trends
or anything like that, I just...

spent a lot of time skating,
you know?

I've definitely
had some anxieties of, like,

whether I'm still relevant
or good enough to do this stuff.

When skateboarding consumes you,

or, like, is such
a big part of your life,

it's kind of hard to realize that
there's more to life than skateboarding.

And that there are certain things
that don't necessarily get into,

when you're not in one place
for long enough,

like building up a community
or relationships

and that kind of stuff
that comes in too,

and I think, realistically,
like,

if you're gonna do this
sponsored skating thing,

it's at the time when
you would have been

going to university and
finishing school

and that stuff, so that stuff
kind of goes out the window.

The option is either you, like,

kill it so hard that you're
set for life from skating,

which is, like,
not a good option,

'cause skating doesn't owe you
anything,

I think people really
have to realize that.

Skateboarding isn't everything,
and one day,

you might actually end up on
the back end of skateboarding.

You might just end up
skateboarding for fun.

And you've got to realize
after that,

if you don't make it as big as
what you expect to in the world,

you might have to take up
a normal job.

Face, like, everyday life,
like normal people.

Not just, like,
skateboarders, but young men in general,

like, I know people know...

Yeah, there is an awareness
that young men have, like, a...

uh, particularly,
have a hard time.

Yeah, I guess the pressures aren't
just there in skateboarding either.

I think they're there in, like,
a lot of the more extreme sports

as they're now calling them.

Obviously, we've recently lost
one of the best skateboarders,

as far as I'm concerned,

and who was like
a little brother for me,

and a son and a brother
to many others.

It was weird,
'cause I don't think

either of us were
particularly, like,

felt, like, very solid
at that time.

Meet up in the morning, just, like,
go to Wetherspoons for breakfast,

like, a cheap breakfast.

I could definitely feel
what he was feeling, you know,

like, I heard him say it
multiple times.

He was just like,

"I wish I had a...
just a regular job.

'Cause all my mates that work,

they seem to really enjoy,
like, skating."

He sort of felt like being
a sponsored skateboarder

had taken certain things
away from him,

like, just the ability to have,
like, a girlfriend or something,

or, like, that kind of stuff,

because it's really hard for
a lot of people

to deal with a relationship
that the person's, like,

away every other week.

Depends who you've got
around you as well, doesn't it?

Like, if you're... you know,
for me, I'm in my hometown now,

and I've got all my friends
and lovely people around,

but, you know, when you've
moved to London

or something like that
and you're... you know,

you might not have people around
that you can really talk to,

'cause you don't know them
that well.

I realized that, like,

the people that mean
the most to you,

just to see them
twice a year is, like,

for brief interactions,
isn't really...

You know, there's something
missing there.

This is the first, like,
solid place

I've had to live in
a really long time.

I think in the back of
your mind,

you just think
everything's all right.

You don't think of things
like that at all.

Like, we're just going
skateboarding,

everything's cool,
everything's good.

All right,
we have our bad days and...

Where you can't skate
and you might go home

and that's it,
you leave it at that.

But, uh, we just don't
communicate in that sort of sense.

As much as we're close
as skateboarders,

that's it, we're close
as skateboarders.

We don't really talk about
each other's lives

outside of that
and everything,

you just don't think to.

You know, I think that's where
it needs to change,

we need to look in on
each other more.

Yeah, it's hard for anyone to
tell someone...

how to live their life, though,
isn't it?

It's, like, you have to kind of
realize these things for yourself,

otherwise, you know, you're
not gonna respond to someone

ordering you to do
something different or...

But, yeah, you have to be open
yourself as well, isn't it?

I think, with skateboarding
being in the Olympics now,

if they're gonna make it
so mainstream,

and I think this goes for a lot
of skateboard brands now as well,

you need to start looking
at your skateboarders...

off of the board,
not just on the board.

You need to start
looking after them.

Seeing how they are, calling up,
you know, "How are you?

How's your day going?"
and everything like that.

Just check in. Make sure that
they're in a mentally stable place.

Because if they're not, like,
we've seen over the years,

we're losing good skateboarders.

Um, and I think all of that
sort of thing can be avoided.

If we just... Yeah.
We've just gotta talk to each other.

As our
breaking story this evening,

a third person has tested positive
in the UK for corona virus.

Experts
say they are now not optimistic

that the virus
can be contained.

The
number people who have died

now stands at almost 4,000.

From
tonight, you can go outside

for only one form
of exercise a day.

All gatherings of more than
two people are banned.

In light
of the ongoing pandemic,

the IOC has announced the postponement
of the 2020 Olympic Games.

The
government's advice is clear:

you must stay at home.

The camera on there,
is it good quality?

It doesn't look that great.

Let me just make a cup of tea.

Fucking virus stuff,
yeah, it's really strange.

When the virus thing started,
I, uh,

I moved to Flo, spent my time
at the park,

living on my own,
which has been very strange as well.

You know, I've lived in house shares
with friends and all that jazz

and never ever lived, like,
fully on my own.

Yeah, me and Chloe have kind of
stopped seeing each other for a bit.

We're still mates,
but it's like,

yeah, we're giving each other
some space, but...

Uh, it's all so much happened.

Like, the days before lockdown,
it was mad.

Yeah, I moved into my mate
Nick's house,

and at this point, like,
I was pretty fucking depressed.

I'd been like, you know,
didn't have my home,

I didn't have, you know,
I wasn't with Chloe.

Fucking half eight, I wake up
and I'm just instantly crying.

Like, fucking tripping.

Brush the tears off, right,
let's go to

the fucking gnarly spot
to shoot a photo.

Can you see it at all?

It's like a fucking
Victorian lock on a canal.

Sorry, I should stop swearing.

Crazy place. Anyway, I'm at the
top, I'm looking down, I'm like,

"Right, okay, fuckin'...
it's gonna be gnarly,

but you can... you've got this,
no problem.

Just don't hit the little
fucking thing at the bottom

that's tie... that you tie
the bloody boats to."

Pretty focused, I'm on it.

Sort of channeling
all this fucking sorrow.

So, anyway, hit the thing,
fly through the air, bounce,

I'm falling into the lock,

so I basically...
I nearly fucking die...

horrendously bad,

and I'm just like,
adrenaline's on a mad high,

and then I, sort of, like, start
realizing my hand's absolutely fucked,

like, covered in blood,
cut up everywhere.

I'm kind of losing it a bit
after that,

like, for the next, sort of,
15 minutes

I'm lying around at the lock
just fucking in pain,

sort of trying to refocus
and think about,

yeah, if it's worth it,
kind of losing it,

and, basically, I don't think
I'm gonna do it,

it's fuckin'... you know,
I'm destroyed.

So, then, uh...

then, a fucking boat ends up
pulling into the lock,

if I'm gonna do it,
it's now or never,

like, it has to be now,
'cause, yeah, it's do or die.

And, yeah, I fuckin' just pull it
in, and ride it out and survive.

They showed me the footage
and then I just burst into tears

at the side of the canal
for an hour.

Unfortunately, what's happened
is that Covid's come around

and it's affected skateboarding

the same way as it's
affected everyone.

I suppose, once everything
started to be canceled,

there was a lot of discussion
on whether Tokyo would happen.

And then, yeah, looking out for the
guys, working out for the team,

where... where they
might go next.

So, pretty much every skate
event for the year has been canceled.

'Cause I was still recovering
from my ankle surgery,

it was exactly what I needed.

I guess I was worried about
a lot of peoples' mental health.

There's a lot of people
out there

that are spending
a lot more time by themselves

than they're used to.

One of my favorite parts about
living in the van

has to be
the bed situation.

Because I'm currently parked
facing the, uh...

facing the east, yeah,
of course, it's the east.

I'm currently parked
facing the east,

the sun rises
directly behind me.

And, yeah, it's beautiful.

Some nights, I sleep with the doors
open and get woken by the sun,

and just... Yeah, it's just lovely
chillin' in here with the doors open,

and, yeah, it's amazing, yeah.

Get to go to sleep with
the stars

and, yeah, it's pretty, uh...
pretty surreal sometimes.

The kind of design feature
that I was most proud of

being able to move the bed
all the way into a sofa,

a single bed all the way to
here, and be a double,

and then, just means
in the daytime,

I've got all this space
to run around, I can...

If it's raining I can do yoga.

You do worry that it's all gonna
burn to the ground.

Then you'll have nothing.

Bedroom, living room, kitchen.

In a small space.

Where are my teabags?
Ah, there.

Having one arm is annoying.

It's just so easy
living in a space like this.

You just don't have to worry
about anything.

Yeah.

In a general sense, it's been
a roller coaster of emotions.

Yeah, I was very excited at
the idea of

living on the road
and stuff like that.

My hand was forced a little bit,

but, yeah, it has been
incredible.

When the lockdown started, um,
the park needed looking after

and, yeah, I just thought that,
you know,

it was safe place to park my van
on private land,

I wouldn't get hassled
from the police.

I do love this place,
and I figured

while I'm not doing
anything else,

it'd be nice to put some time in here.
It has been very nice.

But when you're locked down
trying to go through...

all this other shit,

just relationships
and house troubles, and...

yeah, the whole world stopping,
and...

A bit too much to handle.

- Morning.
- Hello.

Here you go, mate.

Nice knife. Ooh, Minirig.

Minirig, bro. Should we get
some tunes on?

That's the wrong hand for that.

Um, yeah, there's
still lots of stuff to do.

Still got to tile around the,
uh... round the hob there.

Fix the little holes
and have a...

There's another bench that goes
along the back wall there

where all the shoes are.

And that's... I'm currently
building a toilet in that.

A compost toilet.

So, might sound a bit gross,

but there's no smell with them
in there.

Yeah, they're really,
really good.

Why everybody is not composting
their feces, I do not know,

because, yeah, we wouldn't
need fertilizer, you know,

chemical fertilizers anymore.

There's definitely enough shit
to go around.

Am I right, Beckett?

No opinion.

I think it's amazing
that Alex has got his place.

Like, he lives here and
he works here and stuff.

But then I was kind of
thinking,

he did just spend
two months here by himself.

Skating's not that much fun if you
can't share it with other people, so...

probably wasn't as idyllic
as it seemed.

I have some lovely friends

who are prepared to help me
with my emotions.

Yeah, he's all
right, I'd say I'd put him up there.

Top, uh... yeah, top friend of
the month, for sure.

Friend of the month?

No, I'm joking.

No, yeah, he's a good mate.

Comrade in arms.

With the
whole deal with the Olympics,

everything became
a lot more relaxed

and you could just skate
because you wanted to,

there was nothing to gain from anything
you were doing other than, like,

the feeling of landing it,
or, like, just doing it.

Hanging out with your mates.

And it made me realize how much
stress it puts on your mind.

It is definitely not as relaxed
as I was trying to make it.

Even though I, like,
convinced myself that there's no pressure

and I don't care about
really what happens.

Don't even care
if I do well or not.

You still have, like,
a pressure underneath.

I've talked about it
with Jordan, it's, like, this summer

skateboarding's been more for me
than it ever has been.

I haven't had to
go to events, or...

There's been a lot less pressure
to do certain things.

The motivation is just the fact that
it's completely, like... my thing.

I think going back to how it
feels when you're a child,

and you're just skating
just to do it,

just to, like, connect with
the activity of just doing it.

And I realize that there's only
the moment that you're doing it

that really is important.

Skating just seems to be

the thing that makes me feel
most alive, I guess.

It's a good internal battle
with yourself.

Oh, skateboarding clothes.

I've been filming
for the next Lovenskate video,

and we also spent
a month filming

a homage to
Cheese & Crackers,

called Tea and Biscuits.

Over decade later,
and they are still paying homage

to Cheese & Crackers.

That's how heavy that shit was.

Two of the lightest item snacks

carry that much weight
for this long

that they're still trying
to compete with it.

Jordan Thackeray made a mockery
of that closet to Narnia ramp

that they have in
the middle of somewhere.

I don't know if there's
LSD in that tea, boy,

but these boys' brains is open.
I love it.

That was, uh...
that was an adventure.

We were... Jordan stayed
at my house for a month,

and we, uh...

Yeah, we came
and did night shifts

in this very bowl
that I'm sat in now.

Yeah, it all worked out
really well, actually.

It starts off with
a little intro

and there's a portal through
into the magic world of

mini-ramp skating,
you know?

Yeah, when times get hard,

skateboarding is a great escape.

I just, uh, definitely use it
to switch off, sometimes,

from the rest of the world.

So, you're
completely, like, in that one moment.

And it's, like, not something
that many things bring out of you.

That sort of ability,
to be away from reality completely,

'cause you're so focused on what
you're doing in the present time.

It was intense, you know,

night shifts, working at
the shop in the day,

and then going home for dinner

and then coming straight here
till three in the morning.

Yeah, every night,
we'd go to Flo at about ten o'clock,

and set up the little world
that we made.

It was grueling,
the cold, you know?

It's like a refrigerator
in here in the winter,

so, you know, having, uh...

having Jordan live at
my house for a month...

pretty intense,
probably didn't help

my relationship with Chloe,
either.

Yeah, it's good.
I like that fact that

it's got cooler and
everyone's stoked on that now.

And, uh, it's nice to see
the progress with it.

But yeah, there's definitely something
to be said about the connection you have

when you're like, well,
back when I was a kid anyway,

with, like, the other people
that did skate,

'cause it was just such
a rare, special thing.

Oh, hello, darling.

I'm good, man, nice to see you.

I just walked past your house,
I was like,

"This is where I used to fucking..."

Nah, I didn't say hello.
Just talked shit about...

Georgia, Jordan.

- Hi, lovely to meet you.
- Hiya.

She is excited,
she's heard all about you.

I'll come over for a tea, probably,
later on, or something, if you want.

- It'd be fucking lovely to say hello.
- Pop over.

Later, bro. Take care.

- Good to see you.
- Yeah, you too.

- Take care, guys.
- Lovely to see you as well.

Have a good one.

That's my mate Callum.

We used to walk to school
together, like, every day

or scooter slash skateboard
and all that shit.

But, yeah, he'd always let me
keep my board in his house

when I wasn't allowed to skate
by Mum.

My mum was just worried for my
health and safety, really, I think.

Didn't want me getting
influenced by, like, drugs and,

like, just the bad stigma that
came with skating

when I was a kid,
it wasn't cool.

Like, everything
that I've done over my life

that's been kind of
reckless with my body,

I've been like, I know this is
bad, but I'm gonna, like,

wait until later on
to experience the consequences

and it doesn't matter
'cause I'm having fun.

That's all decided to come
and bite me in the ass

all at the same time,
in the same period of time.

Which is weird, but, like, I didn't
realize that that was how it went.

But apparently,
that's how it goes for me.

So, yeah, this year,
I've had to deal with

a lot of different shit going on

that's not really
as fun as it was.

And it's funny how
it can just suddenly switch.

And you're like, "Oh,
gotta fuckin' deal with this now.

Shit. Probably should have
chilled out on that thing

that my friends told me to
chill out on."

So, they pulled five of these
calcified pearls out of my hip,

that was this one here,

that's the bit that they
pulled it out of.

And then this bit here,
they sliced it open

and they... they got rid of
some scar tissue

and they punched tiny little
holes in the actual muscle

that runs from your ass
round there,

down to your leg to
release the pressure

that was caused by them.

So, basically, it's your body
saying, like, "Stop, I need a break."

I've got to do
a lot of exercise,

I've got like, fuckin', 18 exercises
I've got to do, more or less every day.

And as you can see,
today I have done none of them.

And then a couple of them
are stretches.

I have to do this weird crab
walk as well,

which I'm not gonna show you.

The sponsors have been a big
help with getting me fixed,

I literally wouldn't have been
able to do it without them.

Welcome!

This is my little house.

My humble little house.

Morning, Chloe.

Oh, it's such a beautiful day,
we're so lucky.

Yeah, there it is.

Three mugs.

In the last week, maybe,

we've smashed, oh,
loads of mugs.

Loads of plates.

That can't be binned.

We should pull the curtain
for dramatic effect right now.

This is our separation barrier.

This stops us from fighting.

It is chilly.

Are you gonna hold my hand?

Hold my hand.

Yeah, we spent a lot of time
together this year.

This like the most, yeah.

The most time ever.

Yeah, it's been nice.

And there's definitely no looking
back at the moment, is there?

Yeah, lots of new adventures.

It's kind of like getting
to know each other again,

getting to know how to
live together again.

Yeah, true. Yeah, that's definitely
a good way of looking at it.

So much time for each other.

I cuddle too tight.

I don't normally get
to see the seasons, to be honest,

like, when I'm traveling
or away.

I just found these little,
like, little waxcaps,

orange waxcaps of sorts.

But, like, in this zone,
I dunno, there's just...

the forest floor's like
covered in mushrooms,

everywhere you go, like,
there's fungi,

there's tiny little guys,
like just down here.

And then...

It's kind of like, I don't know,
the more you, like...

stop and look around, like...

it's mind-blowing how much
stuff there is.

But, you know, they're like...

they're just like
tiny little fungi,

breaking down, like...

breaking down all the leaf
litter and twigs that fall

and, yeah, so it, like,
rots everything down

and then you have, like,
a really fertile topsoil.

Little signs in nature to what's
going on and it's like a little puzzle

to piece together
what's happening

and the more you look at stuff,

you realize the more there is
to look at.

And I kind of like that,
you know,

you've been walking around,
I don't know,

in forests and out in
the countryside forever

and just then you realize, like,

under your feet, like,
everything's happening.

The more you learn, like,
you realize there's so much to learn

and you can, like, spend your
whole life learning about stuff,

and I would like to,
you know?

Especially after being injured,

the act of skating has become,
like, richer to me.

Like, when I'm doing it,
it means a lot more to me.

Skateboarding has given me
everything,

and it has given me the opportunity
to become who I am, you know?

And I'm grateful for that.

It's such a positive thing.

It's fun, it's there for you
and your friends,

like, keep it like that.

Just go out and skate and
that's enough, you know?

Whoa.

Check this place out.

This shot that you get
at living, or whatever,

it's, like, the most important
thing wherever that kind of leads

might not be the same
as where I've come from,

but I think, like,
I'm just following

what's gonna be
enjoyable for me.

Life's an adventure and
it feels good to just be out.

I think
skateboarding's in good hands

because the core
is still very much involved.

No matter what happens

with the Olympics
and all that sort of stuff,

the underground of
skateboarding,

that's still gonna be
the same.

I wouldn't
even say it divides people

because once you're
actually skating,

everyone has their different
lifestyles,

but if you're at the skate park,
everyone's together, just skating.

People just don't like
change and people are always afraid

that something's gonna be
taken away from them.

I don't think anyone's taking
skating away from anyone, you know?

We are pretty fluid,
you know, and things do change

and, like, we've all got
our own version of it.

It's fine, like, as long as
you get to pass that on,

or show other people that,
or share it with other people.

What we've seen is

a huge rise in participation
in skateboarding,

with a huge part of that
being girls.

The wave of popularity
this time round

could differ from before,

it could, potentially,
be more sustainable.

I think we've got
more facilities,

we've got more infrastructure.

There is more accessibility
for kids now.

Some of those stereotypes around
skateboarding that were there before,

with those barriers coming down
a little bit.

Oh, thank God
you've got a helmet on!

If you agree
with the Olympics or not,

I don't think it's gonna really
affect your day-to-day.

You're the guy skating
the curb down the road,

that's not gonna affect you.

We're trying to do more
than just go to the Olympics.

This is about inspiring people
to go skateboarding

or to maybe find something that they
didn't have or know about before.

The opportunity to be able
to pick something up,

a bit of wood and leave your
house and basically go and explore

wherever you're gonna go
and skate, is incredible.

Well, there you go, man.