The REAL Difference Between Pro and Amateur Skaters

what is actually the main difference between pros and AMS and why does it seem like sometimes amateur skateboarders are actually better than pro skateboarders well it's not like I would prepare a PowerPoint demonstration talking about the three factors that make Pros different from amateurs except that I did strength airplane above us let us wait let's start with strength and let's talk about the most successful company in skateboarding right now Primitive Skateboarding now if we look at their lineup most of the Riders on the team are actually pros and I think the reason for this is because Paul Rodriguez sponsors people who he believes are the best people out at the moment people who can shine people who can actually take care of themselves AKA have big social media followings but are also good and that's the reason they have big social media followings but if we scroll down a little bit we see that the AMS are kenosuke Dylan Felipe Mota now all three of these skateboarders are actually super popular as well but what's the difference how come these three aren't in the lineup well if we look at strength first I think think this is a good place to start let's compare Felipe Mota to Thiago lamos which is completely unfair comparing anyone to Thiago but if you watch them skateboarding on the screen right now Thiago is able to pop his tricks super high over anything but also able to skate handrails in a way that I think Felipe can Felipe's strength is doing really technical handrail tricks but he doesn't really need to get very high to do them he can actually pop out to them so he can front hurricane Hollywood 16 but he doesn't really need to go up very high so strength alone isn't really necessary to do all these big banger tricks that Felipe mote can do it feels like I'm saying his name wrong every time Felipe Mota mata mata sounds better again what's the difference between the AMS and the pros the main difference is their age so as they grow they're going to be able to do these tricks much higher and better they're going to develop the strength and Felipe might not only be skating down big handrails or down big stair sets but he'll be able to skate on taller Ledges and obstacles that require a lot more strength and maybe more unique obstacles that don't have the smoothness of a skate park because I that's what I think a lot of kids are really used to now which is totally okay because he can skate these contests he can make money he can build a good career Street skateboarding as cool as it is unfortunately doesn't set as much of a precedence in skateboarding as contests do now let's look at number two bag of tricks now ironically I was gonna say let's look at kinosuke versus someone like Trent McClung but that's also kind of unfair because kinosuke has an insanely deep bag of tricks but I think with someone like Trent McClung he is able to skate more of a variety and I think if they both went to any kind of obstacle like a handrail a tinster handrail or a flat ledge or a flat rail Tremonton klong just has a deeper bag of tricks and he also has so many tricks that he can Compound on those tricks so if he has 50 tricks he can do on the flat ledge easily he can turn them into other tricks like Trent McClung did a switch big spin switch back tail switch heel for bow that is unheard of even a switch big spin back tail is a pretty unique trick a Switchback tail switch heel unique trick and he was able to combine the two on a Ledge that's fairly tall and this is where the strength comes in as well because if kinosuke was able to do this trick it probably wouldn't be on a Ledge This Tall yet so he needs the strength and he needs the deeper bag of tricks to be able to get where Trent McClung is but I know you're probably thinking and comparing even the pros on primitive when you're looking at the lineup and you think well what about Frankie vallani JB Gillett Robert Neal Wade disarmo Robert Neal has way more pop than the rest of them which may seem like he has more strength overall and I think there's truth to that you just have to think of the other three elements as well and what in my opinion by far is the most important element which is time sponsored the amount of time that you've been sponsored the amount of time that you've been able to build trust with companies they need to know that you can stick around that you're are dependable and basically being an amateur skateboarder is a trial process honestly even being flow for a company there's a lot of trust that goes into putting a kid in the van and seeing what they're made of that's actually the hardest part is to actually get in the van but you still have to keep it up you have to keep skating you have to get along with everyone and then you go am and then you just keep doing what you're doing at that point that's what p-rod said he said as long as these amateurs just keep doing what they're doing they're going to go pro that's always how it goes a lot of these skaters on this Pro list right now started off as amateurs for primitive look at them now and that's why I wanted to jump on the last one which is time sponsored if you look at someone like Dylan Jeb he may not have the power of someone like Robert Neal I don't think anyone in the world could do a nollie front heel as high as he does but Dylan does have an insane bag of tricks it goes really really really deep but a lot of times a deep bag of tricks at skate parks doesn't transfer to the streets just yet so you actually need a much deeper bag of tricks than you might think to be able to apply it to the streets so if someone like Dylan in a skate park does a switch flip nose manual fakie trade flip out and then in the streets he does a switch slip nose manual fakie flip it's an easier version in the streets and I think a lot of people make the mistake where they think that they can do the easier thing in the streets and use it in a video part but a video part is supposed to be the more impressive part so you got to do better tricks in the streets than you even do in the skate park for people to be shocked by it but that's only if you really care about video Parts which I think primitive does so I actually do think that plays a crucial role it's really hard to describe but I have thought of sort of a fourth element which is people coming into their own so a lot of pro skateboarders really looking like that pro skateboarder so a mile silvas looks like a mile silvas and a lot of amateurs look like mild silvas it looks like a lot of people try to mirror a lot of professional skateboarders so a lot of professional skateboarders kind of come into their own identity which is the time sponsored and time on a skateboard and I think that is really the signifying vision of what a pro looks like but that's so nuanced that can that's that's pretty much only noticeable by skateboarders but that's who these companies care about that element I think goes best with someone like Frankie vallani who people love his video Parts get a lot of views I love his skateboarding he has such a deep bag of tricks and he's able to do tricks really quickly and he goes for things right away and he has a really interesting way of combining a lot of tricks but he's not going to be popping his tricks at the same height as probably most the other skaters on primitive but it's perfectly okay because he has his Pro style he has come into his own he's been good forever honestly but if you watch his video Parts you get it like right away you can feel the this person really knows what they're doing and as unfair as it sounds I think when you watch kanosuke Dylan and Felipe you can tell that they're going somewhere better that they're going to eventually fall into a way better Rhythm as a they're going to become a way better skateboarder and I think just by knowing that they're going to get there eventually you kind of hold off on giving them the pro title until they're sort of more there at least Pro is kind of just this is who they are and they just need to keep doing this and amateurs are still growing as skaters and their styles are developing and they're going to look I mean these three skateboarders my God they're going to be like they're already some of the best haters on the planet they're just going to look so much better in you know 15 years four years why did I say 15. I don't know nowadays skateboarding you can have careers for a really really long time and that's mainly it it's an interesting world because you think about someone like JB Gillett or P Rod or people who are getting older than the rest of the pros on the company and you think well what happens at that point what happens when you're 40 and you're not able to skate the way you did before what happens when you are the pro skateboarder on a team where all the amateurs are better than you I'm not saying that that's their case I'm just saying that that might happen eventually when you're 50 years old well that's when you retire or when a company kicks you off which is tough and obviously it's life it's like I think when you play American football if you really aren't delivering it's very obvious you're not delivering because your team isn't winning and you're bringing your team down and I think it's much more easier for you to get kicked off and in skateboarding I think you can kind of wiggle your way for a really really really long time anyways I'm gonna try to leave it at that I could go on and on forever about this because if you think about these professional skateboarders that we looked at today versus every other skate companies professional skateboarders sometimes you can see even even a huge difference in the field because a lot of these people are skating like the biggest contests as well so it's really unfair to compare anyone to these people I'm saying even the amateurs on primitive are better than 95 of the other professional skateboarders out there but obviously that's that's in pure technicality speaking and that's that's kind of based on my perspective of what is good in skateboarding it is an art so what you like in skateboarding is completely subjective and you might actually not like any of these people skateboarding so in your mind these people might not be good at all and that is kind of fine because it's kind of like not liking an artist right maybe someone who draws things really technical isn't your preferred style and these skateboarders are as technical as they come this is a question I get all the time so I thought it'd be fun just to film this video as is and I hope you enjoyed thank you so much for watching take care progress daily and keep killing it [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: John Hill

Views: 42,737

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Id: bC0cjqNL42o

Length: 9min 59sec (599 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 09 2023