Steven's Blog

As a child, I had many experiences. Some happy, some sad, some with other emotions, and some…scary. One such scary experience of mine occurred at Pan Pacific Park. It was an off day for me and my pony league baseball teammate and friend, Crain. We decided it would be fun to go skateboarding. It started off all nice and swell, traveling around this massive park. Up until we came across…the hill.

For those of you who don’t know, Pan Pacific park is a pretty large compound filled with baseball and soccer fields, basketball courts (indoor and out), various infrastructures, a community pool, and even a holocaust museum. It basically has two levels to it. Half of the park is on a sort of plateau while the other sits on a lower level. There are multiple ways to get to the low ground, some steeper than other. Of course Crain and I decided to choose the steepest hill to skate down. I was scared the entire time and was basically called chicken by my friend. He skated down the hill and got to the bottom with ease. For reference, my body type at the time was the same as the cinnamon stick from the Applejacks commercial, while Crain’s was more closely related to that of Michelin Man. Meaning that his weight helped him stay balanced on the way down.

Once Crain went down the hill, I had no chance but to go down that hill or suffer humiliation. It started of normal, but as velocity picked up, so did my body. Halfway down the hill, my legs were wobbling and my board was shaking. I slowly started to feel my body levitate from the board and out of fear of crashing, I jumped off of my skateboard near the base of the hill and flew forward. I narrowly missed a light pole, which would had for sure given me a concussion if not worse, and landed on the hard concrete. Scraping my elbow bad in the process.

I was able to get to the Rec Center where they treated my wound, which still exists as a scar on my elbow to this day. It was such a thrilling yet scary experience; I see why people enjoy doing extreme sports. If you take anything from my story, take this. Remind your 10 year old son that he is not invincible, that he should be careful. Also peer pressure is real. Educate yourself and your kids so that you can avoid the bad possibilities. What’s a crazy or cool story from your childhood?