As the weather gets colder and colder, I miss the summer more and more.  I am definitely one who prefers the heat over the cold.  Many of my favorite activities require (or at least are more enjoyable) in warm weather.  One summer-dependent activity I love and miss is skimboarding.  Skimboarding is a sport that requires a beach, some shallow water, and a oval shaped board to throw onto the water and ride across the skim.  Since I don’t live near a beach, I only get to skimboard during family vacations in the summer.

I started to learn to skimboard when I was probably about 9 or 10 years old.  My uncle taught me the basics of throwing and balancing on the board.  However, I only got to practice the skill for a week or two a year.  The progress was slow.  I fell a lot at the beginning and was scared to run too fast.  After a while of practice and confidence-building I improved to the point that regular skimming was easy.  I could confidently throw the board, run, land, and ride.

Once I grasped the basic skill, the thrill of just running at the board decreased.  Since I knew I could do it, there was no challenge or goal to accomplish.  That’s when I started to try simple tricks.  One year I made turning 360 degrees my goal, and I learned to spin while riding the board.  The next year I learned to jump off the board and jump back on to make the rides last longer.  Eventually the level of tricks exceeded my abilities.

The past few years I’ve enjoyed skimboarding for a new reason: teaching.  My little sister is now old enough to learn the sport herself, so now my goal in skimboarding is to teach her what I know.  Having someone to skimboard with and to help has kept the sport engaging for me thus far.  I am curious to see what in the future will keep me skimboarding.