All language subtitles for Boarders 2021 (Boarders 2021) (ENGLISH)

We're all doing survival.

Doing 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% of my internet 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.

People in the UK are quite intimidated by
groups of people and, 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 the
front like football or rugby.

Now skateboarding has
been announced to make its

debut as an Olympic sport
at the 2020 Olympic Games.

Tokyo Olympics.

The skateboards they've
chosen just 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 3 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
because to a skateboarder

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

I think the general consensus right
now is that the Olympics will have quite a

negative effect on
skateboarding as a whole.

Like, fuck the Olympics.

I was scared that the
Olympic thing would divide

skateboarding and put
us all out of skateboarding.

On a global stage, the
UK is still a little bit behind.

The UK scene definitely
has its own identity.

Skateboarding in the UK, it's like
just very loose, very aggressive.

We don't have athlete
aspects in our skateboarding.

People are like, oh,
you were in California,

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.

What's up?

Mackey, cup of tea.

Change the 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 like, flow.

You lose everything.

It's like losing your
ego, you know?

You're not thinking about
anything, you're just doing these

things and that is 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.

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 because 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 like the
same sort of satisfaction and outlet.

I'm so excited.

I love skating because 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 want to do that.

And they weren't even, they
weren't even standing on it.

They're just rolling
the cross on their belly.

It just looked really fun.

When I first moved in here, I didn't want
to 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 cupboards as a result of that.

When I was like 16, or something, and
it was quite cozy, but it was really nice.

And this is what
it looks like now.

But now it's just storage again.

But yeah, that's that.

I had like a, like a
Japanese futon mattress.

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

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

I 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

like right next to an
estate called Monkwood.

And that place has
always been pretty sketchy,

especially like skateboarding
down the street like that.

You can like bump into people and
they do not like you like skateboarding.

Even if they were like
kids, they just heckle

you or try to throw
something at you sometimes.

Like how to conduct yourself in
town on a night out is very important.

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

Like 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 going to
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.

I think what really kicked 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 rollerblades.

It didn't feel like I was like
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.

I was pretty much 18
when I moved to California.

So it's like coming up on 10 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 going to
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.

Constantly going to events.

Constantly being in the States.

And I think before I hurt my knee, I
realized that 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 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 because 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.

Just some trophies.

All crap, really.

It's just on the shelves.

They are Nepalese
festival flags.

We're 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.

I guess 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.

Cos, 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 multibillion-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, being 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 Ducuna, who had been
travelling Europe, skating in all these

different skate comps and
getting really good results.

The other two that were really noticeably
travelling and going to events and doing

really amazing tricks were Alex and
Jordan, Alex Halford 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

Darren, the 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.

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?

It's not just about
technical things.

It's not just about, like you
say, data or spreadsheets

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 practising for the

events, cos, 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 cos they go home and
they've got ten bowls to choose from.

They're as big and as gnarly
as the qualifying events.

Like, the only reason me and Alex and
Sam have got anywhere with skateboarding is

cos we've left the UK and
travelled around to other places.

Where did
skateboarding come from?

When did skateboarding
arrive in England?

How?

Skateboarding, you know, really started
out in California off the back of surfing.

It was this thing that was created because
a lot of 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 for 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, like,
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 ahold of it.

The South Bank, 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 call 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.

Boots were selling skateboards.

Any little shop was cashing
in on, like, this skateboard.

Like, you know, fad thing.

Skateparks 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 managers admit that
they've 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.

It's gonna improve
our skateboarding a lot.

Yeah.

To give you an idea of how big
skateboarding was in those days,

you could afford a five-storey 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 boat ramp.

They did a fundraiser on the ramp,
like, about a month or two ago to try and

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

And, yeah, it's 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 boat ramp,'' to

having all the money
for it and it being up.

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

This is, like, the
closest I've ever lived to

a boat 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

given 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... it's 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

can only go, like, one day, maybe
once a week or twice a week, it's, like,

you're not really going to
improve so much, you know?

And I've probably, like, lost a lot
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.

It's your back.

It's coming back
a little bit, yeah.

It's like, you've just got to
remember, like, 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 just kind of happened, so
I've got to go with the flow, haven't I?

Yeah.

And playing the guitar.

It's just, like, a why not
kind of thing, you know?

Like, the opportunity is 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.

Oh, next up, we've got
Alex Halford is 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 via UK Sports Aspiration,

and he's 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 it?

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 going
to go about judging something

properly with a category and
a criteria for skateboarders.

It's something that's... it's basically
putting skateboarding into a box.

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

Not in 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
see, 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.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

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

involved is like, this guy's
dreamed 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.

Because I've been skating
vert my whole life, really.

It wasn't vert that was going to be in
the Olympics, so even now I'm, like,

trying to do these contests for park, which
is cool, because 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 could 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...

that were very transferable
to park, because

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

Vert skateboarding is when you're skating
around the sides of your house and 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, it
was very much still surf-based.

It was sidewalk surfing and pools
and skate park simulating pools.

Within the world of organised
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 needy.

And then there was freestyle, which in
that era was tended to be regarded as,

I don't know, quite fiddly.

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 is very Olympic.

And then you jump
off your board and jump

over this thing and
land back on your board.

And then there was
just 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 seth slides around

corners and stuff like
that with the gloves on.

And then you've got your
full pipe skateboarding.

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

And little airs, little
early grab airs and things.

In the 80s, the full pipe
then started to become half

a 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 then 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.

Then that sort of then
became vert skateboarding.

And then you 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 is very much coincides
with the beginning of the new boom.

When Ollie started to happen and 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 and stuff

like that where 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.

And 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 going
to 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, like, a lot of
the teams show up in

uniforms already at
hotels and stuff like that.

You see them, like,
fully all rock up with, like,

Chile or, like, USA or
something written on there.

Like, yeah, it's crazy.

And, like, you see a lot of
team managers have, like, flags.

You know, they've got 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 a 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.

Like, some of the lifestyles
people lead are definitely not...

..don't have longevity
to them, you know?

A lot of the time when you're 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.

But 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...you're not aware

that it's gone wrong, so
your reflexes aren't up.

So, you'll just whop yourself
on the floor and it won't protect

yourself properly, so I had
to stop doing that as regularly.

I mean, we all know there's, like,
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 going to be.

Like, 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.

Actually, I've 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.

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 going to 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 is up to them.

I have a role where sometimes you have to
try and make those sort of things happen.

And, like I 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 just to have a good positive

and skateboarding
experience along the road.

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

It's difficult 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 might approach it slightly different

to the ones before.

So, yeah, Olympics has
definitely changed, like,

how skateboarders are
thinking of themselves.

So now we actually have these
opportunities to be called athletes.

That's the essential part.

The stretch.

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

Yeah, that's it.

That's it.

I think that's it.

You got it.

And that's why he's the TM.

Stretch anywhere.

Stretch at home.

Stretch at the skate park.

Stretch in the shower.

Stretching's for everybody.

It's for 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 it'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 drunk or done
any stuff like that anyway,

so that stuff is not a
problem for me whatsoever.

You have the
skateboarders on Instagram.

You see, like, the 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 to do tricks that
happen almost as quick as possible.

Like, I like to try to give myself
fast feet so I can land and do a trick,

or, like, do a trick into a trick, then
do something else straightaway and

just kind of mess about with it like
that, I suppose, and be the bold 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.

So even, like, going to school, everyone
always knows I was that skater kid.

There used to be a thing, like,
finish school, run home, quick time,

get changed, you'd, like, straight out
skate into the buzzer, leave me 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 buzzy 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, 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.

Little Alex, as
I still call him.

He'll always be Little Alex, cos
I don't think he'll grow any more.

I first met him, we were on one of the
Eastpac transition tours with the Deaf

guys, and we stopped off in
a place called Milton Keynes.

In the city centre in Milton Keynes,
they had, like, a ramp set up,

like a halfpipe.

Him and his dad were just...

Just so happens they were walking through,
and I was trying to launch out of the

barrier, do my, like, 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, like, I want to do that.

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

dad decided to start
following us round 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,
it just took off from there.

And 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.

CHEERING 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.

Got 56 in a minute somehow,
which I was pretty surprised myself.

Tonight, Alex, you did 56.

CHEERING

The other two were
the most kickflips in 30

seconds and then the
most kickflips in a minute.

Again, they were just,
like, 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
other countries.'' 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 on the list,

only three of them
actually count.

So on that list, I
think I'm, like, 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.

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

I really enjoyed travelling
with Jordan and Alex.

And actually, this trip was the first time
I actually spent time with Alex Deguna.

And he's super sound.

Everyone's super sound.

Everyone's grateful to be here.

Smile, Jordan.

Hello, mate.

Nobody's skated it yet.

Not a lick.

Checking the
coping to be in order.

From

a lot of people I talk to,
they think, oh, 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 100
people that are in 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...

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've got Sam Beckett.

You know, I'm
going to these events.

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

I'm going to 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.

Because, you know, 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,

because, you know, that
is part of skateboarding.

If you're just doing the same thing as
everybody else and lose your kind of

creative flair and your
own direction with it, then

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

I always had, 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 and flip indies.

For an audience to watch that,
they're being desensitised to,

like, the hardest 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 is more,
like, precision sort of thing,

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, I was like, oh,
great, here we go again.

It's another thing that skateboarding's
going to sell out to and sell off to.

And I thought it's going
to be a really bad thing.

The general consensus
right now is that the Olympics

will have quite a negative
effect on skateboarding.

Skateboarding as a whole.

I have my
discrepancies about it.

I think it's going to
struggle with so many rules,

regulations, and also there's
going to 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 I bumped into someone here.

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

only 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.

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, cos we worked that one out,

it was like, this is the way to dry out a
skate park, is just to get some petrol and

sprinkle it everywhere
and set fire to it,

and it would literally
burn all the water out.

So we had all these techniques, but to
the outside world, it looked like chaos.

MUSIC PLAYS So, Southbank is located
in, like, centre of London by the Royal

Festival Pier, and somewhere in
the 70s, people discovered it, cos as

skateboarders, we were always
looking for the perfect spot.

Did it fly up again?

Yeah!

When you went to Southbank, it had
it all, because it's full of banks, it's,

like, perfect angled banks,
super smooth, cos it's undercover.

For some reason, they really started to
discourage us from skating there, and.

a lot of the times, you turn up on
a Saturday and it's a sunny day,

and you 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, it
would slip out and fall.

So it's always been a sort of ongoing
sort of 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 colour.

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 would
get chased, and you'd have to be really

careful when you got off the bus to get
down into the skate area, because there

were other skateboarders, and
they would start chasing you with bats.

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

It was like...

It was either you were going to dedicate
your lives to skateboarding and pick do

with all the stick that you get from
everyone, or you're going to give in to it

and stop skating and
get pressured, because

everyone's like, oh, 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 want to do.

Yeah, beautiful day.

You could actually take your clothes
off on some date if you wanted to.

It's that warm.

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

This is my first
time on an mountain.

Is it?

No.

Beautiful.

We've done a bit
of snowboarding.

Jordan has learnt 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.

It's a bit thin.

We just did 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 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.

Yeah, there's usually two parts.

And they, er...

Snowball.

When they reproduce,
they reproduce...

They don't reproduce
more lichens.

They reproduce fungi and algae.

Get it!

So, er...

You know, then they have to find each
other out and then form something else.

Basically.

MUSIC PLAYS MUSIC
CONTINUES MUSIC CONTINUES

MUSIC CONTINUES MUSIC
CONTINUES MUSIC CONTINUES

We are in the middle
of the Swiss Alps.

Yeah, the format's really good.

Team contest.

It's a bit more social.

It's a bit more, er...
Bit more... I don't know.

Just fun, I guess.

Not so serious.

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

Like, there's a fair bit of drinking
and a fair bit of camaraderie.

MUSIC CONTINUES Hello.

I mean, this thing is just about getting
everyone together and the team together.

The team thing is
meant to, like, take some

pressure off it being,
like, a contest-type thing.

And it's much more about being with your
friends, having fun, doing stuff together.

MUSIC CONTINUES The Love and
Escape 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.

MUSIC CONTINUES 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?

But I think we've
confirmed that it will not.

See, that's why I'm in that
hotel, cos my team's loose.

They throw boards at windows.

Yeah, I'm going to
actually go and escape.

MUSIC CONTINUES I'm still surprising you
Like first tri-tray flips Burn my status

and none of my stages Conserve my wages
I'm still on the grind Still ducked from

5-0 Billion in limes And it's the time
Though these cops might front crooked

Blunt took it to the dome like a
five-panel We've been cooking it at home

on the side-mantle So don't look at you,
ain't viewing it from my angle Backside

board, chilling it at high standards Keep
my mind fast, laying crews in Emmanuel

Passed these annual releases Dropped
more tunes in a week than you did in three

seasons Military scheming, my front
side never slips Are you ready for this?

Yeah, let's go!

Skateboarding's heavily psychological
Makes me anxious I skate in front of

people You know, when it's time to rip I
think for me it's more the microphone Soon

as you hear someone say your name on the
microphone, you're like, What受いз The crowd

wants to watch people going nuts And
showing off Weird situation, because you

wouldn't skate like that If you wasin't
having a session I think it's cos if you

got to a skatepark and started showing off
instantly It's going to bum out the people

that are around That aren't of the same
ability as you You know I've definitely

had sessions Of people where you're really
vibing on it And then you have sessions Of

people where they're trying
to show you You do something

and you're like, I 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...

It's pretty hard because
it's a personal thing.

Because skateboarding
is for everybody different.

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

Let's say, you know, like, more
playing around and original things.

Maybe other guys more like,
yeah, I like this big, like, high air.

It was super quick,
caught me off guard.

I knew instantly that
I'd done something.

Like, I just felt it
snap, you know?

I came home, had, like, two days chilling
at home, and I was like, I'm 100% sure

something's broken cos
I was, like, playing with

my leg and I was, like,
crunching, you know?

I was like... That was
the colour of my foot.

Pretty impressive colour.

Went to the
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 centre
here, English Institute of Sport.

I just got out of the boot last
week and a skateboard GBA.

They've 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 wanted to give us
the opportunity, you know, 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.

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, like, a little

distance to go to, like,
have the crutches, you know.

Like, I can go pretty
fast on these things.

Um...

But, yeah, when I'm...
Like, my walking speed is...

It's pretty slow, I mean.

It makes you, um...

think about your steps, you know,
like, there's a mindfulness required,

like, just to walk,
which is quite nice.

I mean, it's...

It's not nice, but I'm
seeing the positives.

I've been

sitting around for two months
over Christmas and I'm kind of like,

shit, there's, like, a lot
of work to do if you want

to 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

realise, like, you know,
how much you can be doing

as opposed to, like, how
much I've been doing maybe.

I don't know.

They've been really
helpful and friendly.

Um...

Which isn't always the kind of
treatment that you get at the 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 know we've chatted about
it before, but it's been, like,

really difficult for me, like,
injuries and personal stuff.

I've 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.

Like...

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,

like, 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...

Cos 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 gotta do.

Some of them are
pretty, like, basic.

Like, I just do them throughout
the day, like, standing on one leg.

Cos, like, I've got no muscle, like,
control firing in my legs, 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're, like...

You subject yourself to living
with pain for pretty much forever.

Over the years, I managed
to fracture my wrists

and, like, my knee went
really weird this year.

Like, it just stopped working
and it took months and

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

Um...

My hips are pretty
bust, actually.

They've got, like, these horrible lumps
everywhere now where they've, like,

repeatedly hit 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 skate 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, it
thought of as it necessary for skaters

to be given medical care
and stuff by their sponsors.

That's not normally a
requirement, like, well,

in anything that 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 would be interesting to know,
like, who is benefiting from it.

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

Cos 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?

It's...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 do it, 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 your, one of your

sponsors, like your manager, team
managers, 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.

But yeah, many brands have
come and gone, you know, and

got involved with skateboarding
and then got out of it.

And then in the dark ages,
skateboarding was so uncool, it was unreal.

It was a definition of
something that went out.

If you saw somebody wearing vans,
you looked up and knew that you were

expected to recognize the face
because they were into skating.

Nobody else was.

The reemergence 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 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.

It cost nothing.

That was why we bought them.

Because they were cheap.

And then the brand saw that,
how everyone's wearing them,

and then they were like, oh,
let's sponsor some skaters.

When Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is going
around and it's blowing up the spot and

everyone's looking at
skateboarding, and then the 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,
like 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 try and beat up on.

We're the same people, you know, but now
it's like, oh, skateboarding, it'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're just advertised
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 if, like, people don't
want to be like that person, then it

doesn't really work, you
know, for companies, so...

I think that has been one of the hardest
things for me to come to terms with in

skating is that, like, er...

I guess, like...

Well, maybe it's this thing that I've
created in my head, but it does feel like

I'm not someone that, er...

..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 not.

I don't know if I'm 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 realise 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 long enough, like
building up a, like, community

or relationships and that
kind of stuff that comes in too.

And I think, realistically, like, if
you're going to 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, cos skating doesn't owe you

anything, and I think people
really have to realise 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 realise 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's, like,
there is an awareness that

young men have, like,
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, cos I don't
think either of us would

particularly, like, felt,
like, very solid at that time.

Meet up in the morning, just, like,
go to Weatherspoons 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 just wish I had just a

regular job, cos all my mates at 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.

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

something like that and you, you know,
you might not have people around that you

can really talk to, cos you
don't know them that well.

I realise 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 in a really long time.

And 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... We're
just going skateboarding.

Everything's cool,
everything's good, all right?

We have our bad days and
where you can't skate, you

might go home, and
that's it, you leave it at that.

But 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.

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
realise these things for yourself.

Otherwise, you know,
you're not going to respond to

someone ordering you to
do something different or...

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

I think with skateboarding being in the
Olympics now, if they're going to 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 checking.

Make sure they're in a mentally
stable place, because if they're not,

like we've seen over the years,
we're losing good skateboarders.

And I think all of that sort
of thing can be avoided.

If we just, yeah, we've
just got to talk to each other.

As our breaking story
this evening, a third person

has tested positive in
the UK for coronavirus.

Experts say they are now not
optimistic that the virus can be contained.

The number of 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 moved to
flow, 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.

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've given each other some space.

But it's all so much happened
like the days before lockdown.

It was mad.

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

And at this point, 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 the 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.

Fucking it's going to be
gnarly, but you can, you got this.

No problem.

Just don't hit the little
fucking thing at the

bottom that's tied, that
you tie the bloody boats to.

Pretty focused.

I'm on it.

Sort of channeling
all this fucking sorrow.

And anyway, hit the thing,
fly through the air, bounce.

I'm falling into the lock.

So I basically, I
nearly fucking die.

Uh, horrendously bad.

And I'm just like,
adrenaline's on a mad eye.

And then I sort of like start
realizing my hands 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 sort of lying around at the lock,

just fucking in pain, sort of trying to
refocus and think about, you know,

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

And basically I'm, I don't
think I'm going to do it.

It's fucking, you
know, I'm destroyed.

So then, uh, then a fucking
boat ends up pulling into the lock.

If I'm going to do
it, it's now or never.

Like it has to be now.

And cause yeah, it's do or die.

And yeah, fucking 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,

it's affected skateboarding in sort of
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, 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 people's mental health.

There's a lot of people
out there that are spending

a lot more time by
themselves than they used to.

One of our favorite parts about living
in the van has to be the bed situation.

Because I'm currently parked
facing the, 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
chilling in here with the doors open.

And yeah, it's, it's amazing.

Yeah, get to go to
sleep with the stars.

And yeah, it's pretty,
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, or
all the way to here and be a double.

And then just means in the
daytime, I've got all this space.

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
going to burn to the ground.

And you'll have nothing.

Bedroom, living room, kitchen.

And a small space.

Anywhere.

Aren't there tea bags?

Aren't 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, yeah, it's been incredible.

When the lockdown started,
the park needed looking after.

And yeah, I just thought
that, you know, it was

a 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.

And it has been very nice.

But when you're locked down, trying
to go through all this other shit, these

relationships and house troubles,
and yeah, the whole world's stopping,

and a bit too much to handle.

Hello.

Hello.

Hey, Alex.

Hey.

Nice knife.

Ooh, mini rig.

Mini rig, bro.

Should we get some choosers on?

What's that?

That's the wrong hand for that.

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

Still got a tile around my hob there,
fixed little holes, and there's another

bench that goes along the back
wall there where all the shoes are.

And I'm currently building a
toilet in that, a compost toilet.

So it might sound a bit
gross, but there's no smell

with them, and 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.

Yeah, he's all right.

I'd say I put him up there.

Top, top...

Yeah, top friend of
the month for sure.

Friend of the month?

No.

No, I'm joking.

No, yeah, he's a good mate.

He's a 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 or hanging out with your mates.

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

Yeah, it's definitely not as...

relaxed as I was trying to make it,
even though I'd, like, convinced myself

that there's no pressure and I
don't care about really what happens.

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

You still have, like, a
pressure underneath.

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

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, like,
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 Love &
Skate video, and we also spent a month

filming a homage to Cheese &
Crackers called Tea & Biscuits.

Over a decade later, and they are still
paying homage to Cheese & Crackers.

That's how heavy that shit was!

Two of the lightest-item
snacks carried that much weight

for this long, but they still
trying to compete with it.

Jordan's factory
made a mockery of it.

Look at that closet Tenardian ramp
that they have in the middle of somewhere.

I don't know if it's LSB and that
T-boy, but these boys' brains is open,

because 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, cos

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 in for dinner,

and then coming straight
here till 3 in the morning.

Yeah, every night we'd
go to Flo at about 10

o'clock and set up the
little world that we made.

It was gruelling,
the cold, you know?

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

So, you know, having Jordan
live at my house for a month...

Pretty intense.

Probably didn't help my
relationship with Chloe either.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's good.

I like the fact it's got cooler
and everyone's stoked on it now.

And 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, cos it was just
such a rare, special thing.

Oh, hello, darling.

Yeah, I'm Jordan.

Nice to see you.

Just walked past your house and
was like, what are you, some fucking...?

No, I didn't say hello.

Just talked shit
about... Georgia, Jordan.

Hi, lovely to meet you.

Nice to meet you, innit?

She's heard all
about you just now.

I can't wait for a tea probably
later on or something, if you want.

It'd be fucking lovely
to say hello to you.

Yeah, bro.

Fucking take care, Cal.

It's been good to see you.

Yeah, you too.

Thank you, 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, all

scooter-slash-skateboard
and all that shit.

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

house when I weren't
allowed to skate for months.

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 has been kind of reckless for my body.

I've been like, I know this is bad,
but I'm going to, like, wait until later

on to experience the consequences and
it doesn't matter because I'm having fun.

That's all decided to come and bite
me in the arse all at the same time,

in the same period
of time, which is weird.

Yeah.

But, like, I didn't realise
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, got to
fucking 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.

There 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 got rid of some scar tissue

and they punched tiny little holes in
the actual muscle that runs from your arse

round there down to your leg to release
the pressure that was caused by them.

It's basically your body
saying, like, stop, I need a break.

Got to do a lot of exercises.

I've got, like, fucking 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 going to 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.

MUSIC PLAYS MUSIC CONTINUES MUSIC
CONTINUES MUSIC CONTINUES MUSIC CONTINUES

MUSIC CONTINUES MUSIC

CONTINUES Welcome.

This is my little house.

My humble little house.

Morning, Chloe.

Oh, it's such a beautiful day.

We're so lucky.

Three mugs.

In the last week, maybe, we've
smashed loads of mugs, loads of plates.

I'm confident.

We should pull the curtains.

The dramatic effect right there.

This is our separation barrier.

This stops us from fighting.

It is chilly.

It'll hold my hand.

It'll hold my hand.

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

Yeah, this is the worst, yeah.

The most time ever.

Yeah, it's been nice.

And there's definitely no
looking back at the moment, so...

Yeah, lots of new adventures.

It's kind of like getting
to know each other

again, getting to know
how to live together again.

Mm.

Yeah, true.

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

So much time for each other.

Mwah!

I call you two sides.

Mwah!

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

be honest, like, when
I'm travelling or away.

I just found these little, like, little
wax caps, orange wax caps of sorts.

But, like, in this zone, I
don't know, there's just...

The forest floor is, 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 layer 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.

So, like, piece together
what's happening.

And the more you look at stuff, you
realise 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 realise, like, under your

feet, like, everything's
happening, and there's...

The more you learn, like, you realise
there's so much to learn, and you can,

like, spend your whole
life learning about this 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 is 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 going to be enjoyable for me.

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

I think skateboarding is in good
hands because the core is still working.

People are very much involved.

No matter what happens with the
Olympics and all that sort of stuff, the

underground of skateboarding,
that's still going to be the same.

I wouldn't even say it divides people
because once you're actually skating,

everyone has their
different lifestyles, but 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 going
to be taken away from them.

I don't think anyone's taken
skating away from anyone, you know.

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

and like we all get our
version, 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
around 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 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 going to really
affect you day to day.

If you're the guy skating the curb down
the road, that's not going to affect you.

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

It's 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 going to go and skate is incredible.