Courtesy of Ashton Beattie

Sitting in a circle of usable and broken skateboards, junior Ashton Beattie showcases his collection. Beattie has been skating since fourth grade and has kept every skateboard he owned. “I sometimes will sell my boards to people and make money off of it, but right now I am also thinking about making a table and chair out of them so that they don’t go to waste,” Beattie said.

For junior Ashton Beattie, learning to ride a skateboard wasn’t a difficult decision. After watching his father at the skatepark as a kid, Beattie knew he wanted to learn to roll, jump and flip around the neighborhood.

“My dad used to be a pretty good skater so he bought me my first [skateboard],” Beattie said. “[Skateboarders’] styles looked cool when I was growing up and going to the skatepark with my dad for the first time after getting my new board was an amazing feeling.”

Television shows like Fantasy Factory and Rob and Big, starring pro skater Rob Derdeyk, increased Beattie’s interest. 

“I now skate whenever I can, so usually every day of the week. I will either go skate around my neighborhood or go to a park and do some tricks. Sometimes I just skate in my basement when I’m bored,” Beattie said.

From years of skateboarding, Beattie now has a collection of 30 to 50 broken skateboards leftover from mishaps.

“I own two skateboards currently, I have mine and my little brothers but I have an old box of all my snapped skateboards and my wheels from previous years,” Beattie said. “Typically [a board breaks] when you jump off something high and try to land, or if you do a grind on a rail or something like that, but usually [breaking your board] just happens.”

Skateboards come in four basic shapes, shortboard, cruiser, old school and longboard. The board shape chosen matches the style an athlete wants to skate.

“[Getting a skateboard] is all about preference, if you have smaller feet or want the board to flip faster than a smaller board is what you should get, but bigger boards are good for ramps,” Beattie said. “For me I get all kinds of boards because I like to try out a variety of different tricks.”

Beattie has no plans on becoming a professional skateboarder, but he hopes to continue to  improve his skill. 

“Honestly it would be cool [to become a professional], but it’s not my main dream. I just wanna be consistent and have a big bag of tricks down where I can flow around the park and have fun with it. For me, it’s not about becoming pro, it’s about having fun and having fun with my friends, but if I pick up a sponsorship or become pro on the way that would be pretty cool,” Beattie said.