Owning a skatepark of its own is a dream for any skater, and at this moment, domestic professional skater Little Tiger and photographer Joe are turning this dream into reality.
A video of Little Tiger on the fledgling Mini ramp three days ago gave a lot of people a glimpse of a corner of the skatepark. We were also the first to interview them about their recent situation and the journey behind the determination to build this skatepark.
Little Tiger & Joe
S: Yo, where are you two now, and how have you been doing lately?
Little Tiger: I'm in Xi'an now, and I've been busy with skateboarding lately.
Joe: I'm in Shanghai right now, trying not to go hungry.
S: Is Xi'an still affected by the epidemic?
Little Tiger: In the past few days, the control has been strengthened, and entertainment venues cannot be opened, but it is only a few days.
S: That's fine. Your new board has attracted a lot of attention recently, and it looks like it won't be completed in a long time, right?
Little Tiger: Yes, it should be completed next week, and it is almost ready for now.
S: What kind of opportunity gave you the idea to build this skateboarding field?
Little Tiger: I had this idea myself in the first half of the national games. At that time, the more rigorous training made me feel that I had lost interest in skateboarding, and at that time I felt that I wanted to skateboard myself after the finish, and then I went to Wuhan, Hainan to play in Shanghai after the finish, and then when I lived in Joe's house in Shanghai, the provincial team looked for me to renew the contract, and then after a struggle of ideas, I still wanted to skateboard according to my own ideas, this venue was actually one of the things that the two of us wanted to do.
Joe: Actually, it was also very coincidental that when Xiaohu came to Shanghai to shoot Converse's video and lived at my house, he told me that he had considered a long time and was going to do a skatepark in Xi'an, and at the same time he integrated his own ideas about skateboarding into it, not only for profit, but also to bring more possibilities to Xi'an skateboarding, when we found that there were many common points in what we wanted to do, and my hometown was Xi'an, so I naturally participated in it.
Little Tiger: And it just so happened that my aunt and his mother were still classmates, and my aunt went to his house as a guest to see his skateboard and asked him if he knew tian Jiaxing, who was also skateboarding.
S: That's amazing! So what's your board name?
Little Tiger: Island.
S: Does the name mean anything?
Little Tiger: The skater is very much like a pirate who yearns for freedom sailing in a concrete ocean, the island is where we stay, but we still yearn for the treasures on the sea, which is probably what it means.
S: I heard that this board was designed by you, from the perspective of functionality, fun, practicality, etc., which is the most important for you?
Little Tiger: In fact, this venue is more practical and functional, because I have slid through many venues by myself, and I think it will be very uncomfortable if there is a conflict between props and props, so we try to simplify the props in a limited space to make the props and props more fluid.
Island Skatepark Little Tiger design sketch
S: So Is Island the perfect skatepark in your heart?
Little Tiger: In this size case I think I am already satisfied, whether it is perfect will not know until I have slid it hahaha.
S: You are a skater who can calm down and polish your skills, you don't need the audience to need a girl, the provincial team has such good hardware facilities, if the training is not so strict, would you choose to renew the contract at that time?
Xiao Xiaohu: In fact, there is another reason for not renewing the contract is that I think that if I renew, after four years, in addition to the technical improvement of skateboarding, I am still in my current state, I want to open a shop, I think I can also learn a lot of things, but also promote the local skateboarding in Xi'an.
S: In your opinion, what is the difference between a professional skater and a "skateboarder"?
Little Tiger: The main sponsor of professional skaters is commercial, and skateboarders mainly rely on the team within the system, of course, the two are not in conflict, but for "skateboarders", the performance of the game is the only measure, and the professional skaters have more criteria for consideration.
Joe: For me, the difference may be the purpose of attracting you to skateboarding.
S: In the current situation of repeated epidemics, you still choose to rent a place to build such a venue, why didn't you choose to wait a little longer?
Little Tiger: I think there will be pressure to do it now, but I am a person who thinks that if I don't do something, I will not be able to sleep, plus the epidemic situation is the same for everyone, and I think it is okay to do it now.
S: Based on your experience as a professional skater and a skater in the system, do you think there is something for street skaters to learn from in the skateboarding training in the system?
Little Tiger: In fact, many street skaters do not pay attention to warm-up and relaxation, I think it is necessary to learn more about the warm-up before skateboarding and the stretching after skateboarding in the system, which will be very helpful for injury prevention.
Joe: Any sport has something to learn from each other, but it's all up to the individual, skateboarding or skating is the most important thing.
S: How is Xi'an skateboarding developing now? Is promoting the development of skateboarding for the hometown also one of the reasons for building skateboarding?
Little Tiger: Now Xi'an skateboarding I think the development is not bad, but it should be better, there is still a lot of room for progress, I think Chengdu is one of the cities with the best skateboarding level and atmosphere in China, I hope that Xi'an can have so many powerful skaters like Chengdu.
S: What's your secret to being a skater with both style and strength?
Little Tiger: I think I'm still a relatively hard skater, and I haven't found any other special hobbies besides skateboarding, and then I really want to save some money, and when you have some ideas, you can have a way to achieve it.
The little tiger has long been unable to resist the desire to slip, and preemptively feel his own Island
At this point, we also roughly understood why Xiao Hu, as a provincial team skater, still made this decision without a shortage of training grounds and facilities. Skaters who are willing to push their own city skateboarding are respectable, and although technology is important, don't forget that the core of skateboarding is ultimately about getting fun.