Skateboarders chronicle 100 tricks in 100 days
Becky McKeown
Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: Features
Two St. Bonaventure seniors have a mission: capture video of 100 skateboarding tricks in 100 days and display them online for the world to see.
Byron Morgan, a journalism and mass communication major, thought up the project 100 Tricks, 100 Days one night in December 2009.
"I never thought I'd ever see real talent evolve in front of my eyes until I met Paul Hakel," Morgan wrote in his first post on the project's Web site, http://100tricks100days.blogspot.com.
During the project's 100-day span, Hakel, a philosophy major, plans to land 100 different tricks. He and Morgan intend to post videos of at least one trick each day.
"I thought I should try and push Paul to get some publicity because he's just phenomenal," Morgan said. "My perfect world for this would be if someone higher up in skateboarding who has influence on skateboarding culture would see this and welcome us into it by promoting us."
Morgan also hopes the site will help Hakel focus and hone his skating skills by motivating him to learn and invent new tricks. The two plan to film tricks not often seen in the mainstream skating world.
"There are kids out there who can triple kick flip," Morgan said, referring to a trick where the skateboard rotates three times before the skater lands, "but not a lot of people have seen that and when you see someone do it, it just blows your mind."
To come up with tricks for the site, Morgan and Hakel share ideas, Morgan said.
Hakel said he also likes to improvise and often sets out to do a certain trick, which then branches off into something new. Hakel and Morgan hope to progress their tricks throughout the project, taking them to new, innovative heights.
"I want to translate the ideas in my head to my board and see what happens," Hakel said.
Hakel and Morgan also get ideas from comments readers post on the site and are open to suggestions and requests.
"It's not entirely just me and Paul," Morgan said. "If you think of tricks you want to see Paul do, throw them up on the Web site, and we'll do our best to try it."
The project, now in its third week, has evolved beyond its initial mission. Morgan and Hakel want to amp up the site by featuring content other than the 100 tricks, such as teasers of tricks Hakel is in the processes of completing as well as videos of the two of them skating and talking about the project.
"We want to do 'Philosophy Fridays' where I give some more soulful reflections on skateboarding," Hakel said.
Through the site, Hakel said he hopes to show skating as physical, mental and spiritual exercise.
"I think skating fulfills a lot of needs," Hakel said. "It teaches you to be creative, to set your own goals spontaneously and achieve them, to become independently minded, to figure things out on your own. It challenges you to look at things in a different way."
Morgan, who has been skating for about seven years, and Hakel, who has been skating for about 10, got into it for different reasons.
"My cousin skated, and I wanted to be better than him and his friends," Morgan said. "They were just so good, and I kept trying to get better than them."
However, Hakel began skating to escape competition.
"I played tennis, and I didn't like the feeling of competing with my friends," Hakel said. "So I got into skateboarding because it was different and basically just me versus me, just seeing what's possible."
For Hakel, skating alone gives him a chance to think about philosophy, pray or get his mind off things.
Even so, Hakel enjoys skating with others. Because he and Morgan skate together almost every day, the two joke that over the three-and-a-half years they've known each other, they've formed a "skating bromance."
"I remember one of the first days we ever hung out, I learned like 12 tricks in one day just from watching him," Morgan said.
Morgan and Hakel also co-founded the SBU Skate Club their freshman year. Footage of club member Eric Thompson, a junior psychology major, has been posted on the site. The two plan to upload videos of additional members skating, as well.
Morgan and Hakel want the site to show skateboarding as a team sport as well as an individual activity.
"We've been working on a part that really hasn't been done before," Morgan said about the plan to upload videos of him and Hakel doing tricks together.
"We're calling it the 'bros section,'" Morgan said, "and it's going to be awesome. We just need to do more things together." Morgan and Hakel agree most people don't think of skateboarding as a team sport.
To help people see skateboarding as a team effort, Hakel and Morgan have been thinking up tricks that require two or more people to complete.
"I invented this idea called 'The Pass' where I flip the board and kick it to somebody else who lands on it," Hakel said.
Morgan said he believes team skating goes beyond tricks involving multiple skaters.
"There's that aspect of team skating, but then there is when you're skating together and have no influence on each other, except for mental, and you get each other pumped," Morgan said.
Watching Hakel land a difficult trick helps him focus on landing his own tricks, Morgan said.
"I really want to get ideas out there and have people in skateboarding - riders and pros alike - just start thinking about things in different ways," Hakel said.
Skateboarding started as a creative, different and fun hobby, Hakel said.
"I feel like as time goes on, the danger is that people just start to do things in the same way, so right now in skateboarding people are just doing set tricks, but trying to make them bigger, and that's so linear," Hakel said.
That reluctance to experiment and develop new tricks limits the creative possibilities of skateboarding, Hakel said.
Morgan said he hopes 100 Tricks, 100 Days inspires people to try skateboarding.
"There are probably a few million skate blogs out there, but we want ours to be something completely different from everyone else's," Morgan said.
e-mail: mckeowrl@sbu.edu
Byron Morgan, a journalism and mass communication major, thought up the project 100 Tricks, 100 Days one night in December 2009.
"I never thought I'd ever see real talent evolve in front of my eyes until I met Paul Hakel," Morgan wrote in his first post on the project's Web site, http://100tricks100days.blogspot.com.
During the project's 100-day span, Hakel, a philosophy major, plans to land 100 different tricks. He and Morgan intend to post videos of at least one trick each day.
"I thought I should try and push Paul to get some publicity because he's just phenomenal," Morgan said. "My perfect world for this would be if someone higher up in skateboarding who has influence on skateboarding culture would see this and welcome us into it by promoting us."
Morgan also hopes the site will help Hakel focus and hone his skating skills by motivating him to learn and invent new tricks. The two plan to film tricks not often seen in the mainstream skating world.
"There are kids out there who can triple kick flip," Morgan said, referring to a trick where the skateboard rotates three times before the skater lands, "but not a lot of people have seen that and when you see someone do it, it just blows your mind."
To come up with tricks for the site, Morgan and Hakel share ideas, Morgan said.
Hakel said he also likes to improvise and often sets out to do a certain trick, which then branches off into something new. Hakel and Morgan hope to progress their tricks throughout the project, taking them to new, innovative heights.
"I want to translate the ideas in my head to my board and see what happens," Hakel said.
Hakel and Morgan also get ideas from comments readers post on the site and are open to suggestions and requests.
"It's not entirely just me and Paul," Morgan said. "If you think of tricks you want to see Paul do, throw them up on the Web site, and we'll do our best to try it."
The project, now in its third week, has evolved beyond its initial mission. Morgan and Hakel want to amp up the site by featuring content other than the 100 tricks, such as teasers of tricks Hakel is in the processes of completing as well as videos of the two of them skating and talking about the project.
"We want to do 'Philosophy Fridays' where I give some more soulful reflections on skateboarding," Hakel said.
Through the site, Hakel said he hopes to show skating as physical, mental and spiritual exercise.
"I think skating fulfills a lot of needs," Hakel said. "It teaches you to be creative, to set your own goals spontaneously and achieve them, to become independently minded, to figure things out on your own. It challenges you to look at things in a different way."
Morgan, who has been skating for about seven years, and Hakel, who has been skating for about 10, got into it for different reasons.
"My cousin skated, and I wanted to be better than him and his friends," Morgan said. "They were just so good, and I kept trying to get better than them."
However, Hakel began skating to escape competition.
"I played tennis, and I didn't like the feeling of competing with my friends," Hakel said. "So I got into skateboarding because it was different and basically just me versus me, just seeing what's possible."
For Hakel, skating alone gives him a chance to think about philosophy, pray or get his mind off things.
Even so, Hakel enjoys skating with others. Because he and Morgan skate together almost every day, the two joke that over the three-and-a-half years they've known each other, they've formed a "skating bromance."
"I remember one of the first days we ever hung out, I learned like 12 tricks in one day just from watching him," Morgan said.
Morgan and Hakel also co-founded the SBU Skate Club their freshman year. Footage of club member Eric Thompson, a junior psychology major, has been posted on the site. The two plan to upload videos of additional members skating, as well.
Morgan and Hakel want the site to show skateboarding as a team sport as well as an individual activity.
"We've been working on a part that really hasn't been done before," Morgan said about the plan to upload videos of him and Hakel doing tricks together.
"We're calling it the 'bros section,'" Morgan said, "and it's going to be awesome. We just need to do more things together." Morgan and Hakel agree most people don't think of skateboarding as a team sport.
To help people see skateboarding as a team effort, Hakel and Morgan have been thinking up tricks that require two or more people to complete.
"I invented this idea called 'The Pass' where I flip the board and kick it to somebody else who lands on it," Hakel said.
Morgan said he believes team skating goes beyond tricks involving multiple skaters.
"There's that aspect of team skating, but then there is when you're skating together and have no influence on each other, except for mental, and you get each other pumped," Morgan said.
Watching Hakel land a difficult trick helps him focus on landing his own tricks, Morgan said.
"I really want to get ideas out there and have people in skateboarding - riders and pros alike - just start thinking about things in different ways," Hakel said.
Skateboarding started as a creative, different and fun hobby, Hakel said.
"I feel like as time goes on, the danger is that people just start to do things in the same way, so right now in skateboarding people are just doing set tricks, but trying to make them bigger, and that's so linear," Hakel said.
That reluctance to experiment and develop new tricks limits the creative possibilities of skateboarding, Hakel said.
Morgan said he hopes 100 Tricks, 100 Days inspires people to try skateboarding.
"There are probably a few million skate blogs out there, but we want ours to be something completely different from everyone else's," Morgan said.
e-mail: mckeowrl@sbu.edu
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