Scottish Skateboarding Haggis

Learning about skateboarding has been an educational experience for me so I hope it will be for you as well I have interviewed Scottish Pro Skateboarder 'Haggis' to see what he can tell me about this little publicised sport.

Hallo there! Whats your name and where do you come from?
My name is Haggis i'm 24 and i'm originally from a small town in scotland called Blair Atholl ( near Pitlochry). But I now live in Edinburgh.

When and why did you start Skateboarding?
I started skating age 8/9. I suppose the main reason was that I had really bad eczema at the time and the teachers at school wouldn't let me even go swimmimg cos of it and most of the kids were scared to touch me. Skateboarding was just catching on at the time and I took it up as a sort of escape - as a new identity for myself 'cos I felt rejected from society

When and where did you start competing ?
It started as just a hobbie then when I realised I was actually quite good I started doing competitions. That was when I was about 19 I enter lots of competitions, mostly in Dundee, Aberdeen and Bristo Square in Edinburgh. a couple of months ago I came 2nd in a competition in Dundee with most of the skaters from the whole of Scotland competing in it.

What exactly is involved in competing?
The competitions are not really formal, but they test your speed & generally involve lots of different tricks, ramps etc... they are a really good laugh 'cos basically all the skaters know each other, it's like a way of life for us & everyone gets on really well & there are always big parties after the competitions.

Where do you Skateboard on a day to day basis?
Obviously it's too dangerous to skate outside when it's really wet, and generally too cold in Scotland, but there is a special skateboarding centre in Dundee with lots of ramps and stuff.

Tell me all the kit you would need to get started then.
You SHOULD wear elbow & knee pads & even a helmet, but you'd look like a sad fool and would be laughed out of the park - no-one would really take you seriously - some skaters might get away with wearing knee pads under their baggy trousers, but image is usually more important, it is a lifestyle, a culture where you have to look right & a helmet would not really fit into that! In any case, we're always falling off, landing on our hips or heads or something, but we always just get back up & carry on - we're very resilient!!

Do you not get bored of just skateboarding around?
We often do 'OLLIES' which involve jumping over things. People (lying down) are often a good subjest to jump over on your board. I have managed to jump over 6 or 7 people successfully on more than one occasion, but it has been known to go wrong... which is not only embarrasing, but leaves me with non-too-happy squashed friends!!!

Have you ever been injured?
I've never had any worse injury than a sprained ankle and big grazes, although when railings are involved there is always the risk of friction burns in delicate areas!

Sounds lovely ! Again probably a sport I am not going to bother with!