Czech out this hip skate!

Next time an elder screams at you for wasting precious time on a skateboard, you can just tell them to back off. No more is skateboarding considered a pastime, what with pro-skateboarders raking in more moolah than some other professionals. The city’s young and daring skateboarders hit the city streets on Sunday for a unique skateboarding workshop at the Red Bull Local Hero Tour 2014.

We meet Czech Skateboarding Champion, Maxim Habanec aka Max, who took city skateboarders for a spin!

Max can board free style, grind and shred on ledges and ramps, kick flipping a 360 degree flip, as he talks about his tricks. “The adrenaline is amazing but it’s not only about the rush that I get when I’m doing this. It’s also the feeling of perfecting some trick you’ve been trying for really long time. It’s important to start with the basics; there is no need to rush. For beginners, it’s important to get good stability on the board before trying some tricks. Once you have good stability, you can try to jump (ollie),” says the veteran pro on his first visit to India.

We ask him what was the turning point when he decided he wanted to take up the sport seriously and he reveals, “What I love about skateboarding since the time I started is freedom. All you need is just your board. I started when I was six years old, but I think it could be possible even earlier.” 

For a boy who has travelled the world flaunting his skill, Max shares his favourites. “I love Barcelona, which is like heaven for skateboarders. Smooth ground everywhere you go, nice weather and also interesting people. But the capital of skateboarding is Los Angeles. Most of the best skateboarders are from there. Once I skated on the roof of a train station. It was like a big U-ramp and I was doing tricks on the top. There was a drop of 20 metres from this roof. It takes lot of passion and motivation to keep going. It’s good to find a good group of friends who skate board as well. When I was young I used to practice with older friends and they taught me some tricks and how to behave in the skatepark. I travel a lot for skateboarding, so now I have started taking good pictures. I am always looking around to catch the right moment for a good capture.”