Old School Skaters and Skate This by Paul, OSS Founder

It has been my pleasure to be a member of the Skate This skate club for fifteen years. I have enjoyed the opportunity it has afforded to me to participate in an exciting and peer-respected skate scene. The other members have inspired and nurtured me from my humble beginnings.

In the early stages, I relied entirely upon Skate This to supply all of my skating needs and for years it did that very well. Ned, it's charismatic leader, was able to bring all kinds of skaters together under one common skate-umbrella. The club's members were awesome skaters and their popularity and influence grew and grew. It was exciting to be a part of it.

Skate This was involved in many skate-related activities. It was famous for fresh hip-hop freestyle street skating and the choreography was creative and innovative. As I matured as a skater, my interests grew beyond the regular street-skate scene. I was introduced to "Show Skating" at Venice beach and fell in love with it. It fulfilled me. I immediately immersed myself in learning new routines and loved dressing up in costumes. I had really found my niche.

I tried to convince some of the other Skate This members to join in but was met with little enthusiasm. Most of them felt that the idea of show skating was not their style. That was their prerogative. So, without the express support of Skate This, I wanted to come up with another name to use to represent my troupe when we performed. Ned suggested that I take the name I was already using for my t-shirt brand, "Old School Skatewear", and modify it to "Old School Skaters."

And that's how the Old School Skaters skate club was born. It was formed to allow skaters in the San Diego area, who wanted to, the opportunity to do some show skating. That is the mission of Old School Skaters. To achieve this goal, we are offering several venues throughout the year where skaters can perform publicly. It has been a long struggle, but a few more skaters participate each year. Many thanks to those who have participated and supported our efforts.

I still love to roll with Skate This and enjoy the family atmosphere that everyone there shares. I also like to perform with Old School Skaters at shows and enjoy wearing a costume every now and then.