Are Skaters Crazy?

In any other sport, when you get hurt, you stop. You take a break, recover, maybe even see a doctor before getting back into it. But in skateboarding? You slam, get up, shake it off, and try again—often while bleeding, limping, or barely able to hold your board. Some skaters even pride themselves on pushing through the worst injuries, rolling away from a trick with a broken wrist or torn ligaments like it’s just another battle scar.

So, what’s wrong with us? Are skaters actually insane, or is there something deeper going on?

Pain is Just Part of the Game

First, let’s be real—skateboarding hurts. Every skater knows the sting of road rash, the deep bone bruises from a missed trick, or the dreaded credit card between the legs. But instead of seeing pain as a reason to stop, skaters treat it like an obstacle to overcome.

A lot of this comes down to conditioning. From the moment you start skating, you learn that failure is part of the process. You fall, you get up, you try again. And the more you skate, the more normal it becomes. A slam that would make a non-skater quit for good? Just another Tuesday for someone trying to land their first kickflip.

The Psychology of Skateboarding Through Pain

So why do skaters keep going when most people would call it quits? There are a few key psychological reasons:

• Dopamine and the Addiction to Progress – Skating is all about progression. Every trick landed releases a rush of dopamine, the same chemical that fuels addiction. That feeling of finally rolling away clean after hours (or days) of slamming? It makes all the pain worth it.
• The “Tough Guy” Mentality – In skate culture, toughness is respected. While the community is supportive, there’s an unspoken rule that real skaters don’t back down. If you want to be taken seriously, you push through pain, not away from it.
• Fear and Conquering It – Skateboarding is a constant battle against fear. Every trick requires a mental fight—especially when you know bailing could send you flying. Overcoming that fear is addictive, and once you realize pain is temporary, it stops being a barrier.
• The Community and Peer Pressure – If you slam at the skatepark, chances are someone’s yelling, “Get back up!” Skating is one of the few sports where wiping out earns you respect. No one claps when a football player fumbles, but if you fully commit to a trick and eat it hard, you’ll probably get props just for trying.

Are Skaters Actually Crazy?

It depends on how you define crazy. If you think “crazy” means willingly throwing yourself down stairs, ledges, and rails despite knowing you’ll probably get wrecked—then yes, skaters are nuts.

But if you see it as dedication, resilience, and an almost obsessive drive to progress, then maybe skaters aren’t crazy at all. Maybe we just love skateboarding so much that we refuse to let pain stop us.