"My name is Euan and I am a 39 year old skateboarder"

To some people it may sound like an introduction to a self help group such as alcoholics anonymous, however I'm not ashamed to say it.

I first skated when I was probably aged about 12 on a solid wooden decked, rubber wheeled set up which possibly came from an Argos store. It wasn't until I was 14 or 15, by which time the initial skate boom had bust, that I managed to get hold of a "serious" set up. I bought a
little used G&S Fibreflex freestyle deck with Gullwing trucks and red Kryptonics wheels for the princely sum of a tenner.

As there were no parks that I knew of other than Livingston, which might as well have been on the other side of the world as 25 miles down the motorway from Stirling where I was brought up, I just cruised about on the streets, tick-tacking and 360-ing, did my paper round on it and used the deck as my main means of transport. I loved that deck, the way it sprung under my foot and how smoothly and quietly the red Kryps carved along the road.

What I am ashamed to admit is that I don't know what ever happened to it.

The eighties came and brought with it employment, marriage, family and all the responsibilities that came with them. It wasn't until the nineties that I restored my interest in skating and to be honest it wasn't easy. No internet, no satellite TV and no publications that I knew of. Skating was commercially dead and I had to write to Thrasher magazine in America to get hold of something to read.

With the increased publicity, the benefit of the internet and Extreme Sports coverage on satellite television skating became popular once again over the past five or so years but by then I was into my mid 30's and felt well out of it. I was reduced to watching it on the box and reading about new tricks and the new style of decks in the magazines. I longed to get back out and get involved but everywhere the perception was that skateboarding was a kids' pastime and my days for that were long gone. I couldn’t see a way back in.

About two years ago I read up on longboarding and it's apparent association with more "mature" skaters. This was it I decided. I could return to skating with an element of decorum, which would be in keeping with my years, now creeping towards the big four-oh.

I thought long and hard and eventually purchased a G&S 44" Fibreflex Kicktail with 180 Randall trucks and the trusty 74mm red Kryptonics. It looked, and still does, fantastic. It sprung under my weight like a trampolene and cruised like a ghost ship. So what did I do? I took it out started tick-tacking it and trying 360's! I even took it to Perth and tried kick turning off the banks.

No matter what I did on it I just wanted to cut about, do manuals, tick-tacks and 360's. The problem was it was so slow and pedestrian. I knew it was just a substitute for what I really wanted and my excitement soon wore off.

Last summer I was in America and visited the Vans park in Orlando, one of the several which was to prove the financial ruin of the company and the cause of it's eventual sell out to Wrangler of all people. Vans in Orlando was amazing. If you ever go to Orlando see if it's still in business. You'll never see anything like it anywhere in the world.

Massive street sections, an enormous pool section with several bowls and depth variations, the biggest vert I've ever seen, staggered half pipes of various heights and that was just the indoor part of the park. My son bought a new set up got it put together and disappeared into the park while I watched from the extensive overhanging walkways which reach out over the park.

Later on that night I took his new set up out and cut about the car park at our apartment, doing kick turns, 360s and tick-tacking about like there was no tomorrow. The feeling was so good the next day I started shopping around for a deck, wheels and trucks of my own.

I visited various skate stores around the Orlando area and bought a Powell Cab pool deck, a set of Jay Adams Grind Kings and 60mm Spitfire classics. I was back skating and felt brilliant.

Admittedly I was crap however, let's face it, I hadn't skated for over 20 years and that had always been on the flat and never in a park. It felt amazing and I didn't care what anyone thought.

When I got home I set off to Perth and started to skate fairly regularly once or twice a week. I caused a bit of stir occasionally as it appeared that some kids thought they were in for a bit of something special when this old geezer came into the park strapped on the pads and helmet and produced an old school set up but they soon realised that I was just finding my feet again and wasn't really a pro after all.

After some time I started to discover wasn’t alone. A couple of like minded guys from down south contacted me to ask about the Scottish parks after I put a post on a message board somewhere and they were just at that time setting up their website – Middle Aged Shred– which now has membership in the hundreds. Tony Hawk, Jay Adams and Stacey Peralta being some of the more famous.

I now skate whenever and wherever I can. At every opportunity and if one doesn’t arise I’ll go looking for it. I’ve skated at Epic in Birmingham, Bones in Stockport as well as the Scottish parks and everywhere I’ve been I’ve hooked up with other skaters some in my age group and younger who just love to skate and have given me the encouragement and advice I only dreamt of.

I turn 40 in January and it’s now exactly a year since I started skating again. I skate ramps and parks I wouldn’t have imagined or wished for. My big regret is that I didn’t have the bottle to get out and get skating earlier because I was too concerned about what other people thought.

If Skateboard Scotland can achieve anything I hope it can smash the misconception that skating is a kids game. I probably don’t have that many years left to skate so I’m up for every minute of what’s left and so should you.