The fact that Andy interrupted himself to address Wolf and apologize for interrupting him tells me all I need to know about this young man. Very solid dude.
Andy Anderson is a class act for always repping helmets. Not to mention being a brilliant dude and free thinker - gotta make sure nothing happens to a brain like that 🛹🔥
I don't think Andy realizes by wearing his helmet, setting the example. He is going to save so many kids' lives who will wear one because Andy Anderson does.
It's such a good thing. You can see the difference between people who wear helmets and people who never wore helmets. Completely different level of coherence in speech. Slams to head are not good for the ole noggins thinking ability. This ain't a dig at those people but look at someone like jaws awesome dude and a skater but man has to think a sentence for 5 minutes and when he answers he slurs. You can watch older clips of him speaking normally and answering things normally.
@@gyrate98 Maybe 'Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables' by the Dead Kennedys. I also love 'Raw Power" from Iggy and the Stooges, even if it's mixed like crap.
The fact that many skaters gatekeep how you look/what you wear while you are skating is the ultimate in being a poseur. Giving people crap for their clothes or style not being acceptable enough for "real skaters" is the opposite of what skating is all about. Turning up to a punk concert with in a 3-piece suit and short back and sides is more punk than turning up looking exactly like every other punk is "supposed" to look like.
We have the most ripped, head-tattoed, visually "macho" dude here (in the complete interview) wearing nail polish, talking about how much he values acceptance of different styles, talking about how being macho keeps us from being smart and protecting our brains, and telling us how it's healthy and important for men to cry. Turns out we ALL need acceptance, understanding, and support in order to be happy and healthy. It's not just the weak and the weirdos. He gets it. Thanks Wolf and Hawk for a really great interview. I really appreciate that you guys have so much honesty and vulnerability when so many people have entire shows just talking about how they're better than or judge others. Really, thanks so much. (I also think Andy is amazing and think we need more people with his kindness in skating.)
This young dude is wise beyond his years. His creativity and high level of intelligence shows up in anything he's passionate about. Lucky for us... it's skateboarding. It really is amazing to wonder how far humans can go, and being alive when one of the greats comes along and shows you what can be. I remember thinking how impossible a 360 kickflip was the first time I witnessed it in person, or a freaking darkslide! To be able to witness the shear drive and adaptive nature of humans is worth the price of admission.
@@Shawn-ff2rfHe isn't trying to be cool. He is being himself. Would football players be cooler if they played without a helmet? They get millions to do what they do.
I hope more kids see Andy, and even if they don't get into skateboarding, just emulate HIM. Andy seems very willing to listen and learn, feeling like he has nothing to prove to others, and just does it for the love of the sport, and himself. What an awesome attitude dude, he WILL go far.
I'm teaching my 5 year old son to skate at the moment and I get him to watch Andy Anderson vids to normalize wearing a helmet for him. It's working, he won't skate without it (not that I'd let him), nor will he let me skate without mine xD
A group of us went to a skate park like 16 years ago and we were all skating around the park for about 5 minutes before my buddy goes to board slide this super tall flat rail. Board slipped out and he bailed hard with no helmet. After helping him up, he was asking us for a dollar so he could grab something to drink. Of course all of us teenage skaters were broke af so we didn’t even have one. But once he asked everyone and everyone said no, he started asking everybody again. Long story short he ended up asking everyone so many times that we are started to get pissed off!! I decided to take him home. Just him and I and none of us were aware of concussions or how they worked at the time. We were like 17 years old. It took an hour to get home and he asked me where we were going, where we had been and why were we going, over and over and over the WHOLE way home. I was getting so mad and he just started crying.. he was so fucking confused and couldn’t understand why I was mad at him (I thought he was fuckin around). It was super freakin scary and super sketch. His mom’s a nurse so when I get him home, she knew exactly what was up. I felt so bad for him. He didn’t remember shit the next day. Really good skater, goes for normal boardslide during warm up and gets a proper, gnarly concussion just like that! Had skated huge gaps/stairs etc… had taken plenty of slams. But all it takes is that one little slip up
I bought a helmet and the next skate session I warmed up without wearing it. I waxed a rail a little bit and didn't realize it would melt so quickly in the Florida sun. Landed a great boardslide and then went to do another and slammed my head pretty hard on the ground. Had a nice lump for a few days and am waiting for the weather to cool off. Now I wear my helmet to warm up...
I did it just cruisin down a nothingness of a hill. Went for a walk with my girlfriend and decided to cruise down the barely even a hill so pushin pretty fast and just carvin like I was surfin. Carved too hard backside, wheels slipped, I came off running backwards and after about 3 steps I tripped over my own foot, went down backwards and whiplash smashed my head into the concrete. I got up and was like, shit that was pretty hard, oh crap I'm bleedin a lot. Big splat of blood on the concrete lol. Girlfriend had a look and said that's pretty bad might need some stitches. So I was just like bummer better walk home and go to the hospital then......5 mins later and the concussion kicked in and I was like, what happened, where are we, why am I bleeding, what happened, I feel dizzy, oh look I'm bleeding, there's a lot of blood, why am I bleeding, what happend, where am I??? lol. Lucky we weren't far from home so she said sit down and I'll run and get the car, she went and got the car, took me to hospital and I got like 8 or 10 stitches in the back of my head and admitted over night. The weird thing now is I can remember not being able to remember lol. And that was just cruisin. Can happen anytime. Andy's a smart dude. 🤷♂
It's also an indicator on how skewed ''cool'' is in the eyes of youth. They're so fixated on LOOKING cool, but hey if you're dead or turned into a potato, you can't do any of that ''cool'' stuff anymore.
@@NitroCigarettehelmets just don't look good in skate videos bro that's what it's all about , of course they're fixated on looking cool especially if your making skate vids tryna get sponsored
@@perc3136 Literally posting this under a video about a dude that somehow gets sponsors and makes money with a helmet. This is what's known as cognitive dissonance. Get concussed less.
Never heard of this guy, never skated in my life, never looked at a skate video in my life but somehow Andy keeps showing up in my feed... what a great guy.
I'm 34 and started inline skating (again) during covid. Andy Anderson made me decide to always wear a helmet. I'll be happy I did when I fall and when I see kids making the same smart decision because they saw me do it.
Brain damage is not cool ergo helmets are cool. Simple as that kids. Bobble head or vegetable the choice is easy. any Anderson is by far the coolest skater ever for promoting the use of helmets. The skater that will save hundreds of lives through his influence. I used to skate with Tony at Del Mar. We wore pads then, which was mandatory, but I still fully pad up. I could care less if other people think I'm a dork. It does not matter how good you are when you skate the park, if your wearing a helmet your smart, which is very cool!
@@harvey_weenstain8857 I wear padded shorts and a helmet shit sometimes I even wore a reflective vest but being that I am in my 60's riding a surfskate on bike paths I escape most scrutiny
I cannot even imagine how Andy is sitting amongst giants, staying humble, propping up a positive individualism persona that doesn't require %^#! on someone else, and has the full attention and respect of two legends! Multiple masterclasses in simultaneous session here! ❤️
At 8:15 he talks about people making fun of the tricks you choose to do and that makes me so angry to hear that Skateboarding got to a point where Skaters were making fun of other Skaters. Thats not what skating is supposed to be,it's supposed to be about having fun and expressing yourself. Skaters need to make sure that that never happens again. Skaters are supposed to be united as Skaters and not click up. It's like when I hear people trashing others over pushing Mongo like it's fucking matters,WTF People,Skaters are already the outcasts and some of you wanna act like the people thatve picked on us since the beginning. I started in the Early 80s when being a skater automatically meant you were a dork and the jocks and preps used to pick on us so we came together and anyone that loved skating was in and part of the group,you just had to love skating. It doesn't matter how good you are or how you skate you just gotta love Skateboarding. That picking on each other shit makes me sick and that's why I didn't play sports or ever wanna be a preppy asshole.
Agreed. On pushing mongo: it can actually hinder your skating (shorter lead up time, awkward balance switching back and forth) so I would always recommend to other skaters to teach themselves to push normally (with your back foot). Never from a place of malice, more from a coaching POV. I say that as someone who used to push mongo and got way better once I learned to push normally. But yes, skateboarding is a form of expression and not about seeking others' approval.
Dude, the “life before cell phones” comment is so insane. I remember breaking my arm while out skating and just showing up at home with a cast a few hours later.
I’m late to the party. Old head. I used to skate in the 80’s and 90’s. I saw the Tony Hawk interview with Andy. What a great guy. Now im hooked. I’ve never seen anyone skate like this. It’s like a mashup of all the greats with each trick polished…
Who are you? And where do you get your information? I can tell you that aesthetics mean jack shit if you can skate. Didnt you hear the part when he talked about showing up with a helmet to the park when he was a kid? He said "Dont worry mom, they just have to see me skate" or something to that effect. Meaning the older kids didnt give a damn about him wearing a helmet when he started shredding. If your good, then you put in the time, and you get the respect..... Period.
@@Michael_Hunt don't be such a smartass, growing up in santa cruz there was a famous incident of a dad in his late 20s who died cracking his skull at jose avenue skatepark. It's happened to lots of guys, don't be so sure of yourself.
i'm a snowboarder, we have a term for his style of skating in snowboarding... its called "relatable riding" , I'm 44 a disabled vet and am never going to be able to spin to win or rail tricks at my age. luckily there's a nice online community for a "gray on a tray" like me
Without freestyle back in the 80's there would be no street skating today. As Ellis said, it is amazing to watch the evolution of skateboarding unfold to acceptance of all styles. Blast, Cards would.
"I didn't mean to cut you off." "No, it's your interview buddy, go for it." I've known these two dudes existed for about 3 days and I already like them so much lol
One important thing to consider about a head protection is that a helmet that doesnt fit you correctly can be lethal due to secondary impacts from the helmet to the skull. Always get your helmet bought in person after getting it professionally fitted. (I survived a large crash on a mountain bike due to my helmet. It was nearly split into 2 pieces from the crown due to impact and i had a crater shaped hole in the side of my helmet. Would image my head would have been split open without it). Wearing a skate helmet wont protect you from facial injuries, so be careful if riding with a helmet as the sense of safety in wearing a helmet can make you feel "safer" and may make you try tricks you wouldn't normally try
I've fallen 100 times on a skateboard and I've hurt myself in so many different ways, but I never hit my head proper. This last fall was almost nothing as far as what my body took, but I slipped out and hit my head on the asphalt in just the right spot. I got up immediately on my hands and knees and went into instant headache. My eyes were sensitive to light. The rest of my body tingled and I started sweating like crazy. I took in deep breaths as I sat on all fours. I couldn't walk for 20 minutes. I think my body was trying to cope with the impact and trying to resist falling unconscious. I've been thrashed out before and I felt cocky, but this last little fall just hit me in the right spot. Don't play around with it. You don't want to bash yourself in the head. Wear a helmet while you are learning. It's not cool to get knocked in the skull. All it takes is getting hit in the right spot.
I’m just starting out at 30. Being new and learning at a park where NOBODY is wearing helmets the pressure is real to not wear one. Should have watched this video. I busted my head open a couple weeks ago not wearing one. I’m still at it but never without a lid
Andy is setting a great example for young skaters. When I was a kid skating (50 years ago, I'm old), we had a more punk, anti-style attitude. So there wasn't a dress code, and if you showed up wearing branded shirts, you stood out as a poseur until you showed off your skills. And helmets were barely a thing. My older cousins skated professionally, and surfed for G&S, and when I saw them start to wear helmets, I knew it must be important so I started wearing one too. I really looked up to them and wanted to emulate them. I caught a little grief for it around the neighborhood, but it was worth it.
Ever since I was a kid I’ve worn shin, knee, elbow pads, and a helmet. 1. For protection, 2. Because I’m a little more daring to try things with the extra protection. I care about my body
I’m old enough to remember when seat belts were not yet mandatory by law. People who had them in the car, but wouldn’t use them on purpose as to not look “gay”. Intentionally not wearing a helmet for a sport that involves jumping down concrete stairs is actually insane that people still don’t for ego reasons.
I had my first concussion at 11, bombing a hill on a borrowed board with loose trucks. I barely remembered anything from the week before and nothing from that day at the time. My buddy walked me home no knowing anything was wrong, but I didn’t “come to” until we were almost to my house. I was literally sleep walking. Walked in the house eyes glazed over, told my parents I thought I hit my head, and burst into tears I was so scared. Luckily my dad was a wrestler and had experience with concussions. I started BMX last year and better believe I wear my helmet every time.
Andy is setting is a great example. And I love the fact that skating in the last 15 years has become more open towards "weird" skating tricks like dancing, freestyle and primo tricks. Black Ninja is also a great example for not giving a fuck and using "illegal" tricks.
I hope this makes a permanent change for the better with skating culture. The social stigma against helmets when i was growing up was a big thing that kept me away from it. I suffered a severe concussion when i was 10 because of a seizure i had in a parking lot, and so i had to be careful about hitting my head, and because people would make fun of you MERCILESSLY for wearing a helmet while skating, it made me stop trying to learn it and get better at it. I wasnt going to risk another concussion, and i wasnt going to keep doing it if people were just going to make fun of me for it. I think theres historically been a little too much gate keeping around skating in general historically, and im glad to see that thats been changing for the better
Yeah for sure. I knocked myself out when I was 15 riding dirt jumps by myself. Cracked my helmet and passed out, I don't even know how long I was out. If I wasn't wearing a helmet I would have died in the woods as a teenager.
@@k_sae1676 he also had part of his forehead removed (it was actually in another state than he was for a while.). Hed be dead if he wasn't wearing his helmet. Also if you take that out just the fact of HOW the accident happened should be enough to show you to always wear one.
I remember I used to ditch my helmet in my front yard bush when my mom couldn’t see. Fortunately I made it out okay but I had some CLOSE calls. Later in life I got head injuries outside of skating and it sucked and still does. Can’t imagine what it would be like if those dives I took as a kid got my head combined with what happened later. Wear a helmet because you aren’t any more special than the people who didn’t and are now screwed for life.
I 100% agree with Tony on all counts. To have that genuinely said to you by Tony Hawk is nothing short of historical. And here we have the most ego-free genius crushing it & not letting his immense talent go to his head. I know Rodney Mullen must watch Andy like a proud father. I sure f**in do! And so does Hawk. Right on Andy, keep inspiring the world✊🏽
I've always skated with helmet, but with protech wake bucki laski what ever, saved me a thousand times... But been stunned of my progression by the judgement of people and better at my local... Blah blah but im inspired and busting out the board and giving it ago
At 13, I was riding my BMX bike down a gravel hill, and my father's dog was running with me. Not thinking about it, I turned the opposite direction towards the side the dog was on, and the dog took a right and crossed the front wheel. My face broke my fall. I woke up in the gravel with my pants down, walked a quarter mile to the house with my pants still down, my face perfectly split down the middle with pure roadrash, maybe 40-50 cuts. My helmet was a full face, but I wasn't wearing it. My bell got rung, and I got the snot scared out of me. Pay attention and wear a helmet
He’s basically like the Gordon Ryan of skateboarding. Like he’s the first one that’s an A+ in every category of it. Freestyle, street, vert, flatland, grinds. He’s better than everyone at all of them.
My friend’s husband died bombing down a hill and not wearing a helmet. He hit a rock and got pitched. Unfortunately she didn’t know what happened. He just didn’t come home. It took her a couple of days to find him in a hospital where he was in a coma (he had no ID on him either).
I had my concussion snowboarding. I lost all sense of direction, but not my sense of balance, so as long as I had my buddy with me to tell me where to go I could keep boarding. I was also the only one with a driver's license that day so I still had to drive folk home. They told me where to turn. lol. Probably some bad decisions that day.
A friend's owner of a company was out walking his dog while on a powered electric scooter, no helmet, his dog cut in front of him, he got knocked off, hit his head on the concrete - unconscious - a nurse on her morning jog found him called 911. He died several days later AFTER brain surgery. He was very successful, had an RV business here in the valley in Arizona. This was within the last 3-4 years.
No joke. If you aren't wearing a decent body protector (on top of the rest of the kit), I wouldn't go near a mountain on a bike. I damaged some ribs and bruised my lung, falling on my bike while picking it up to lift it over something in my path, not even mountain biking.
I remember being some of the only kids on the mountain with helmets skiing in the early 90s - hockey helmets. My parents wore toques. Now we have a massive array of brands, styles, etc. It has totally flipped, and the people not wearing helmets are the outliers. And you better believe my parents have long since ditched their toques for helmets. Helmets, folks. Helmets, helmets, helmets. You only have one noggin.
See kids it's ok to wear a helmet while doing any sports. Andy Anderson is bringing a movement that skateboarding has needed for years! Come on guys put on them helmets!
I've always worn a helmet in action sport I've done, just gave me more confidence. Also, think if you crack or break a helmet, that could be your skull.
I remember wearing a helmet snowboarding in the late 90's. Everyone made fun of it, but go to the mountain now. Every person on skis or a board is pretty much wearing one.
I've had 3 concussions. 2 were in fights but the first one was the worst. I was 10 and my brother threw a football full speed at me and the point crushed me right in the temple. All I remember is screaming becuase the pain in my head was so server it was blinding and I puked like 2 times so my mom rushed me to the ER and they gave me Motrin and sent me home and thank god the Blue Gatorade I got from the vending machiene and Motrin helped so much!
Not a skater, but I'm a cyclists who rides mostly in a city, and the amount of people I see without a helmet is astounding. Ask anyone who doesn't wear a helmet why, and they will give you some lame excuse like helmets are: expensive, uncomfortable, hot, annoying, single use, etc. Ask anyone who uses a helmet why, and they will tell you a gnarly story about that "one accident". For me it was a few years ago, when I was riding on a paved running/walking/biking path during a light rain storm. I am coming up to a part of the path that is covered by a bridge, and I see a dude wearing a bright white t shirt standing on left hand side of the path (on coming traffic side). I give him a bit more room and before I know it I am flying over my handle bars. I proceed to land on my back, skid 10-20 feet, and smack the back of my head hard enough to crack my helmet in half. I then get up to see what had happened, and that is when I see that the guy, who I had assumed was a walker/runner/jogger/etc., was actually a cyclist who had left his all black folded up all black brompton in the path (aka invisible). The guy then tries to play it off like I wasn't paying attention, to which I was just like "you have no idea how stupid/dangerous what you just did was. NEVER just leave a bike in a bike lane like that, especially not when it's raining out, and double not when your bike is folded up and all black like that. What I saw was YOU standing in the bike lane, not your booby trap of a bike." To make this whole thing even more avoidable, the place the guy had stopped to wait out the rain had plenty of room to do so not in the path. Thanks to the helmet, I was able to walk it off with some minor road rash, a few good bruises, and a nasty case of whiplash. tl;dr wear a helmet.
I can’t believe we are still discussing this. When I was a kid I thought helmets got a pass because it was the X Games era, sponsorship stickers on helmets etc.
Andy speaks for himself as if he is talking to anyone. Never been on a skateboard, but I follow the guy because of the skill he has. I think wearing a helmet is a great choice, to protect the noggin’. ❤️💯✅
Why do people shame each other over helmets? Like sure they can look goofy but that's where it stops. The rule for wearing a helmet is that you have to go harder than anyone else
In the words of a legendary group of gentlemen from Shaolin “PROTECT YA NECK!” Helmets are cool nowadays You can customize them and add flavor. Freestyle should be in the Olympics its very technical and I enjoy watching it.
