The Truth About Getting Into Fingerboarding in 2026 | S4 E165

On this week’s episode of the podcast, we welcome special guest Corey @hoshikuzuuu, a brand new fingerboarder who got into fingerboarding in late 2025. We hit the road to the Gary Graves skatepark grand opening in Corydon, Indiana to compare the experience of getting into fingerboarding in 2026.

We talk about Corey’s journey from modern fingerboarding community, attending his first events, learning tricks, buying setups, contest intimidation, social media, and the difference between watching fingerboarding online versus experiencing it live in person.

This episode gives a rare look at fingerboarding through the eyes of a brand new fingerboarder entering the scene in 2026.

⚑CONNECT WITH COREY⚑ 

 Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/hoshikuzuuu 

Transcript

speaker-0 (00:06)
Welcome to the USAFBL Fingerboard Podcast. I'm your host, Levine Cunningham. Today I've got Cory. Cory, him your handle.

speaker-1 (00:11)
How are you?

On Instagram my name is Hoshi Kuzu, H-O-S-H-I-K-U-Z and three U's, U-U-U.

speaker-0 (00:24)
Man, all right, so Cory here is new to finger boarding. I wanted to do this podcast because I have never really came across someone who's serious about finger boarding, but basically started finger boarding in 2026.

And so I'm happy to do this pod today because I would love to be able to sit down, talk with Corey, get an insight perspective as someone who started finger boarding on their journey in 2026. Most of us, we started finger boarding in the early, you know.

late 99s and early 2000s and some of us started in 2010, some of us started in COVID. But to find someone in the wild who is a brand new finger boarder in 2026 with all of this cool stuff at hand, I feel like we need to sit down and talk about it. What they're watching, what they're doing, what they're interested in, what they're seeing, what their opinions are, are people treating them well?

Is there gatekeeping or being welcoming? Like I want to know all of the deeds today. We're going to get into that stuff. But first, before we get too far into the nitty gritty, Corey, where are you from? And where are you from? And like, let's go a little bit more about you.

speaker-1 (01:40)
Yeah, so I was born in Gary, Indiana. Shortly after that, moved to Indianapolis and I was born and raised there.

speaker-0 (01:51)
And so you officially started finger boarding. All right, tell us the train because it's a little murky.

speaker-1 (01:57)
Yeah, so I'm 31. When I was younger, maybe 2005, 2006, around there, I was finger boarding, but I was in elementary school, know, having tech decks. And I wasn't that good at all. But as I got older, I ended up putting tech deck down. And recently, I got back into it. I saw something online that just sparked my interest.

and went to zoomies saw a slush colt bram deck ⁓ 30 bucks grabbed it and man that was that was was the start of the rabbit hole man i fell in love the first my first wooden deck with real bearing wheels i loved it man i loved it and it was history

speaker-0 (02:46)
And then one more time, when did you pick this thing up?

speaker-1 (02:49)
around 2005, 2006, 2007 when I was in elementary school.

speaker-0 (02:54)
And then you figure worded a little bit. then after that, what happens?

speaker-1 (02:59)
You know life happened put the fingerboard down But on Instagram, you know social media. I was still getting fingerboard ads, you fingerboard Content showing up so that kind of piqued my interest Found out slush slush coat was it was a thing ⁓ and then boom went to zoomies got a ROM deck and Fell in love man fell in love and I wasn't around in December

speaker-0 (03:28)
So December 2025. So you took a super long hiatus after figure boarding in elementary school. You kind of just messed around with it. Nothing too serious.

speaker-1 (03:30)
Yeah.

Nothing too serious,

I'm better now than I was before.

speaker-0 (03:42)
Okay, okay. And so you came back into it late December 2025. Pretty hardcore, I would say.

speaker-1 (03:49)
Man, dude, I I fell into it started buying multiple setups obstacles Traveling around I met you

speaker-0 (04:00)
And for reference we're actually traveling to cordon indiana to a grand opening of the new cordon skate park which gary griggs and sam miller have been Relentlessly working towards getting the city to fund and build this skate park. It also has the two

most expensive fingerboard parks in the world there as well. grand opening is today. We're actually, I'm excited about going down there and checking this event out. This is your second event. And you did a events once before, right?

speaker-1 (04:33)
Yes, sir. My second event.

Yeah, back in February, Index had a red mag and Index... ⁓

an event basically and that was my first time going. I drove two hours, two and half hours to get there and I had a blast. my goodness, I had a blast.

speaker-0 (04:58)
Man, all right, so this is gonna be your second event. That's why we're in the car. We're driving down, supporting our friends Gary and Sam, seeing the fingerboard parks in the skate park come to tuition. It's been a long time coming, at least five, six years in the making for sure. Man, all right, so you are basically five months into your fingerboarding journey as a hardcore fingerboarder.

I've been off and on fingerboarding since 96. You guys haven't heard or seen my story. I think it's an episode 48 and 49. If you guys want to check out my journey, my founder story. But I'm kind of interested to kind of see his journey, his perspectives versus someone that started fingerboarding in the mid 1990s.

came back in during COVID and then kind of comparing some of the stuff that he's saying with the experiences that I've had, plus the experiences that over a hundred of my podcast guests have had as well. So it's going to be a very interesting story. So stay tuned, stick with us and let's get into it. All right. So when was the exact moment that you discovered finger boarding the second time? I know you say you got like the ads kind of coming in there, but like

Was that the only thing that was kind of getting you back in the finger boarding or was there any other influence on you?

speaker-1 (06:28)
So I actually had a small tech deck from when I was a kid. And I would try to mess with that, but they couldn't do anything, right? And I always wanted a wooden board and some bearing wheels. So after messing with this tech deck and getting those ads, know, seeing stuff on social media, I actually went to Zoomies and was chopping it up with one of the cashiers there and he had...

Fingerboard setup like a professional fingerboard set up. He let me see that and that really Gave my first fingers on you know the foam grip on wood and messing around man. I had to buy I went my wallet out bought the deck and Was trying to find the community that second?

speaker-0 (07:16)
Okay, so he got you basically sold on finger boards, at least buying it at a ⁓ entry level pro level kind of media and I guess you would say yes. And so when you said you were looking for the community, how did you go about trying to find finger boarders?

speaker-1 (07:36)
How did I go about finding fingerboarders? So I went to Facebook first thing, I typed in Indiana fingerboarders, tried to see what was going on, know. Couldn't really find much on there. ⁓ So what I did is I went online, just look up fingerboarding stuff in general, and I found ⁓ USAFBL. You can find my YouTube videos out there, podcasts and everything. And...

At that point, I just had my slush grom deck and just the will to find something. So I found out you lived in Indiana. And by the grace of God, I was looking for obstacles and found your Etsy page. then I was like, yo, we got to link up. Instead of you shipping something to me, let me pick it up. So I messaged you on Instagram and you hit me right back. ⁓

lined up a transaction, met you in person, and you were the first person in the community, really in the community other than the cashier, but in the finger-boarding community that I met. then after talking to you, you opened up so many doors for me to meet other people.

speaker-0 (08:50)
That's wild. All right, which which zoomies did you go to? I live in the same city. Yeah Of the castle tomorrow. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I know exactly where that one is That's crazy. And then that cashier had a fingerboard and then lined up old Okay, so you found me

speaker-1 (08:55)
What did I want on Castleton?

I'm the bar.

speaker-0 (09:12)
And then I referred you to the index store and that's how you got hooked up to the index thing. So, okay, so pieces are starting to together now. Cause you're like, where's the closest store? Where's the closest thing? And I pointed you to the Chicago index store. okay. Man. All right. So you got off Facebook. Did you get into the groups?

speaker-1 (09:33)
Yeah, so there's not very many Indiana groups, but locally there are. So I joined theirs, Ohio, Michigan, and of course Fingerboard Unlimited, Fingerboard Tips and Tricks. And I talk to people on there when I see something cool I like, shoot a message or a DM or a comment and get connected that way.

speaker-0 (09:59)
And are you posting any edits or clips or anything like that on Facebook or Instagram or?

speaker-1 (10:06)
So I posted one clip and it was just me doing one trick on the stair set that I got. I posted that to Reddit and I was surprisingly, I got upvotes. I got some people that really approved it. So that was a shock to me. I thought, I got something different. But the people in the fingerboard community are very welcoming, even to a newbie like me. And that makes me feel so comfortable.

speaker-0 (10:27)
That makes me happy to hear, because I want people that not want to be... I don't want people to be shamed for their fingerboarding. Even if it's a new person with terrible style or someone even that has like good style or whatever, whatever. Like I just don't want people to be shamed for basically posting clips. So the fact that you're being posted clips and you had a genuinely like good experience doing that makes me really really happy.

Alright, you have an Instagram account. Are you active on your Facebook, your finger boarding Instagram account?

speaker-1 (11:06)
Not yet, not active yet. I want to get a little bit better because I know the competition on Instagram is real tight. You know, I want to be able to do a variation of tricks instead of the same ones. But right now I'm just soaking up all the inspiration and motivation I can get. So whenever I do start posting to Instagram, ⁓ I'll have a new product or something new to show everyone.

speaker-0 (11:30)
Gotcha. Okay. Okay. So like, what are some of the big accounts that you're following? Like, so when you get on Instagram, like what are you seeing? Who are you following? Like what's like genuinely like smart in your interest within the community?

speaker-1 (11:44)
To who I follow, I follow a lot of big companies, Black River, USAFBL of course, have to follow them, Kim's, FB, Relic, so many people, 001 Untitled, Flatface, so many people. Any fingerboarders that I see that I like, I follow. Rise, so many people.

⁓ So whenever I open up my Instagram account, I see so much stuff so many talented people that Man, I get stuck just going just watching everything. Yeah, it's amazing

speaker-0 (12:27)
Crazy thing about being alive you get to see stuff like that this Amazon truck with their brakes burning real hard Hopefully he's okay Alright so Your buying experiences. I know that you are deep in a rabbit hole of just trying it Alright talk to me about The rabbit hole how did it start? What if you how far down the rabbit hole you got?

speaker-1 (12:48)
Neck deep, neck deep in that area.

Oh man, dude. It started with the zoomies, you know, going there, buying that first deck and then meeting you, getting those obstacles and then going to index, buying boards, wheels, trucks, and then going to events and testing out other people's Being able to try different stuff without buying is amazing. The buying experience is great, honestly.

Most of what I want is for sale. I can go and grab, which is amazing right now. But there are some things like knife. I want to try a knife deck so bad, but I know a lot of people are having trouble getting those. So am I.

speaker-0 (13:42)
Everybody's having trouble. I kind of consider myself to be one of the big dogs. I know Andy personal. got his phone number and I still can't get one. It's tough man. It's tough. I hear it's crazy. Is there anything confusing to you as far as like the buying like the buying experience for like just finger boarding components, gear, obstacles, etc.

speaker-1 (13:53)
It's so tough.

anything I would say no only because I've done so much research into finger boarding and the small few months that I was buying or you know looking into buying stuff I've done so much research so much reddit research and talking to you and everybody that I meet personally that I get so much good information nothing's really gate-kept when it comes to the consumer wanting to buy stuff that it's not that hard

All you have to do is ask a question ⁓ and you usually get all the information you need. So it's not that difficult for consumer to buy it.

speaker-0 (14:48)
See, that's what I love today in our, this era. Like the amount of information that is available to you is unheard of. There's so many companies, so many brands. There's so much information as far as like how, like for wheels, like just the, durometer is like, you know, how grippy the urethane is recycled wheels. Like there's so many like.

There's a lot of resources out there to find this information. Now you have red Facebook groups, like there's podcasts, not just mine, but other people's as well. Interviews, things like that. I'm like, there's so many resources right now, as far as like figuring out just wheels and that shapes it. Trunks and how Kingpins kind of sits stuff like that. I'm like, you might have learned a ton of that stuff. Now that you're going to events, which, uh,

speaker-1 (15:32)
Amen.

speaker-0 (15:41)
Kind of a hot tip, like you can save a ton of money by like feeling other people set up. Obviously get permission first, you start feeling people set up. You know, you're just like, Hey, what are you riding? It's like, you they'll be like, yeah, I got, you know, some of the wassaki wheels, some black Rover trucks and, you know, a noise fingerboard deck. Okay. Well, we might as well try it out. Try it out. You're like, I like these wheels or maybe I don't like these wheels. Kind of save a little bit of money by not having to go out, buy those and try to figure out if you like.

It can also hurt you because now you like I love these now I gotta go buy these so now you're like crap now I'm out $200 cuz I went and saw this setup and I gotta go get it

speaker-1 (16:23)
I'll give you all these boards for these sets of wheels.

speaker-0 (16:31)
Alright, finger boarding. Are you having, I guess your phrases, learning tricks? Are you just naturally just learning tricks? Are you researching the tricks on how to do them? Like kind of walk us through how you're learning the fingerboard.

speaker-1 (16:51)
So as well, I go to YouTube a lot, look up tutorials. Also, I used to skate when I was younger as well. So I have a little bit of familiarity with how to do certain tricks on a fingerboard or a skateboard, because some tricks, that's what I'm looking for, they overlap with how you do them on a fingerboard and a skateboard. But for example, like a heel flip, not the same at all.

So thankfully like I was saying before there's a plethora of information out there for a new individual like me ⁓ To learn how to do tricks or after I learn a trick. What should I learn next? There's so much information on YouTube, Reddit, ⁓ Facebook, ⁓ Friends that you have in real life. ⁓ So yeah

speaker-0 (17:38)
Are you purposely learning certain tricks or are you just kind of letting those tricks naturally come to you?

speaker-1 (17:46)
I'll purposefully learning tricks. I love how a tray flip looks on the fingerboard, especially when it's nice and slow. And I want to do one so bad. Like I want to do one so bad. So I purposely went to do that. I can't really do a pop shove and very good on a fingerboard. I can kind of kick flip consistently, but man, I have to learn how to do those tray flips just for me, just for me personally. It's just, just like feel good.

speaker-0 (18:12)
Interesting. I've always been a natural like letting tricks kind of naturally kind of come to me and then I kind of focus in on like, I can very well flip like

I don't even think about it, but I have to really focus to get a straight kickflip. And so I have to really kind of learn to kickflip where a varial flip just came natural. I just kind of rolled with it. So that's interesting. You go out and learn certain tricks.

Are there, is there a time where you kind of felt like quitting in your short journey? Was there like a time where you thought maybe finger boarding wasn't for you or were you always just like, finger boarding's cool and like down for the cause?

speaker-1 (18:58)
Yeah man when I first started again, when I got that slush colt rom deck, really honestly wanted to quit soon after that because I wanted to do tricks immediately, right? But I couldn't do anything, but that's just the process of learning how to fingerboard. You gotta be bad to be good. ⁓ But I wanted it right now. So when I couldn't kick flip, when I couldn't ollie, I really wanted to stop. Because I'm seeing everybody doing it.

effortlessly. ⁓ But I was just discouraged for that slight moment. ⁓ I know for me to get good at something I have to keep doing it. That's what my friends told me online. That's what I saw in videos as well. And also the journey is something that I have to learn how to like as well. So yeah.

speaker-0 (19:47)
Okay, okay. How's the community been treating you as like a whole? you reached out to anyone and you know, have you had relatively positive experiences or have they been negative or DTB or kind of walk us through like your interactions with the community?

speaker-1 (20:07)
So not

only the Miami and my media community, everybody around me, I message people on Instagram. mean, ⁓ people who own companies, for example, Kim's individual on Kim's. I just message him not expecting anything back, but he'll message me right back and we'll have a conversation. And that really surprised me and that really made me happy. And I love it so much. And not only that, the individual from Rise, ⁓ I'll

send a message responding to one of his reels and we'll have a whole 30, 40, or five minute conversation. I've had nothing but love from the fingerboard community and that's surprising coming from other communities where I know it can be really toxic. It's truly amazing and what makes me want to dive deeper, help the community even more, spend more of my money.

speaker-0 (21:06)
Alright, so competitions and events. I know you went to the index events. We're on our way to the the cordon opening skatepark event. Did the index event have a contest?

speaker-1 (21:22)
It

did have a contest, yep. And I did not do that one either. I was scared. was lucky scared.

speaker-0 (21:28)
Fair enough, fair enough. What did you think of the contest? Like, was it your expectations of how a contest was to be ran? Did it meet it? Did it exceed it? Was it something completely different that you were expecting? Like, kind of walk us through your perception as, finger boarding competitions.

speaker-1 (21:48)
It exceeded my expectations because I was used to watching ⁓ contest from YouTube, you know, or Instagram from a screen, really. But being there is completely different. Like watching a football game on TV and watching a football game in person, completely different. The energy is amazing. I love the energy so much. ⁓ This makes me want to get up and fingerboard to get better, you know. ⁓

Well, yeah, was a 10-10 experience from watching it on YouTube to seeing how they conduct the fingerboard events and seeing the skill in person is a whole other thing. I think I have a chance at doing some of the tricks while watching on Facebook or YouTube, but seeing it in person is completely different. It's like, oh my gosh, wow. But I love it so much. Give it a 10 out of 10 experience.

speaker-0 (22:40)
Okay. All right. The future. Yeah. And one year from now, where do you feel like you would be as far as finger boarding tricks, obstacles, equipment, like kind of walk us through what your vision of what one year from now looks like in your finger boarding journey?

speaker-1 (23:00)
I thought about that, man. That's a good question. That's a good question. So I've only been fingerboarding for about five months now or four months and some change. And I already have close to over 20 setups, so many obstacles, so many of your obstacles. I can only see it growing from here because my love for fingerboarding is only growing as I do it. Trick wise as well, I've only been in it for a little over four months.

I can tray flip, know, I love it when I can tray flip landing it It's like I it's like landing a trick in real life on a real skateboard. I get those endorphins running through my body It's like I got I can't stop ⁓ So I see myself getting better man, I'm already doing tray flips kick flips I'm kind of getting heel flips, you know, very real flips. I kind of got so this time next year I I see myself doing all that having it consistent ⁓ Heel flips consistent

consistently doing contests as well. Being around people like you, having the obstacles that I have, I no choice but to get better. No choice but to get better, man. yeah. This time next year, Dan there should be sponsor.

speaker-0 (24:20)
Alright brand owners watch out for this guy. Alright you talked about 20 setups. I don't know if you can remember all 20 setups but walk us through these 20 setups.

speaker-1 (24:26)
so many setups.

So one being the slush Brom completely stock my most recent setup being December decks 34 millimeters with UAG trucks Joy-Colt bearings Gori grip max grip Second one is another December board. I love it 33 and a 33 and a half Gori grip independent trucks and that has flat face J4 wheels on it

And then speaking of flat face, I have a few of those. I have the 36 millimeter ⁓ flat face G16 with the blistered wheels logo, green, dynamic trucks. Those have blue wheels, the 79R, ⁓ Gori Gritmax. Everything has Gori Gritmax. I'm trying to think here. More flat face. have the 32 flat face, ⁓ holographic. ⁓

speaker-0 (25:29)
you

speaker-1 (25:31)
Those have independence on it with blistered marble classic wheels on them. Yes. Okay. I think another one here and then I have a low key. So a brand called Decatur. I have a brand called Decatur from Louisville. I actually got introduced from a friend I met on Facebook. So that has ⁓ your tape on it.

It has hex chucks on it and redemption wheels. One last one I can think of off the of my head. Kim's board. That is the cat guts. I think what I have on there, it has hex as well. With,

speaker-0 (26:04)
Huh?

speaker-1 (26:23)
I think what wheels I'm so sorry. can't think of that redemption wheels as well the the new street ⁓ Mint wheels, that's all I can think of off top my head. I'm so sorry

speaker-0 (26:34)
No, you're all good. All right, so out of all of those setups, which one is your favorite?

speaker-1 (26:39)
Right now my favorite would be the December with the J4 wheels. That setup feels so good. I'm used to having the flat concave from the G16s, but after getting my hands on the December, man, and the kicks are less mellow than the G16, but I love it so much. That's my favorite.

speaker-0 (27:00)
Okay. All right. I'm going to do some rapid fire questions to kind of lead things off as we're getting close to the event. All right. What is your best finger boarding trick so far? Tray flip. All right. What is the dream trick for you to land?

speaker-1 (27:13)
It's very fun.

uh inward heel uh probably backside inward heel to lip slide

speaker-0 (27:32)
Okay, Kickflip it out of a lip slide. I like it. I like it. All right, what is the dream setup? Money not an option, availability not an

speaker-1 (27:42)
Option My dream setup would be another December board when he comes out with more decks gory grip

JoyColt Indy Trucks with Southsoft 4 Sheets Tuning, which I want to get my hands on, with J4 Wheels.

speaker-0 (28:01)
Jesus.

Okay, okay.

If you could have one brand sponsor you what brand would that be?

Alright, my Snyder brush pressure is on you. Alright, what is the most confusing thing about fingerboarding to you industry-wide? Like what is one thing that's just super diffusing? It just doesn't make any sense about the community.

speaker-1 (28:36)
About community...

Why there's no more, why there's so little shops and fingerboard parks to see and visit. When I was first getting in, I typed in fingerboard skate park, like nothing came up, know? Sex confusing, you know? But other than that, front side, back side. That was confusing when I was trying to figure out how to do that. I was like, I don't get it. I don't get it at all.

speaker-0 (29:07)
Okay, okay. If there was one thing about the community as a whole, what would you fix? What do you see that's kind of like problematic?

speaker-1 (29:22)
⁓ problematic. I've only been in since December. I've seen really a lot of good, not very much bad. What I would probably say to change? Probably the drops with the very small amount of finger boards. You know, I would change that. Everybody has to have stock on board all the time. Let's go.

speaker-0 (29:48)
Okay. Man, right on. I like it. All right. Well, stay tuned for part two. We're getting ready to pull up to Quartet Indiana. We're going to go to this grand opening and we're going to come back and we're going to pick Corey's brain as far as how the event went, his experiences and some secondary questions. So stay tuned. I'm excited.

All right, welcome back to USS BL for the board podcast. This is part two. We just got done with the Gary Graves event out in Coeur d'Anieu. Of course, we got Corey here on the mic. Let them know your Instagram account.

speaker-1 (30:36)
My name is Hoshi Kuzu on Instagram.

speaker-0 (30:40)
I like it, I like it! Alright, so Cory, just a recap for you guys. Cory is new to fingerboarding, so we are looking at...

the new perspective of the person coming into finger boarding in 2026, which is interesting because most of us, we either came in during COVID or we came in earlier than that, like 2010s or my case, you you came in, in tech decks was just now entering the market. And for you guys that don't know, we are actually on our way home from the event. So this is live in the car, got the car files. We've got a good two hour drive back to Indianapolis. And I feel like, Hey,

Let's bust open the pod. So let's do this. All right. So Corey, this isn't your first event, is it? All right. So talk to us about your very first event.

speaker-1 (31:28)
but it's not.

I went to Index. Index had a Red Mag and Index collab ⁓ event in February. That was my very first event. It was amazing. I had such a great time. Met so many good people. Learned so much.

speaker-0 (31:50)
Alright so Chicago, Illinois, at the index shop, that's your very first event, that's about what, a three, three and half hour drive? Not too bad. Alright so where does this event come and apply? Is this your second event, third event?

speaker-1 (31:56)
I'm pretty close to that,

Yeah, so this is my second event here.

speaker-0 (32:06)
Alright, so your second event happened to be at a skate park and ran new skate park at that Gary Graves. If you guys aren't familiar with that story, definitely go check out. I can't remember what podcast episode it is. think it's 161 with the terror twins. Definitely go check that out. It's got the full story on how Gary Graves basically helped get the city to fund and put together this awesome skate park. Also has two of the most expensive finger boarding parks in the world. We got to experience those today.

day and I'm excited to kind get into it. Alright so we got out of the car walked on to the skate park property. Talk to me about the emotions, the vibe, the atmosphere, like walk us through your experiences.

speaker-1 (32:53)
I ⁓ was nervous actually. I was kind of nervous, excited at the same time. I didn't know what to expect, how many people would be there. But driving by the skate park the first time, I saw there so many people, man, I was generally excited and happy. There were so many people in the community to come and support. But walking up, it was extremely hot. Extremely hot, but...

Like I said, super exciting. When we got to the park, was already a handful of people there fingerboarding and skating. So getting to be able to meet the people there, meeting new friends, it was a great experience. It being my second time, it's getting me more comfortable with going out to new places and meeting new people. ⁓

speaker-0 (33:45)
So what surprised you the most about the event?

speaker-1 (33:50)
What surprised me the most, probably the amount of people that were there. There was a few thousand folks there. I was not expecting that at all. It was kind of hard sometimes to get a spot where you want on the park, but ⁓ everybody was friendly and we all got our turn.

speaker-0 (34:07)
I'm not gonna lie, was a lot of people, about 2500 or 3000 people I think showed up was what they're saying at the Pindley event. I mean, you have a few celebrities out there, Van Majera.

Indie Roy and all that was out there. Hyped up the crowd, people engaged. Gary Gray, Sam Miller, terror twins out there doing their thing. Tons of skaters, tons of fingerboarders, tons of fingerboarders who skated, tons of skaters that fingerboarded. You even got a couple of Kanamas out there as well. So there was a ton of people out there for sure.

How did people treat you as a newcomer? Like did you feel intimidated or like how did what was your experiences just being like just viewed as finger boarding due to the park, due to everything out there.

speaker-1 (34:54)
I was welcomed with open arms by all the finger boarders and skateboarders there alike. I honestly was kind of nervous because, you know, me being new, I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of everybody that knew how to do all these cool tricks. ⁓ But as soon as I let people know, I just started finger boarding. It's like they opened their arms and ⁓ welcomed me and that made me feel so comfortable. Met a whole bunch of new friends, ⁓ board makers, people who own businesses.

just regular finger boarders. ⁓ It was such a great experience. I can't wait for the next one.

speaker-0 (35:28)
What's the biggest kind of perception for finger boarding watching it online versus like watching people like in person like I know I don't do a lot of edits you can't really compare me online versus in person but I like Jack Perry was there finger boarder like I'm sure you've seen some of his edits like what's like kind of the differences he looks fine like as far as like watching him finger board in real life versus like online

speaker-1 (35:53)
I feel like

it's more interesting to see it in person. See really breaking down how they move their fingers. It's a few little things, you know. I feel like it's more entertaining, kind of like watching wrestling on TV versus watching it online or watching it in person. know, it's way more interesting. It's getting intimate with how the fingerboard has moved their fingers. Seeing the setups, how it weighs, how much the...

setups away. ⁓ It's incredible.

speaker-0 (36:28)
Now I know we did have a contest today, so we did a best trick, we did like a round robin as far as like the spots around the park and stuff was. Did you, did you enter?

speaker-1 (36:40)
I did

not enter. need to work on my skills a little bit more before I do that. I would have won the loser award.

speaker-0 (36:49)
So what would be the reasons, I guess, for you to not compete? What was kind of like one of the factors of you just not wanting to kind of get involved?

speaker-1 (37:00)
me

because I already had my mind made up that I wasn't going to compete anyway, even before I came here. Honestly, moving forward and going forward, I will compete in the next one. ⁓ This is because you see how nice everybody was. There's all skill levels in the competition, which made me feel more comfortable. I thought it'd be just a bunch of killers, ⁓ but there was all skill levels. So moving forward, I will do competitions.

speaker-0 (37:27)
I think the first time, at least my experience is hosting tons of contests and stuff. Most people that's like go on tour and they compete, like a lot of them, that's like their first time, like actually entering a real contest. And a lot of people are kind of reluctant to kind of get involved because they don't know where they compare or like place themselves along with other people. And I think once you kind of see where the bar is and where other people are, they feel way more confident getting involved next time. Sometimes a lot of people are just like, dude, I

which I would have even there like there was people that were good. There were people that like, and like right on my level. I'm like, and they did their thing. And I'm like, I could have easily gotten into my thing. And I kind of regretted a little bit later, like, I always tell me like, you come back here. I like up here. I'm like, you do that. I want to see it.

speaker-1 (38:10)
Yeah,

yeah, I'm definitely going to start practicing more, get more consistent. I'm a compete man. You're going to see me up there.

speaker-0 (38:16)
I look at contests kind of like a, just kind of like a, just being able to compare yourself as far as like where you're at with like the rest of the community and things like that. Seeing what other people have things of that nature. So I feel it more or less, it's kind of like a report card. It's like a finger boarding report card. kind of how it is.

speaker-1 (38:36)
I need to get my grades up.

speaker-0 (38:39)
Alright, did you get any clips?

speaker-1 (38:43)
I did not get any, because I was too busy watching and experiencing everything. The food trucks, all the skaters, the fingerboard parks were fantastic. I spent more time skating the fingerboard parks and actually getting clips.

speaker-0 (39:01)
Was there anything that you should have done or wanted to do that you didn't do?

speaker-1 (39:08)
Now looking back at it now I should have did the contest because there were so many variations of skill level. ⁓ I should have brought my skateboard and skate. But yeah I should have got more clips as well. Maybe it came a little bit earlier but I can do that next time.

speaker-0 (39:30)
We did get there a little early, so we were able to get some spare time on the park. If you could have brought your skateboard, you probably would have had a better chance. It was at the peak of the event. I don't think you would have gotten a skateboard out. Not at all. at all, that's for sure.

speaker-1 (39:44)
So packed.

speaker-0 (39:45)
Alright, so overall experience at this event, you've been to the index shop, you've been to a skate park slash fingerboard park. I don't even really know if I consider it a fingerboarding event, but kind of like what's your overall experience, guess, like a zero out of 10 scale, like.

speaker-1 (40:02)
Zero out of ten, I give that a ten out of ten. The energy was wild. ⁓ Everybody was cheering everybody else on. The finger boarders exactly were cheering everybody else on. ⁓ The MCs were great. They were giving away boards, giving away money. ⁓ It was fantastic, honestly. Comparing it to the index, where I was at the index event.

I say the only thing that was different was only a things where the index was in indoors and there was this actual skateboard part as well instead of just being straight finger boarding. So that added a little twist to it as well. I enjoy it a lot. Honestly, I enjoy it.

speaker-0 (40:50)
So does this turn you on to going to more events or is this something that you're kind of like, if there's something close, I'll probably go, but does it turn you on to like being able to go to more events, maybe traveling to more events, things like that.

speaker-1 (41:03)
100 % I want to travel to more events. This this motivated me. I'm going to go home and practice and be more consistent because I want to place well when I when I do start competing. So 100 % I'm going to start traveling. Hopefully next year go to Fingerboard Con and rendezvous. I'll be so much better. But yeah, I will 100 % be going around and meeting new people, getting those new connections.

speaker-0 (41:32)
Right on! Man, anybody you wanna give a shout out to?

speaker-1 (41:38)
LeVine Cunningham. Thank you LeVine Cunningham. ⁓ Thank you USAFBL. Thank you Gary for hosting the event. Bam RGR, thank you for showing up. Everybody, thank you for showing up. The fingerboarders. ⁓ Noice fingerboards. Amazing.

speaker-0 (41:57)
Definitely, thanks for everybody showing up to the event as well. Kim, Gary, Sam, Bam, Andy Roy, Noice, Fingerboarder, Fletcher Parks, Krom, man, I feel like almost everybody that was up there. We had a ton of people out there for sure. If I missed you guys, I definitely will definitely add you guys to the honorable mentions for sure. I love you guys. Until next time.

Take tight, I'm soaring like a bird Every trick or story, every slide or word Grinding on the edge, I'm breaking the mold Fingerboarding dreams with the weight in gold Hear the wheels as they scream In this fingerboarding dream Fingerboarding, I'm fighting fame

as they scream in this finger-boardin' Finger-boardin', I'm flyin'

speaker-1 (43:37)
I'll write my story On this board I'm never alone In the skatepark I found my home In the board and field of thrill Chasing feelings and never ending will