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| Chris Terins / Co-Founder / S-One Helmets answered some questions for Concrete Wave Magazine. |
Question #1
Do you see in any difference in attitudes between the
younger crop of longboarders and the older skaters
when it comes to an issue of helmets? If yes, what do
you attribute this to?
CHRIS TERINS (S-One Helmets):
Longboarders are wearing helmets because the longboard pros wear helmets.Vert skaters are wearing helmets because vert pros wear helmets. Street skaters are NOT wearing helmets because the street pros do not wear helmets.
Question #2
Why do you think street skateboarding has so many issues with helmet usage?
CHRIS:Street skaters would wear helmets if the pro street skaters wore helmets. Since street skating began in the late ’80s, none of the pros wore helmets. Wearing a helmet isn’t a part of the street skating culture. Luckily, when longboarding had its recent resurgence, guys like Louis Pilloni, Adam Colton and James Kelly
were wearing helmets, so the new crop of longboarders are stoked to wear helmets.
Question #3
Any other thoughts on promotion of helmet usage?
CHRIS: Just wear ’em. Kids just want to fit in and not
feel like they are different. So if their heroes are wearing
helmets, then they will wear helmets. Simple. I have
always said if the pros wear tight pants then the kids
will wear tight pants. Oh, wait, that happened already!
Question #4
What would you tell a kid who doesn’t want to wear a helmet?
CHRIS: If you really love skating, wear a helmet,
because you are going to be skating a lot and eventually
you will hit your head. And head injuries are no joke. You
can die or you can have permanent loss of memory or
[sense] of taste, or emotional and learning problems —
the list goes on. I had a friend, Jon Moak, die in a
skatepark from not wearing a helmet. His family misses
him dearly. If he had a helmet on, he would still be living
life and skating every day.
