We were lucky to catch up with J T recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi J, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I learned to do what I do mainly through dedication. Skateboarding by no means is easy and takes a lot of will and perseverance to push through the frustration of not learning/landing a trick on the first, second, or even the 10th try. You have to believe in yourself and see it through before you even try whatever it is you have in mind. And that trickles over to anything you do in life. I feel as though the skill of self belief and commitment are what would’ve sped up my learning process in the earlier years of me skateboarding. I feel this way because if you don’t have somewhat of a grasp on both of those skills you’ll catch yourself in a mental block that’ll end up just stunting your growth. Something I realized and learned from my own experience being on the board. You will be your biggest obstacle if you don’t believe in yourself.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started skateboarding around the age of 10 right in front of my house in the Petworth neighborhood in Washington, DC after seeing the X Games contest on TV. Coincidentally the year that Jake Brown took that huge slam on the mega ramp. I fell in love with how freeing and exciting it looked and ever since that first day I stepped on a skateboard I haven’t stopped since. As a kid I really liked how unstructured skating was and that I didn’t have to listen to anyone telling me what I had to do. I could literally be my own teacher if I wanted. Fast forward about 7-8 years I began teaching skateboarding ironically. Even though skateboarding is very much an individual sport, I learned that not everyone that wants to do it can just start off and go like how many of us did. So that’s where I came in and started giving people the push they needed to conquer their fears and commit. Which then allowed them to bring the visuals in their head to life, skateboarding is very much mental as it is physical. I’m now proud to say I’ve worked with well over 100 people through skateboarding from the ages of 3 to 50+ years old and have skateboarded all over the country and world. Thank you skateboarding!
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is just the self expression and me being able to guide my own creative process. I can see my own vision and bring it to life by my own means if I want. My skateboard is my “paint brush” and the skatepark or skate spot I’m skating is the “canvas” I use to bring my art to life.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
The journey as a creative is not a smooth one. We (creatives/artists) make a lot of sacrifices just to continue doing what we truly love to do. Not everything we do that’s attached to our craft is based around money, a lot of it is just off the love of it. As a creative you have to see the bigger picture and value your work/craft before anything. Our creativity is rooted from the love of it, not the monetary gain we can get from it. Even though that is an added plus.
Contact Info:
- Website: jtskateschool.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/killajt?igshid=OGd6dm1vYTIxc3Zs
- Youtube: YouTube.com/@killajt
- Other: YouTube.com/@jtskateschool https://instagram.com/jtskateschool?igshid=YTQwZjQ0NmI0OA== https://dot.cards/jordant?a=user%2Faojszcepymhzrtacei5a40h5f%2Fc%2Fbl
Image Credits
Photo 1: Katelyn King Photo 2: @reidvzn Photo 3: James Saulsky Photo 4: n/a Photo 5: Zach Marin (from left to right)