I got my first skateboard in 1977 on my birthday. It was a black Makaha Pro IV and I basically learned everything on this board. I was also on our local icehockey team so I already got all the protection for the head, knees, elbows and hands. Later I would use this gear for evictions. I learned to break falls in our garden and later this proved very convenient in the grappling/throwing techniques of Aikijutsu. Anyway, Ollies and Flips were household expressions. When I got into punk in 1981 I put the boarding on hold but picked it up around 1984 again and got me a bigger and better board. With the Bloedbad gang we often sneaked into local parking garages and the best was going down in catamaran style (sitting on your board holding another one opposite of you). But it went fast, very fast. We often smoked and drank heavily and searched for new kicks. The most dangerous was probably stoned skating in the evening with a rope tied behind a moped and racing through a busy street. I always brought my deck to France to skate in the mountains but it was often too steep. I definitely stopped when I fell headfirst outside of a gig and was out for a couple minutes. Someone I used to skate with, sent me this amazing youtube video about a skater in Switzerland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSBcrmx4aFw