The Rise of the Middle-Aged Skateboarder

PEORIA, Ariz.—The Old Dude Skater Crew is back on the ramps at Rio Vista Community Park, carving bowls, landing tricks, and proving that skateboarding doesn’t come with an expiration date.

Steve Scales, 50, believes you’re never too old to throw down. He kicks off and launches into a difficult aerial that many skateboarders half his age would hesitate to attempt.

The public skateboard park in Peoria, Arizona, offers the ideal setting to refine his “steeze,” skateboard slang for a smooth blend of style and control in motion.

“It’s exercise. At our age, it keeps you mobile, keeps you having fun,” said Scales, the crew’s tallest member at 6 feet 8 inches.

The price of staying on a skateboard has included broken ribs, rolled ankles, and bruised knees and elbows. But Scales said the rewards far outweigh the risks.

The Phoenix chapter of the Old Dude Skater Crew has become as much a myth-buster as a skateboarding club, challenging assumptions about what growing older looks like.

“I actually think I’m a better skater now than when I was a kid,” Scales said. “This is my longest stint of active skateboarding.”

It’s How They Roll

In June 2014, avid skateboarder James Freeman of Atlanta founded the Old Dude Skater Crew on Facebook to bring together like-minded older skaters.

The goal was simple: reconnect with friends, relive the glory days, and spread the “stoke”—the joy, camaraderie, and excitement that have long defined skateboarding culture.

Today, the group has grown into a nationwide community of older skateboarders promoting fitness, friendship, and the thrill of riding.

The most active chapters are in Denver, Phoenix, and Portland.

Some members are returning to the sport after decades away, while others are stepping onto a skateboard for the first time.

Ryan Jones, 44, of Surprise, Arizona, is one of the newest members of the Phoenix chapter, having skated for about a month.

“I’ve always been fascinated by skate culture since I was a kid—just too chicken to do it,” Jones said.

At 6 feet 5 inches and 300 pounds, Jones is learning in small steps: staying on the board, maintaining balance, and building toward basic tricks over time.

“You’re never too old to learn,” he said. “My first day out, I took the board, thought I could just push off, and landed on my [buttocks]. My elbow’s a little tender still.”

Life, Scales said, rolls at the speed of a skateboard. Age is no barrier—only determination and the urge to ride the concrete waves.

“It’s really like an accessible roller coaster. You choose your own adventure based on your skill level,” Scales said.

“I started the Phoenix-based ODSC group because I saw there are a bunch of older people out there skating.”

Damon Motts, 52, had skateboarded through his 20s and 30s before stepping away from the sport for nearly two decades.

In 2018, he noticed his skateboard sitting in the garage, untouched for years.

He decided to take it for a spin to the mailbox, throwing an “ollie” along the way—a trick in which rider and board leap into the air without using the hands.

One of his young daughters saw him and became inspired to try skateboarding herself. Her enthusiasm rekindled his own, and Motts found himself back where he left off.

He soon gravitated toward the Old Dude Skater Crew in Phoenix to hone his skills and make new friends.

“Best thing I ever did—for my body, for meeting people,” Motts said. “When you’re in your 40s, it’s a little harder to make friends.”

His wife worries about injuries, so Motts makes sure he’s always “all padded up.”

“Everybody’s a big family. Most of us are just getting up to speed and having a blast,” he said. “We’re not competing for anything. We’re out here just to push ourselves.”

He’s endured broken ankles, sprains, and wrist injuries, but says his love of skateboarding beats the setbacks.

“I learned the hard way to be fully padded. I wear a helmet no matter what, whether I have pads on or not,” he said.

Now in middle age, he says recovery takes longer, but the urge to skate hasn’t faded.

“I’ve got knees that need to be replaced,” Motts told The Epoch Times. “I’m just trying to keep going as long as I can, until I can’t take it anymore.”

Learning Curve

Ezra and Bonnie Wierda believe there is no age limit when it comes to skateboarding—or any other sport.

“You’re supposed to grow up,” Ezra Wierda, 52, said, “which is a myth.”

He works as an auto body shop manager in his adult life, but still rolls as a skilled skateboarder—something he was before life’s responsibilities came calling.

“My son pointed out a skateboard in a shop and said I should start again. So I did. I brought it home, and Bonnie said, ‘What is that?’ And I said, ‘That’s my skateboard.’”

A week later, Bonnie, a 54-year-old accountant, was learning to carve bowls, pushing around the skate park, “and that was it,” her husband said.

“It’s challenging,” Bonnie Wierda said, “pushing the limit, going higher, dropping, doing tighter kicks and turns, trying [aerials].”

Carving bowls is her favorite, she said, describing the smooth flow of moving up and down the skatepark walls.

“I won’t do any of that street stuff because it’s high risk and this is a lot lower risk,” Wierda told The Epoch Times.

“You can’t be a skateboarder without having injuries. Plenty of slams, plenty of cuts or bruises and scrapes, but they are all worth it.”

Ezra Wierda said skateboarding has a strange way of shaving years off your age. It’s a mindset.

“Once you take it on, it’s going to actually pull you back in age. You feel younger, you feel revitalized. With me, it’s a core part of me that I hadn’t done for years. When I started doing it again, I felt alive,” he said.

Young at Heart

Scales, an engineering director in a technology department, said the Phoenix chapter has hundreds of members and a solid core group of active participants.

“I got back into it for a little while in my 20s, and then life happened. I had kids and stuff. And then my daughter kind of was interested in it,” he said.

He painted his skateboard, as did the Wierdas—Dr. Doom on Ezra’s board, a cobra and mongoose on Bonnie’s.

“I kind of rediscovered the joy of it,” Scales said. “Something I really enjoyed as a kid. We all have this common ground.”

Matt Davis, 44, of Peoria, has been with the group for the past three years.

“We’re just like kids. There’s no logic here” other than skateboarding, he said.

Scales said the Phoenix ODSC group maintains a presence on Instagram and typically meets on weekends in small “ramp sessions” of five to 10 people around the valley.

One of the biggest apprehensions, he said, is facing the stereotype of being an older skater and the fear of being judged or laughed at.

“What you’ll actually find in reality is the opposite is true,” Scales said. “The community is very welcoming to those wanting to learn skateboarding. But a lot of new adult skaters are very hesitant to be seen practicing.”

Scales found himself back on a skateboard in his mid-40s. He says one of the best parts is being accepted by younger skaters, speaking their slang, and throwing down with the best of them.

“You’re in that zone, learning new tricks,” he said. “The biggest issue is just your ability to be resilient and fail 500 times before you get it right. There’s a lot of falling involved.”

He wears elbow pads, knee pads, hip pads—“the whole nine yards, just in case.”

“As long as I can, as long as my body holds up,” he said, he’ll keep skateboarding.

Irving Savage, of the Portland ODSC chapter, said he’s still learning tricks at age 52.

“Skating is a reason to cross-train and eat right. Some of the guys in the crew can throw down,” he said.

Some hardcore members couldn’t imagine a life without skateboarding, Savage told The Epoch Times.

“Sit still, and you corrode and rust out,” he said.

“It’s life. Things just don’t feel right without it. All my friends skate, and without that one thing we wouldn’t know each other.”

He skated on and off through his 20s and late 30s. At 39, when life grew hectic, skateboarding became his outlet. He’s been skating consistently since 2012.

“I like to laugh about how some injuries don’t heal. They just become a new limp,” Savage said.