{"id":525,"date":"2018-09-07T07:00:33","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T14:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/?p=999917644"},"modified":"2019-08-08T14:00:07","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T21:00:07","slug":"a-dream-come-true-former-pro-skater-brings-his-skills-to-kids-in-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/a-dream-come-true-former-pro-skater-brings-his-skills-to-kids-in-long-beach","title":{"rendered":"‘A dream come true:’ former pro skater brings his skills to kids in Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Long Beach native Kurtis Colamonico looked out on the more than 70 kids who came to the Skate Kids demo session at last month\u2019s Beach Streets, he saw it as proof of how far his skateboard-tutoring business had come.<\/p>\n

It was a high point for the former professional skateboarder turned dedicated father\u2014a guy who has a tattoo on the entire front of his torso dedicated to his hometown. Working with a handful of other pro and amateur skateboarders also on his payroll that day, Colamonico and the Skate Kids team coached the dozens of giddy elementary school kids through their first balancing act on a board.<\/p>\n

\"\"
From right, coach Kevin Miranda teaches 9-year-old Jaclyn Richards how to kickturn during Skate Kids, a skateboarding class in Yorba Linda on Saturday, September 1, 2018. Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The idea for Skate Kids started in 2011 when Colamonico\u2019s son Kruz was born. Knowing that he wouldn\u2019t be able to fully embrace fatherhood if he were skating with his friends or traveling for competitions full time, he decided it was time to trade in the board that brought him success throughout the 2000s for something more sustainable. Watching Kruz take to that same board as a toddler was all it took to inspire a whole new second career.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe opened up my eyes to teaching other kids, because I was getting older and knew I couldn\u2019t skate forever,\u201d Colamonico, now 34, said. \u201cI\u2019d always wanted to be a teacher, so when I was thinking about what I could fall back on, I figured why not teach what I love?\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/longbeachpost\/videos\/253530178830082\/<\/p>\n

In 2014, Colamonico founded Skate Kids and began offering private skateboarding lessons to kids all over Long Beach and Orange County. But what started as one-on-one and small-group lessons slowly evolved into a more impactful business.<\/p>\n

Because of Colamonico\u2019s connections, major skateboarding companies donated equipment to host bigger events\u2014such as week-long summer camps\u2014while school districts and city governments began to shed the outdated negative attitudes towards skateboarding that Colamonico himself dealt with growing up. Soon, he was getting contracts to run after-school programs at elementary schools and for at-risk teenagers in Yorba Linda and Anaheim.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Colamonico signed a contract with the city of Long Beach to teach his craft at the bi-annual transportation-focused Beach Streets events. While he\u2019s still working on spreading his on-campus, after-school program into Long Beach schools, through regular events\u2014plus the lessons, camps, and birthday parties he hosts both at local parks as well as in the driveways and neighborhoods of private client\u2014allow the mentor to spread his skateboarding love across the city where he himself first learned the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing back in Long Beach and teaching the kids here is a dream come true for me,\u201d Colamonico said. \u201cI grew up skating El Dorado [Skate Park] and some of these other parks, so now it\u2019s like it\u2019s all come full circle. I love Long Beach and the people here, and I\u2019m looking forward to doing a lot more in Long Beach in the next year or two.\u201d<\/p>\n

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From right, Kurtis Colamonico teaches seven-year-old Alice Li how to turn while ridding a skateboard during Skate Kids, a skateboarding class in Yorba Linda on Saturday, September 1, 2018. Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With Skate Kids\u2019 recent growth, Colamonico has moved beyond his original focus of teaching dedication, health and creativity through the art of skateboarding and now also teaches workshops where students learn to take apart and rebuild their own skateboards. Aside from helping kids develop a better understanding of the board itself, he believes that working with the small tools develops fine motor skills in ways they might not otherwise get.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to integrate everything I can to help the kids excel as fast as possible in so many different ways through skateboarding,\u201d Colamonico said.<\/p>\n

Of course, Colamonico is also learning plenty of skills himself as his business expands. Just like how he once put hundreds of hours into improving his tricks at the skate park, the entrepreneur\u2019s latest tricks are all learned on his laptop. Corporate basics like composing an email used to take him hours, but they\u2019re now done in 15 minutes. Managing his own schedule used to be a challenge by itself, but now he\u2019s hoping to open Skate Kids up to other professional skateboarders looking to step down from the competitive scene.<\/p>\n

More than anything, the biggest lesson he\u2019s learned has been the same one he teaches on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really just about not giving up, which is the same thing I preach to the kids and the same thing I did during my skateboarding career,\u201d Colamonico said. \u201cI\u2019ve watched a lot of people get so close to breaking ground following their dreams, but then they go back to working a 9-to-5 because they need it at that moment. Skateboarding taught me to live through that struggle in order to succeed. It\u2019s been a lot of learning, working and focusing, but I get to see hundreds of kids smiling and skateboarding now because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information, visit WeAreSkateKids.com or email Kurtis@WeAreSkateKids.com.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Long Beach native Kurtis Colamonico looked out on the more than 70 kids who came to the Skate Kids demo session at last month\u2019s Beach Streets, he saw it as proof of how far his skateboard-tutoring business had come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":256,"featured_media":66049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[256],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[5459],"class_list":["post-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-skateboarding","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/256"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=525"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}