Stacy Peralta

Stacy Peralta Instagram – You’ll find this hard to believe but at one time we thought a frontside kickturn in a pool would be impossible. We thought we’d fall backwards and land on our backs. It was in the very early days of pool riding when Bob Biniak, Jim Muir and I were skating the Keyhole in Beverly Hills. Between runs, Biniak and I were standing in the shallow end, again debating the frontside kickturn. I thought it was possible but he didn’t. So he said to me; “If you think it’s possible, then do it.” I replied with a laugh; “I can’t, but you can.” He looked at me inquisitively. “Why do you think I can?” To which I stated; “I just know you can.” (Apparently the coach and mentor I would become with the Bones Brigade began showing early). I then got out of the shallow end, walked over to the top of the deep end and encouraged Bob to do a simple frontside kickturn halfway up the wall. So he did. He did a simple kickturn right at the transition mark and made it down safely. “Okay, now go to the three quarters mark.” He dropped in and did a frontside kickturn a foot below the tile. “Okay, now hit the tiles.” I challenged. He hesitated a moment, but then dropped in, did a sweeping carve on the opposing wall for added speed, came up the main wall and pulled a perfect frontside kickturn on the tiles. This was a huge deal for us and it happened that simply. In no time we were all doing frontside kickturns and ironically Biniak would go on to develop one of the greatest frontside attacks in skateboarding history as would Tony, Jay and Jim. We pushed each other relentlessly and competed fiercely. I was the first of us to do frontside forevers. In one memorable session I did the most frontside kickturns tile to tile I’d ever done. Coming back to the shallow end, Muir looked over at me and laughed; “Dude, you’re an asshole.” And that’s how it was. It was a simple time that was alive with great possibility and potential and out of it came so much. | Posted on 26/May/2023 19:39:37