Omar being stoked on spreading stoke I Photo: @digimil
I love seeing the different sides of skateboarding, but my favorite part is seeing the pure joy and energy kids embrace skating with. Omar Rivera has the privilege to witness what we all love in it’s purest form pretty much everyday. I mean, talk about your dream job…
Imagine waking up, packing the van and picking up a bunch of people who’s main goal for the day is to go skate and have fun. That’s what Getting up and going to work is like for Omar. Now of course, it’s not all fun. Kids can be a handful and challenging (just ask Joseph Gil) but I’m willing to bet most of you reading this would take Omar’s gig over barbacking, or a stuffy office 9-5 job.
Get over here kid. I’m gonna learn ya somethin! I Photo: @digimil
The trip happened to be on election day 2016. The first pick up was at around 9am and headed through Brooklyn and Manhattan to get to the park in Bayonne. Avoiding traffic, we made it pretty quickly and were strapping on pads. Omar ran the kids through some pumping drills and let them skate freely around the park. After a while an impromptu contest broke out on the mini ramp with Omar taking volunteers to compete and judge the runs.
The future is now I Photo: @digimil
For lunch we had everyone’s favorite: Pizza. It was a good time to just chill out and talk with some of the kids. Cleo and Ellory are a brother and sister, 9 and 11 years old respectively. They surprised me when they told me their favorite skater was Bob Burnquist, looks like the kids are alright, after all.
Cleo, age 9. I really hope she still wears this shirt I Photo: @digimil
Omar is proud of the kids accomplishments. Its not just about skateboarding its a great way to keep kids out of trouble and to learn team work and the kids look up to him. Keep up the great work Omar.
Awesome… I don’t know of any child or adult for that matter who isn’t automatically connected to Omar his positive energy and love of life in addition to skateboarding…This is his true personality..