Retired professional skateboarder shares skills with community to cope with mental health in Santa Barbara
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Retired professional skateboarder Sammy Baptista shares his skills with kids and others in the community to help them with their mental health.
Cody Wickersham is eight years old. He’s been skateboarding for two years.
“It motivates me a lot more, so I can skateboard a lot more,” said Wickersham.
He has ADHD.
Things have been better since the skateparks have been calling his name.
“Because it's like, take out, like, a lot of my ADHD,” said Wickersham. “So I can be better at skateboarding.”
Wickersham is not the only one who feels better when he hops on a skateboard.
Retired professional skateboarder Sammy Baptista says it saved him.
“Oh, I mean, talking about all this, it literally gets me emotional, and I'm like, there are almost tears in my eyes when I do explain some of that because yeah, definitely, like, I don't know where I would be. I don't know what I'd be doing,” said Baptista. “You know, like you find what makes you who you are, and that's art music engulfing yourself in work and being successful, whatever it is. and skateboarding was that for me.”
Baptista uses his skills to help others.
He owns the Santa Barbara Skateboard Academy, which gives private lessons to people of all ages from Santa Barbara all the way to Los Angeles.
He also runs a summer camp for kids.
“I think it just creates like you start to learn how to believe in yourself more and more,” said Baptista. “And with each thing you do, you gain more confidence.”
It also brings a smile to their faces.
“You're going to fall down, and we're going to get back up. and so with kids learning how to skate, it just creates that mentality of like, I didn't get it,” said Baptista. “But I'm going to keep trying. and when I do get it, it creates that happiness that lasts a long time. I feel like over life.”
The kids at the skateboard camp agree.
“I was a little bit nervous,” said Skateboarder Jack Hara. “Like, I was worried about how many times I fell, but I just keep getting back up.”
“I do it. you keep trying it until you do it,” said Wickersham.
Skateboarding lessons are available. For more information, click here.
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