17/10/2024
Hey everyone, Kevin here.
Just wanted to check in and let ya know what is happening.
Yes it's true that after 4 years and 8 months, our club/collective is shutting down.
This was not an easy decision to make, but it was the right one.
I won't go into details, as it is boring and doesn't really matter.
I do want everyone to know that mysrlf and the other collective members will still be out there giving advice, teaching some stuff and giving skate tips.
We will just be doing it on our own, the way it used to be in the beginning. We are still at the skatepark, we all still skate, and we are around to help when we can.
What is stopping?
The mobile shop. The current situation is not feasible for a small local shop to function at all. We could never compete with online shops with prices or selection, we were just not large enough. We set this little shop up by skaters for skaters. Unfortunately the online giants win this battle.
We are in the process of selling any remaining stock at big discounts so watch for some rad deals, some of which have hit our page today.
Group meetups. (For now)
We are stopping the group meets for now as they have become too difficult to plan effectively. The weather of the last two summers has been so bad that we were hardly ably to get out at all.
Also, I'm not the only one who is a parent now.
Collective members Ethon and Carly have a young son and family time is always important, and our other longtime member, Izak and his missus are expecting their first child in April. I know that my daughter Ayda, who was a couple founder of the club, is now 16, so doesn't need dad so much, but the young kids of our members need a bit of quality time with family. They also will need to practice to become the next generation of skaters!
As you know, I sustained an injury at the skatepark which turned out to be a bit nastier than first thought, and i am still mostly off of a board for another few months. This kind if stops me from doing any skating or teaching, etc.
I have to rest the shoulder so it heals properly.
As well as these things, the stress of running a club which relies on community support and donations us a 7 day a week job, and it is exhausting after almost 5 years.
It's time to get back to the roots of why we started in the first place.
All that stuff being said, it's a bit bittersweet, but our young skaters that started with us are going on to big and bright futures as skaters and young adults.
While we can't take all the credit, hopefully we helped a little bit.
As some of you know, I am also the irish chapter president of a global skateboarding club called 100% skateboarder.
This club does much of what the collective did but on a worldwide scale.
The Irish chapter is alive and well, and from this point, any community related things we do or are a part of will ne done through 100% Skateboarder Southeast Ireland Chapter .
All of the familiar faces from the collective are part of this club, so stop over to our page and our insta, give us a like and say hi.
From myself, Arno, and all of the collective, thank you for 4 and a half rad years.
