Pushing on: A Rolling Ethnography of Skateboarding Later in Life

By Paul O'Connor

Paul O'Connor's journalistic ethnography takes us beyond skateboarding and sport to teach us about community, self-determination, and life itself.

Paul O'Connor turns our attention to the long-overlooked contingent of older skateboarders. Their cohort boomed during both the COVID-19 lockdown and skateboarding's debut at the Tokyo summer Olympics, and long-time veterans have been joined by a wave of new skaters.

Building on over ten years of research and a lifetime skateboarding, O'Connor reflects upon the popularity of skateboarding with those in middle age and beyond. Working his way across the United Kingdom, O'Connor interviews skaters confronting issues such as menopause, mental health, parenthood, neurodiversity, suicide, and death and challenges both the notion that skateboarding is a youth sport and that older participants are amidst some kind of midlife crisis. The result is a nuanced narrative that displays the full alchemy of skateboarding later in life: it isn't just a sport, it's a tool that allows people to form new bonds, rediscover themselves, and transform the self and spirit.

Playful, fun, and deeply meaningful, Pushing On illuminates the ageing skateboarder with both masterful storytelling and committed ethnographic approach.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HGP2468W
• ISBN13: 9798216472063
• Release Date: May 2027
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"