Hardy has been infatuated with skating since he was eight years old. When his neighbor rode past him and did an ollie, his fascination started and he immediately picked up a skateboard from either a garage sale or from any friend with an old board.
“It’s my passion, my DNA,” Hardy said.
Hardy’s favorite thing about skating is that it can be something he can practice alone or with others, it’s a fun sport for him and it’s hard because of how skaters change their mindset to be in-tune with the skateboard.
“It’s hard to be comfortable, it’s more of being an object on a board,” Hardy said.
Hardy tore his ACL at the start of the year, and as of the interview, he had been off his skateboard for three months, which is the longest he had been without skating.
“I hope to be back on [skating] within the next 60 days,” Hardy said
Hardy had wanted to own a skate shop since age 12, to show is passion for his lifestyle, and meet all these different skaters,
“I had friends who made fun of me, but when I left the school it was just me… and it became a culture,” Hardy said
How the community has impacted Hardy is greatly, with the feeling of a moth to a flame. Hardy felt like it was a calling, the want for a local skate shop and a skate team of his own.
“I felt like there was a calling from the community for a new lane… I saw all these different sports with their own teams and the scene was growing… I wasn’t capitalizing, I just wanted to show representation,” Hardy said.
Hardy describes the community as very wide open.
“Some people are just jumping on the bandwagon, but its bringing in so many people and theres so many other groups in it,” Hardy said
Hardy’s advice to people getting into skating is to be willing.
“If you’re not willing to fall down and get hurt, this isn’t the lane you want… you have to be willing to eat crap,” Hardy said.