Even though COVID ruined the hopes and dreams of millions of people, it opened doors for some, like English teacher Dustin Childs.
Childs spent most of his life practicing one sport, wrestling. He wrestled from elementary until his junior year of college. During a Veteran’s Day workout, he unexpectedly tore the labrum in his shoulder, and it would keep him from being able to wrestle for the rest of that year. The injury devastated Childs.
Once he had shoulder surgery and recovered, he planned to go to college, but that soon came to an end as this was around the time that COVID began sweeping over the U.S. Not being able to compete in anything at that point sent Child’s into a deep pit of despair for a while.
That same year in 2020, Childs came across a video on Instagram that sparked some old memories. After seeing a thrilling clip of skateboarding, he decided to give it a try. He’s skateboarded for four years now.
Childs primarily started the skateboarding club here at Ball so he could fit skating into his schedule a bit more, but also because he wanted to teach and give kids an opportunity to join something new and to have fun with it. A bit of advice he gives to beginning skaters is to get used to an idea called “risk intimacy”, where the more and more you fall, the more accustomed you become to the feeling, and it gives you far greater confidence on your board.
Childs says that the program will stay at the school as long as he is there and he doesn’t plan to stop skating anytime soon.
