Skateboarding Saves Contributor: Skater Claus
Skateboard Helmets and My Two Cents
In 2018 I was bombing a hill and woke up in the hospital. I was going to pick up my son from pre-k and on the way out the door my wife said “Hey, wear your helmet!”.
I scoffed & said “I’m just going a few blocks, I skate our street every day, I’ll be fine” & left without my helmet.
This is one of the biggest regrets of my life. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I fell hard and sustained a traumatic brain injury.
It completely changed my life. I’m not the same person. Skateboard Helmets are a hot topic these days, and I am here to say I advocate for them.
The worst part of the injury is light sensitivity.
Light gives me headaches and at the 9-5. I work on computers all day.
When I do my Skater Claus board giveaways I always also give out helmets & pads.
There’s still a stigma around wearing a skateboard helmet in the skate community.
I think this needs to stop.
If you’re an adult and don’t want to wear a helmet, that’s fine – your choice.
But I think it’s irresponsible to let kids skate without a helmet. And, I also think as a skate culture we need to squash the idea that helmets are lame.
I promise you, that you don’t want to deal with the effects of a traumatic brain injury.
