Travis Cooper Alumni Story: Bonus Blurbs
Frontside flip in Willimantic, CT photo: Jose Manuel Collantes
“…your skating becomes what you have around you to skateboard on…”
The following bite-sized bits of skate wisdom were left over from an interview between Travis “Duck Washington” Cooper (TC) and Danny Landers (DL). Travis has been super involved in the SOLID community since the near-beginning. He has left his indelible mark of honesty and candor on every individual he has skated with, and worked with, here at SOLID. This interview is no exception: Travis has always been one to cut to the chase, and when you mix that approach with his unique outlook on skating and life, you get a rather enlightening conversation. Enjoy!
Duck in Flight photo: Jose Manuel Collantes
DL: So much of a person’s skating is based on their environment - their skate spots, the people they skate with, the videos they’re exposed to…do you agree?
TC: …If you grow up skating skateparks, you’re going to have a certain way that you approach things. You’re going to expect things to grind super good, slide super good, have good run-up; but if you take a different approach, and see what you have around you in your town, neighboring towns, and if you take a different approach with what you have around you, your skating becomes more versatile.”
DL: Do you think you can translate that versatility, with skating, into versatility in other areas of life?
TC: It’s really easy to fall into the same tricks, or skate the same stuff, because it’s easy. I like to challenge myself more, and try something different with my skating. I find the same pitfall in doing graphic design and motion graphics. It’s easy to copy somebody else’s design, change it up a little bit, then call it yours. What’s hard is to make something different, and spend the extra time to do that.
DL: In the light of taking creative risks, did SOLID help you out at all with that?
TC: I think that it takes a certain amount of drive and courage to do things that you really want to do with your life. I’d say I’ve fallen victim to doing things I don’t necessarily want to do on a regular basis, and the stuff that I really want to do is in the back of my mind, eating away at me. The mentality that I get from skateboarding is the same mentality that I want to put into the things I want to do with my life outside of skateboarding. And I’m gonna say that, this idea of taking the same approach that I have with skating, and applying that to my regular life, came from SOLID.
DL: Did you ever feel inspired by any skate experiences at SOLID?
Story telling Travis at Delaware campsite
TC: Yeah, definitely. I would say I felt the most empowered doing the road trips with SOLID, because you got to spend time with people on a regular basis. I would say the vibe was always pretty positive. I don’t know, I think part of skateboarding is building a good energy. The kind of energy that gets people motivated to have fun and try tricks that are new and challenging, and that happens when you put a bunch of skateboarders together…and SOLID does that really well. SOLID has brought a lot of skateboarders together, and it’s been a privilege to be a part of that. Because, I mean, you could go and skate by yourself, and that’s fun; but there’re certain sessions that I look back on that have a certain feeling to them, because there were a lot of people there that have great energy. And that’s what skating has done, and that’s what SOLID has capitalized on.
DL: If you had to describe the energy of a session like that, how would you?
Duck shakin’ a Tail Feather
TC: Some of the best sessions I’ve had, are when we pull up to a park, or a spot, that you’ve never been to before. You’re already planning the tricks you want to do, the lines you want to do, and everybody’s starting to build that energy. We did a trip to Delaware, like five years ago, and we went to Seventh Street Park. This was when DIY parks were starting to pop up. We had never skated it before, different features, good flow…and when we pulled up there, everybody was super hyped to get out of the van and start skating. Back door of the van opened, all the boards fell out, people grabbed their boards, just like ran into the park and started skating. They were trying different tricks on obstacles, and I think the best sessions are when you get into this zone where you’re hyper-focused, and your senses are like heightened in regards to moving around on your skateboard; you start getting in tune with what you’re skating. Those sessions are awesome because everybody’s on their boards, skating, trying tricks, just getting hyped. You’re watching all your friends skate, and do tricks you’ve never seen them do before, and you just feed off that energy. It gets you to a place where you just want to push yourself, or try something harder, or do something different.
DL: Looking back, how has skateboarding impacted your life in a positive way?
TC: I have a lot of good stuff to look back on because of skateboarding, and I want to continue to try and produce that same energy in other areas of my life. Because I’m not going to keep skateboarding forever. I’m going to keep skating now, but, you know, I’m kind of addicted to looking at things differently, and having a new experience. You can do that pretty often with your skateboard. You can’t do that as often with other things in your life; skateboarding has awakened me to that. Because of that, I’m able to move forward in my life knowing that I’ve got something pretty special that drives me in different directions than other people…at least I’d like to think.
Check out Travis’s (ender) part in Steve Mastorelli’s ‘The Meadowlands’
DL: Describe your experience at SOLID in two sentences.
TC: SOLID gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of people. And once I met a lot of those people, avenues started opening up in my life.