Heelychat, the forum for heelys, the shoes with wheels - View topic

Guest

I was bored today (like usual since I've been home w/o a job)...

anywayz, I went on youtube and was watching some old heeling videos. I decided to look up what has been uploaded today, the past week, and the past month. I never realized how many freakin videos are put up everyday about people using heelys. It's ridiculous. I mean, i know "all those shoes" are out there, but people actually use em and like to film themselves.

So like, do people not come out and say they've either tried them out or have them for fear of being ridiculed?? I have a feeling that so many people out there who use them don't realize the potential of these shoes/give up too easily. I mean, i like to laugh when people wipe out- don't get me wrong. But think of how many of these people (realize i'm not saying kids because i'm seeing a lot of older teens / adults in these vids) could benefit from a few lessons from people who actually "know" what they are doing on these shoes?!?!

It's unbelievable. I mean, there are skateboarding sessions during the summer or weekends for kids to learn and get better. I mean, the potential of this is unreal. Well, i'm just looking forward at where we can take this.

And yes, before you respond, I know, that's what the in-store demo's were for and now we've moved to "disney" to do vert demo's. yes, yes, and more yes. Idk, i just feel like we gain and lose a crowd of people everyday...some that are trying them on for the first time, and others who are frustrated and either throw them away or take the wheels out and use em as shoes to get their money's worth. sure. w/e. i guess this story has been brought up and killed before...but idk, i guess it never really hit me how many of these shoes are really out there and yet...feels like they are so...in the dark about them.

almost like having an import car and never really unleashing the power under the hood. sure, u might know it has power and can do cool stuff, but w/o the proper training...you can hurt urself or the car (i.e. - shoes or other body parts).

yet again, enough ranting...just had to get that off my chest...

~Jsun
~BlueJay

The thing is this: A lot of them expect to just be able to do it. They see "oh, it's a shoe with a wheel in it. No problem."

Then they get a pair and swiftly get owned.

I started with a different perspective- the moment I bought my Fleets I KNEW I was going to get my ass kicked. And I did. Repeatedly. Still got the scars.

If you want to know how many people use Heelys as just shoes, you have the simple expedient of looking at their feet. (I actually find it a bit sad to see people walking around on Heelys wheels-out, especially on a smooth floor..)

Honestly, considering the number of Heelys sold and the number of YT vids involving Heelys, there's actually a DEARTH of videos. Search for skateboarding if you want to know what I mean! Remember that millions of pairs of Heelys have been sold.

In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that no less than ninety percent of the people who have bought Heelys will never use them again, and more than 80% of those are people who never really learned how.

You want the YT users to learn more, invite them HERE. The ones who aren't already on here, that is. Very Happy

Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 533 Location: London, UK

I agree with what both you guys said. Also though I think alot of the time people (Mainly little kids) buy heelys, and CAN use them .. but theres only so many times you can roll along at 1 mile an hour without doing tricks, and not get bored. Thats why most kids stop using heelys after about a year of having them, they don't realize that you can do anything else other than roll forwards. And if they do realize this, like Jayson said, they need to have somewhere to learn how to do so.

I know this because I helped out at a party for a girl across the street from me. All of them had heelys, but none of them were wearing them. I was myself wearing heelys, and they were all amazed at the stuff I could do, and wanted to learn. The next year (a few months ago) I went to the same girl's party again, and all of her friends WERE wearing their heelys, and spent most of the party in the kitchen learning tricks from me.

Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 1391 Location: UK

Precisely. I myself whenever I see a kid with heelys ask a few questions like "hey, can you go backwards" and show them - 3/4 so far were impressed and are now trying this. 1 could already do it. Smile

This is partly why I thought Heelychat t-shirts would be a good idea - so when people see me do backwards and shuffling whilst shopping, they know where to learn it from - when I do get my heelychat tshirt printed I'm gonna have to wear it backwards lol.

Team Heelys - Northeast Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 1803

Loosely counting, I've taught about 1000 people in my 6 years skating. Ya Figure *uses fingers* .. in-store demos for 5 years. About 12 - 15 demos a year. 15 - 30 people per demo at least. Not counting sponsored skaters at events.

Yeah .. a 1000 is conservative. So .. do I get a "pass" for contributing to the "teaching people" effort?

The way I see things - teaching isn't "showing a flame". Its "lighting a candle". All the demos in the world won't get people jazzed to be a lifetime Heeler. Only teaching them to do it themselves will.

If you want to teach others, first learn the basics yourself. In all honesty, I had as much fun in my first week (just barely going forwards), as I do now (flying around on the halfpipe). Even the simple stuff is fun.

Seriously, TEC can break out a simple rail and try stuff for hours and hours. The basics are WAY under-rated. And they're much easier to appreciate if you're new.

My feeling is, if you've never helped a friend or two skate, then you deserve to skate alone.

Just my .02
MDHZ

Team Heelys - Midwest Joined: 23 Oct 2006 Posts: 8388607

Joined: 22 Feb 2007 Posts: 1548 Location: Ohio

Guest

...but if we don't help other around learn to skate or just show them the basics...how is this sport going to grow?

sure, i go to the skate park by myself and skate around, get all the skateboarders to think i'm either stupid for having them or cool for being able to vert...but the point is to spread around that heeling isn't just a fad. i don't mind teaching people while at the same time perfecting those same tricks myself. like dave said, i have been having fun since the day i got mine (an i still remember buying mine w/ my gf at the time and putting them on right away to skate around the mall and look like an a$$)...and i'm still having a blast practicing what i know and learning new tricks. i was the most amazed person in the world when i finally got the fakey cheese & the rail flip down at vertigo last weekend. it felt good to see my skill level rise a little that weekend.

idk, but at the same time, there are those kids who just wanna leisurely roll around in heelys and not want to learn new things. they just want to roll. but like sara said earlier, if kids can learn new things over time, they wont get bored of them and want to keep skating. without progress, nothing done or accomplished. if there is nothing new to learn or do, people will lose interest.

as i've said before, there has to be a "wow effect" for these kids and it is there when they first buy them...and not fall on their asses. but once they roll forward for a good couple months, they start to lose interest. that's where "demos" are supposed to come into play. but how are demo's any good if they can't reach these kids? also, why aren't we reaching out and forwarding them to this website?! another simple answer to our problems.

i just feel like heeling right now in an underground movement that functions like a gopher. pops his head out and roams around for a while for food or just to stretch his legs...but then retires back home, underground, where he feels safe and secure. kinda like with us...we skate around, but not really in the public eye. when we do make appearances, they're at disney with the pro's...and when we're done w/ that weekend...no one hears or sees us again til the next month. i mean, you don't really see tv advertisements. you really don't see posters or billboards. you don't see kids trading "heely collectable" cards on their shoes or favorite skater. you don't see kids wearing heely appearal except for the pro's / sponsored skaters. you don't go to ur local skate park and pay for "weekend heeling lesson from the local pro".

i know we have to start from the bottom and baby step our way up...things take time, money...and i can only voice what i think, i can't really get anything done.

oh ya, another problem...i was talkin to my dad yesterday when we were chillin at disney and i asked him what he thought about my heeling and all. he said he would've never bought me a pair of shoes. i would've had to buy em. i asked him why. he said that they just aren't practical, can get hurt, and pretty much useless. he doesn't mind what i'm doing w/ heelys right now and if it makes me happy, he'll support me. but it brought up a good point:

it's not the kids necessarily we need to reach, but the parents. who has the money and makes decisions around the house (most of the time)? the parents. the very first time they see their child fall or something, they'll start to wonder. i mean, they might want to take the wheels away or just not want to buy their kids another pair...or worse, take em away for good. but why do parents insist on buying kids multiple bikes, inlines, or skateboards? because it's part of american culture and kids are known to do these things aroudn a neighborhood. they are "safe means of transportation". heelys aren't because kids fall too easily or they are "hard to do".

how many parents push their kids to learn to ride a bike? how many are afraid to teach them to drive a car but still do (even w/ knowing the statistical evidence of them crashing)? how many parents try to teach their children to swim even tho it is so easy to drown and can kill a children very quickly? ...BUT how many parents will take their kids outside and hold their hand and pull them along so that they can learn balance and the feel for their heelys? HUH???

okay AMN, i know you do. but let's be reasonable. either the parents just don't have time or expect their children to learn on their own and if the kids give up then OBVIOUSLY the shoes weren't worth the buy and it was another "fad" that kids come and leave as time progresses. which helps strengthen the theory that heelys are still a fad and isn't really a "sport".

i do like however where HSL is going w/ their new line...introducing the "health and fitness" side of heeling. lauren kinda got a ball rolling with some research this weekend (GO YOU, lol, and all her pro participants, Razz

), but this might just be the thing to get both the kids and parents really involved in something that is so worth while!!! so as far as moving in a new direction, that's a start. getting people on this website, another good idea. working with kids through their parents, only way to build up a foundation.

there really isn't a heely loyal fan base. not like a nike or adidas or converse. i mean, it's just not that popular to enough age groups. YET!!! i can see a broadening of age groups through the upcoming lines of shoes. hopefully that'll boost the interest level and maybe transition a few of those kids to buy torches or the pro-model and get them over to the sporting side. it'll be slow, but it could work.

i go to the driving range and see people hack away and hack away at golf balls allll day long. pay money out their wallets for mounds of golf balls. FOR WHAT?? to see 1/10 balls go straight? but their faces light up and have this "euphoric" look...and it was all worth it when they can see that ball travel (what seems to be forever to them) and land in the direction they were facing. then, they begin to hack away again...but you know what, that shot will stay in their head all night when they go home!! they know about the PGA Tour, they know about the money, and they know how good the golfers are. These people will still go out, buy the same golf clubs the pro's use, and spend allll this money at golf courses and never be able to even come close to the skill level as the pro's.

why do these golfers continue to spend money on a dream that they wont be able to reach??

Because unlike heeling, there is a dream there. there is something to obtain. you can go on tv and watch it and study the sport and get tips on how to tweek your game. it's cool to play golf now. it's fun. i remember when it wasn't. and wasn't long ago either (considering i'm only 21).

To people, heeling either: Isn't cool or isn't worth the time. to people, they say, "why practice when there really isn't anything to do or work for?" or "my friend make fun of me so i just use the shoes and never really try anything new on them!"

without role models, kids have no one to look up to. without dreams, no one has goals to set and meet. without progression, this sport will die. without the fan base, it wont grow.

it's beginning to move in the right direction, yes!! it still needs growing, yes!! none of this can take place in a day, yes!! it costs money, again, yes!! before you respond again (if you made it this far), let me just say that i know it's going to take time...but these are the things i've been noticing and don't really expect to be implemented and if they ever do...not for a WHILE!! like a good year or more. (probably more, lol)

i just hope someone can read this and do with it what they must. or another skater go out and teach a few kids...who turn around and buy shoes to teach more...and the exponential effect happens and now tons of kids in a particular area have these shoes...who knows. *shrugs*

okay, enough typing...seriously, i do this way too often. i can't stop typing. i just keep going and going and going. =)

Team Heelys - Northeast Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 1803

Guest

good point. wow, dave says lil and get points across...i type a thesis and still not sure what i said...=)

still, i agree w/ dave. i would really hate to see this brand/sport die. i love it too much!!! and i think ya'll do too...or else ya'll wouldn't be on here chillin. Razz

Team Heelys - Northeast Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 1803

Jay - you bring up a ton of good points.

As someone who has done a lot with life, one must ask - why does anyone do anything?

Something (an activity) has to appeal to them on many levels. It has to satisfy a sense of accomplishment, community and yes .. advancement.

The way I see it, the passion has to be passed on (lighting a candle). Then, from time to time, if the activity has merit, there will be champions. Take golf for instance - mostly golf was for sissies until Tiger Woods. Now its cool to play golf. Women's tennis, really didn't get any respect (since Billy Jean) until the William sisters.

Skating hybrid is SO NEW, that its hard to figure out where its going. I watch skate videos from the early 70s. They are SO FUNNY. Butt boarding was like a huge event. Skateboard downhill slalmon?? Yeah, that's big now. Skateboard dance? That went far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PKoJvdhxrE

Consider for a moment the grand scheme of things. Its funny how similar we really are to every other new sport.

MDHZ

Joined: 22 Feb 2007 Posts: 1548 Location: Ohio

Very true. Skateboarding used to be hated on by a lot of ppl, until it had a few years to "catch on" and have more ppl into it, trying new things.

What I think HSL should do is try "skate camps" across the country, with certain days the pro team would be there, like Disney. They'd be purely to teach new or intermediate heelers new tricks. Either that, or everyone should get together and (like a commercial shoot) make a "How to Heel" DVD. Not just the basic forward motion, but an explanation of all the tricks. Kind of like Skateboarding Explained.

Guest

it probably wouldn't be in their budget to consider that. tho it wouldn't be a bad idea. different area each month. if the pro team was big enough, send half to disney, send the other half somewhere around the country to do camps. that wouldn't be a bad idea!!