Thrasher Magazine

This past weekend, Dan Mancina and the adidas team partnered with the Northwest Association for Blind Athletes to host the organization’s first-ever blind-skateboarding event. They introduced 20 blind or visually-impaired students to skating and sent 'em home with a full setup. The event was inspirational, impactful and uplifting for everyone involved. Makes you wish you could bottle up the feeling of skateboarding for the first time. —Christian Alexander

Starting off, Dan reminds us that anything is possible with picture-perfect kickflip back Smith

We got the day going with a trip to Tactics to get the boards prepped for the event

Matt Milligan with a full spread of Dan’s braille-print Actions REALized boards!

Dan and event co-organizer Everett Tetz get the grip assembly line started

Mariah Duran and the whole team hop in

Nora was there in spirit. Heal up!

Got all the boards gripped and ready for the kids to set up

Major shout out to the Tactics crew for letting us take over the shop!

The calm before the storm at the adidas park

It’s the ones with the three stripes, in case you forgot

New adidas shoes for all the skaters and volunteers, plus helmets and pads generously donated by ProTec

Everyone got to set up and take home their own completes from REAL, Thunder, Spitfire, Jessup and Bones bearings

Everett Tetz and Marcus Steinlein prepping the space with high-vis tape for those with limited vision—adds some tactile feel too!

Dan gets his legs ready with a proper fakie tré

The volunteers get a quick rundown of the plan—have fun!

Megan Ahleman from Northwest Association for Blind Athletes taught us how to better interact with blind or visually-impaired youth. Always introduce yourself with your name first, ask for permission to help and use your words. This organization does amazing work

The new skaters started to arrive and the excitement was palpable. Dan’s biggest fan meets his hero

The first bolts poke through...

...and that smile says it all

Mariah Duran is a pretty heavy pit crew member to have help assemble your first board

And who wouldn’t be excited to have Dennis Busentiz help set up their first ride?!

It was a beautiful moment to witness

Time to explore the park! Jonathan Perez gives a hands-on tour of the corner pocket

Having Paul Shier as his coach, naturally this dude learned to ollie within moments of stepping on the board. Start drafting that contract, Paul!

“I just want to go fast!”

Learning from the master himself

In less than an hour, Silas Baxter-Neil helped this fresh skater overcome his fear of rolling on flat. Soon enough, the banks were no problem! SOTYs know how it’s done

Okay, get ready!

First pump to fakie

Can’t tell who’s more stoked, Sam Narvaez or her student

Dennis hooked up this advanced student with the secrets of the varial flip. A work in progress, but it’s getting there!

A kickturn for the ages

Nonstop smiles the entire time

Proper foot placement is key

Feeling out the drop in. It’s only a matter of time

Paul Peters helping the kids get comfortable with rolling down banks

The most stoked crew in the building

This drop-in was beyond words—a natural session ender

A quick debrief to share some stories

Truly amazing work from this org

“As a blind athlete people are easily impressed when you are able to do the basics, but imagine what they will say when you push yourself further. Never limit yourselves to what other people think you are able to do.” Some sage words of advice from Mancina

“WE LOVE SKATEBOARDING!” Can’t wait for next one

Special thanks to The Northwest Association of Blind Athletes, their wonderful team of volunteers and all the parents for putting their trust in a rag-tag crew of skateboarders. Shout out to adidas skateboarding, Protec, Deluxe Distribution, Jessup, Bones bearings and Tactics Skateshop

To learn more about Dan’s Non-Profit ‘Keep Pushing Inc’ and the NWABA, check out Keep Pushing Inc and NWABA.