I would come home when I was a kid--
13, 14-- and I'd tell my dad, "I learned a new trick."
And he'd say, "There are no more new tricks to learn."
That was his attitude in 1982.
And here we are.
There are still new tricks to learn.
And now we're seeing things happen that I truly
thought were impossible.
I mean the stuff that I see people do,
that I see on video, 10 years ago, I would have said,
"It's not possible."
20 years ago, I would have said, "You're
crazy for even thinking about it."
And I don't see it slowing down.
CHRIS LEARY: Skateboarding is among five new sports that
will make their Olympic debut.
The competition will feature both male and female
skateboarders in two different styles--
park and street.
I think this new generation of skaters
has much more opportunity, thanks to its inclusion
in the Olympics.
On an international scale, it's going to change everything
because countries that have, for the most part, discouraged
and shunned people from skating are now going to embrace it
and are now going to give them facilities and give them
opportunities.
And skateboarding will be just as commonplace
in those countries as soccer.
[APPLAUSE]
And so I think that the new generation
is very lucky in that sense.
I wanted to teach this MasterClass because I truly
wanted to pass on the qualities of skateboarding
that I've seen empower people, that I've seen people
take with them to their lives.
And they weren't pro skaters.
They maybe weren't even very good skaters,
but it taught them a sense of values
and a sense of perseverance that was to their advantage
much later in life.
And they always credit skateboarding for that.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I hope that the lesson people take away
in this class is that you are capable of so much
more than you imagine.
And if you can just see it through,
if you can persevere through adversity,
through great challenges, even injury,
you can go on to accomplish things you never imagined.
You can go on to do things that you'll
be immensely proud of that you never expected to accomplish.
And it can give you a great sense of self-confidence
that maybe you didn't know you had.
[MUSIC PLAYING]