Local skateboarder flips lifelong hobby into personable lessons for youth
Nick Miedaner guides his client in a skateboarding lesson. With his “silly” and “goofy” personality, Miedaner is able to teach students of all experience levels with ease. Tara Deluca | Asst. Photo Editor
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It all started with a childhood trip to Cape Cod.
While flipping through a magazine, Nick Miedaner came across a photo of a kid with long hair doing a kickflip on a skateboard. At the time, 6-year-old Miedaner competed in BMX racing and other team sports.
This first encounter with skateboarding turned into Miedaner’s lifelong hobby. Twenty years later, Miedaner now teaches skateboarding to kids the same age he was when he found his passion for the sport.
“Something about that photo just got me into it,” Miedaner said. I was probably only around six or seven, but that was just something I picked up at a young age, soaking it up like a sponge.”
When Miedaner isn’t working as a sales representative at Flower Skate Shop in downtown Syracuse, he primarily teaches skateboarding lessons to kids and teens, and occasionally college students. Miedaner takes in clients of all experience levels, teaching them skills on quarter pipes and bowls.
Miedaner was originally from Boston before moving to Syracuse in 2014. Four years later, he met Flower Skate Shop owner John More at a “DIY skate park.” More said Miedaner approaches his skating lessons with care. When one of Miedaner’s clients is close to nailing a trick, he’s personable and genuine, pushing them to get it.
“He’s more comedic about it, trying to be silly, goofy with the kids,” More said. “But I think him kind of dumbing down and being silly with it is more helpful.”
Miedaner said he enjoys the individualism of the sport, allowing skateboarders to learn at their own pace and pick what tricks to try. But, the sport is also hard to master, Miedaner said. So, adapting to the activity requires time and patience.
“Skateboarding is really a test. There aren’t any handlebars where you can just ride around. It’s all footwork and a lot of ambidextrous movements. You really have to train your feet to be able to move and to reflect how you want them to,” Miedaner said.
Miedaner first started teaching skateboarding at 17-years-old as a camp counselor at Camp Woodward in Pennsylvania. Camp Woodward first started as a gymnastics camp in 1970. The camp has since expanded to other sports like BMX and skateboarding and to other countries like China and Mexico, Miedaner said.
Skateboarder Nick Miedaner nails a trick on a quarter pipe. Miedaner enjoys the individualism and freedom that come with skateboarding. Tara Deluca | Asst. Photo Editor
At the camp, Miedaner was able to put his foot in the door and teach his passion to others, he said.
Teaching the sport is also a learning curve, Miedaner said. Since everyone learns at a different pace, Miedaner said he tries to “transcribe a message in a simplistic way.”
“It goes back to the individual. Some people are difficult to work with and some people are very easy going,” Miedaner said. “It all depends on who you’re working with. That’s why I like to try my best to read and try to see what they’re about before I go about teaching.”
Even when he’s not directly teaching his clients, Miedaner still finds a way to use his teaching skills. Miedaner and Michael Giannattasio, fabrication manager at Syracuse University’s School of Architecture, began skating together in 2020.
After a few skating sessions, Miedaner began giving Giannattasio pointers on his skating. Giannattasio said Miedaner is able to point out exactly what he needs to improve on.
“We know what each other is capable of and where we struggle within our tricks,” Giannattasio said. “He will give notes, and it is usually very helpful, and it’s because he has a very accurate and technical skill set and ability.”
Throughout his years as a teacher, Miedaner said he’s seen how skateboarding has evolved throughout the years. In the 1970s, when skateboarding first emerged in Southern California, the sport was an act of rebellion, he said. Often categorized as a sport for outcasts, skateboarding quickly became mainstream, even being recognized as an Olympic sport in 2020, and Miedaner was there along the ride.
Teachers like Miedaner are building an active community within the sport, Giannattasio said. No matter if his client’s a beginner or an expert, Miedaner said he always aims to provide a shoulder to lean on and a hand to pick a skater up from a fall.
“Skateboarding is like artistry. It’s a painting of whatever you want to do. There’s no left and right. There’s no code of rules behind it,” Miedaner said. “But there is an agenda, and with that agenda, you can always move somebody in the right direction.”
