Welcome to Next Level Skate, an online project that is focused on helping you improve and building a library of entertaining skateboarding content. My name is Drew Maynord, the owner, instructor, and curator of everything you will see on this site. Over time, I have worked for several different companies teaching skate lessons and am excited to start something of my own. As a brief introduction, I am a 21-year-old Nashville-based skateboarder who has a passion for teaching others. I attend Belmont University and will be graduating in the spring with a degree in Marketing. This site is the first real-world test of my skills, but it’s also a passion project that I have been developing for a few years. My end goal is to become an independent marketing consultant who focuses on helping small businesses develop their online presence. I have been skating for around 6 years and teaching for 4 years. The Nashville skate scene has gifted me many amazing friends and connections over the years that I will be forever grateful for. Skateboarding is by far my favorite passion, but I also love to play jazz piano, listen to music, play video games, and travel.
Whether you are just starting or have been skating for years, I aim to provide entertaining content for all experience and skill levels. Before I continue, I want to emphasize that I am by no means an exceptionally talented skateboarder. However, over the years, I have developed a strong ability to communicate and teach a wide range of skateboarding skills to people from diverse backgrounds and experience levels. I want Next Level Skate to reflect that I am also striving to improve every day. The section on my website, “Next Level Progression,” will be focused on the tricks I am currently working on and will function as a journal of my own progression. My YouTube page will feature these videos along with trick tutorials. So, you’ll see my journey of improvement right alongside yours. Personally, I am best at flip tricks, ledges, and gap skating so that will be the focus of my tutorials. I want to take this as an opportunity to improve my transition game, so you’ll for sure see a lot of ramp skating. The topics of these videos will hopefully be the result of suggestions from you, the viewer! If you have any tricks that you are having trouble with or want me to try to learn, place your ideas in the “Suggestion” section of my website. I look forward to hearing from you guys and eventually building an online community.
Of course, I have to mention that this site is a way to plug my lesson services. I offer individual and group skate lessons in the Nashville, Antioch, Green Hills, Franklin, and Brentwood areas. There is no prior skill requirement; I teach complete beginners all the way to skaters learning more advanced tricks. I try to let the student lead what we work on, but also have a good idea of the process of learning fundamentals from the ground up. I also offer to come to a location that is most convenient for you, since driving to a certain skatepark isn’t always convenient or possible. All I ask is that you have the necessary gear to skate and stay safe. If you want to be taught at a park, I offer lessons at Jim Warren and Two Rivers skatepark (and hopefully Watkins skatepark if it ever gets built). My home base is Cecil’s Skate Shop located in East Nashville. This shop features the best brands, quality gear, friendly staff, and everything you could need to get into skating. Cecils also features some smaller obstacles that are perfect for beginners to learn tricks on which are great for lessons. If you are interested in booking a lesson, fill out the form under the “Book a Lesson” tab on my site. I will reach out to you shortly after to confirm the details.
Additionally, I am going to be creating opinion based content on recently dropped videos. Again, I’m not in an authoritative position or anything and would love to hear from you guys if you disagree with me. I really enjoy the more technical skating as well as the more gnarly stuff like big handrails and gaps. My top pro skaters right now are Louie Lopez, Marcos Montoya, and Kento Urano. I will also be covering major skateboarding news, as well as local events, so if you are interested in staying updated, check out the “Skate News” portion of my site in the coming future.
That concludes my welcome blog! I want to again emphasize that I see Next Level Skate as a project that will be primarily based on community feedback. I hope that you provide input for what you want to see and that you enjoy what’s to come!
