Tiny Flips, Big Tricks - Pro Fingerboarder Shows There's Life To The Fad Beyond Elementary School

You can probably remember fingerboards from elementary school when you'd bust moves with your buddies inbetween lessons. It was a big deal for a lot of schoolkids but lets face it, not for grown-ups, right?

But for Mike Schneider they go way beyond the school yard, because Schneider is a professional fingerboarder and owner of Flatface Fingerboards, a company dedicated to all things fingerboard-y.

In a short documentary by Great Big Story Schneider talks about the hobby he turned into a career, discussing his company, his fingerboarding skills, and what it all means to him.

He recounts how he started fingerboarding in 4th grade, after he got into skateboarding, and it was then that he began modifying the Teck Deck boards he used, customising them with new wheels and various other additions. They were so good the other kids wanted to buy them, and his business grew from there.

"When I was 9 and I told my parents I was starting a company, they were like cool, have fun, whatever." Schneider said in an interview with Fingerboarder Magazine. "Of course they didn’t take it seriously, but I didn’t either really, it was just for fun because I was learning how to make websites and boards and I put it all together. Jump to a few years later, I had too many orders so I stopped selling boards for a while. My mom suggested working for me so that I could have more time to actually make the boards while she helped with stuff like shipping and eventually customer support as well. Since she started working for me I’ve had a lot more time to do what I want to do with the company and make it grow."

As well as the company Schneider is also involved in the whole fingerboarding scene, running contests, sessions, events, and his YouTube channel.

You can check out the kind of ramps and mini skate parks the fingerboaders use in the video below.