Meet Your City Employee: Eulises "Woody" Tovar Cano
Meet Your City Employee
Eulises “Woody” Tovar Cano
City of Sedro-Woolley
IT Specialist
I started skateboarding when I was around 10 years old. It all started when I was “helping” my neighbor clean out his garage and we stumbled upon an old skateboard. My neighbor was kind enough to show me the basics and he eventually even made a ramp for the neighborhood kids to use. This was the beginning of my lifelong passion for skateboarding.
As the years progressed my skill on the skateboard grew along with growing a group of friends. Skateboarding introduced me to people from all kinds of backgrounds, some with language barriers but through the art of skateboarding we were able to build lifelong friendships. Being exposed to a diverse group of individuals helped prepare me for the future, working with and befriending people from all kinds of different backgrounds.
Skateboarding also taught me the importance of goal setting and perseverance. As I learned more tricks, I also developed more ideas as to how to execute them on different ramps, obstacles, etc. Even though the tricks got harder to land it was worth the blood, sweat and time it took to feel that rush you get when you land a trick that you’ve tried over 100 times through a span of months.
Like with all extreme sports skateboarding showed me the importance of facing your fears. With every new trick or obstacle, the hardest part is trying it for the first time. Tons of things are running through your head like “How fast should I go?”, “Should I jump as high as I can?”, “What would be the best spot to land?”, “Will I get it with the first try?”, “Will I be able to go to work tomorrow?” etc. Of course, the biggest obstacle is fear, you can’t let the fear win! After the first attempt it always gets easier. The fear of the new trick/obstacle fades away and you start thinking of the changes you need to make to land on your board the next time.
Skateboarding continues to bring me great joy even though I don’t skate as often as I’d like (must work on Monday!) but it has also given me life skills to use in multiple aspects of my life.
