Jean-Marc Johannes left the International Youth Festival with a renewed vision, a network of global innovators, and a determination to stop playing it safe.
Johannes knows what it feels like to look at a skateboarding trick and decide it’s impossible. He has spent enough time trying, falling, and trying again to recognise that hesitation in others.
Nonetheless, as he stood before participants at his first international masterclass in Russia, Johannes faced doubts of his own.
“I’ve never done anything like this internationally in my life,” he said.
At the International Youth Festival in Yekaterinburg, he taught people how to approach what frightened them. Meanwhile, conversations beyond the skatepark made him question how often he had allowed fear to hold him back from his own ideas.
Starting halfway up the ramp
Johannes approached the masterclass by breaking down familiar tricks. Teaching foot placement was part of the exercise, but he primarily wanted participants to understand why a trick they already knew could suddenly seem impossible in a new context.
“I was taking one trick and unpacking what makes it work,” Johannes explained. Using an ollie as an example, he broke down the technique before asking participants to imagine performing the exact same movement over a car.
On the ramp, he worked with the skaters gradually. They began halfway up and moved toward the top, with Johannes asking them what changed as they progressed.
“I kept asking what was different, and they said, ‘Actually, nothing,’” Johannes recalled. He noted that they expected the trick to be much harder starting from the top, even though the core technique remained identical.
He understood their hesitation. In the past, he had dismissed tricks as impossible before the gruelling learning process proved him wrong.
“I would be like, ‘Okay, I can’t do this trick. It’s impossible,’” Johannes said. “And then, over time, in a painful way, I found out that it’s possible.”
Johannes shares insights on networking, overcoming fear, and finding inspiration outside of the skatepark.
Arriving with doubts of his own
The International Youth Festival required Johannes to adjust to a different kind of international trip. Accustomed to travelling solely for contests with schedules built strictly around skating, he was now meeting innovators from science, medicine, engineering, business, and technology.
“I felt I was ready, but I also felt a little scared,” Johannes admitted. “It was a mix of everything: excitement, fear, and the unexpected.”
The gathering, part of the New Generation Programme, brought diverse fields together to share knowledge and discuss the future of youth innovation. With an estimated 7,000 attendees, Johannes felt he absorbed more than he ever anticipated.
“I felt like I consumed 10 years’ worth of knowledge just from networking with people across different sectors,” he said. These conversations extended far beyond sport into subjects he wouldn’t ordinarily encounter on a competition tour.
He was captivated not just by the projects but by the creators’ conviction. During a conversation with a delegate in the energy sector, he was struck by their absolute certainty.
“They are so confident and believe in themselves so much that nothing else matters,” Johannes said.
Johannes hosts his first international skateboarding masterclass, teaching participants to conquer mental barriers on the ramp.
In Russia, Johannes recognised a stark contrast between the invited delegates’ unwavering confidence and the way he often treated his own ambitions. He had big ideas, but easily found reasons to delay them.
“A lot of the time you’ll have an idea so big that it’s actually scary,” he said. “It scares you, and you automatically apply a filter that stops you from moving forward.”
The experience prompted him to revisit plans he had shelved for years. He realised he had been filtering his own potential, worrying about obstacles instead of giving himself a chance to start.
Seeing global youth take control of their dreams and commit to their work out of a deep belief in its impact shifted his mindset entirely.
“Even if it is big, even if it is crazy, I’m going to do it,” Johannes told IOL.
Jean-Marc Johannes proudly posing with the South African flag at the International Youth Festival in Russia.
While Johannes absorbed others’ work, he also shared his own story, discussing his journey, the state of skateboarding in South Africa, and his vision for the sport.
A standout moment for Johannes was during the opening ceremony. He vividly recalled the crowd’s electric response to the African delegation’s performance.
“Africa completely brought the house down,” Johannes said. “When the drums started playing, my jaw dropped at the energy.”
Johannes doesn’t want his experience to end as mere personal motivation. He is already strategising how to apply these insights in South Africa to create better opportunities for local skateboarders and elevate their visibility.
He took meticulous notes on how other sports were organised, how platforms were built, and how projects outside his field were marketed.
“There are ways we can adapt what we do to help us be seen more,” Johannes said. “There’s so much I can’t wait to implement on my side.”
He is determined to contribute beyond his own time on the board. “If there’s any way I can help them, even if it’s just advice, that’s what I want to do,” Johannes said.
KARDO World Series Finals
With the International Youth Festival in Yekaterinburg having concluded on September 17, Johannes then headed straight to Vladivostok for the KARDO World Series Finals, which took place from September 16 to 20.
Short on time, Johannes had approximately a day and a half of practice, jumping right off the plane from Yekaterinburg into Vladivostok and immediately into a gruelling practice session on a testing course, too; the course was being shared with athletes from BMX, scooter and other disciplines.
“It couldn’t really give you a true, comfortable skate practice,” he told IOL after the Series Finals.
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