Nash Breaks Down Index, Big Steppas & Life in Fingerboarding | S4 E153

On this week’s episode of the podcast, we welcome Nash from Sorry For Fingerboarding and Index Fingerboarding in Chicago! We dive into Nash’s move from California to Chicago, building the Index shop from the ground up, and his journey working with Black River. We talk about reviving the Midwest fingerboarding scene, hosting Big Steppas, designing new parks, and what it takes to turn a fingerboard shop into a true destination. Nash also shares what’s coming next for Index, new product drops, ramps, merch, and his vision for growing the community. 

If you enjoy the show, please like, follow, and share!

⚑CONNECT WITH NASH⚑ 

 Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/sorryforfingerboarding

 Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/indexchicago

Website ➜ https://www.indexfingerboarding.com

Website ➜ https://www.sorryforfingerboarding.com

Powered by USAFBL - Hang. Shred. Compete
Sponsored by United States Fingerboarding League, powering events, rankings, tours, and competition.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

speaker-0 (00:02)
I'll write my story

⁓

Nah, you're gonna leave without me?

Okay, go think.

speaker-1 (00:16)
Good thing, good thing.

speaker-0 (00:18)
Yeah, yeah, I know

speaker-1 (00:21)
Welcome to USAFBO Fingerboard Podcast. I'm your host, Levine Cunningham. Today I've got Nash Sorry for fingerboarding.

speaker-0 (00:27)
Yeah, how's it going, man? Stabbed butt one time. You know how it is. We're in the fish tank. It's a little snowy out. And ⁓ when's the last time I saw you? Closing event?

speaker-1 (00:38)
event and fingerboard on if you're at least two three times

And there you go in the fast figures.

Well, this is Nash OG triple OG Nash. We are live here at index fingerboarding shop here in Chicago, Illinois. I'm excited. I'm excited for

speaker-0 (01:11)
Yeah, dude index has been great. I mean two three months in now. Yeah, I guess that January 11th will make it like the official two three months the three month Yeah, it was a great one I mean shout out to the whole community shout out to everyone online, know, even though we were in here existing under black cover We didn't have an online feature and now we do and you know It just expands the horizon that much more and I get really stoked when I see people I know or

speaker-1 (01:22)
trucking along, maybe through holiday season.

speaker-0 (01:40)
the ⁓

speaker-1 (01:50)
So from Cali. And then you moved to Chicago.

speaker-0 (01:52)
Mm-hmm.

Yup.

Last Tell us about that. Yeah. Last year in March, some mid-March, I quit my job in California and knew I had the Black River thing lined up and it was only going to broaden from there and we know what happened. ⁓ But that was my reason to move. was all solely finger boarding and going to be emerged in that world. And when I signed my lease a little bit after I got the news and I really had to make that choice, you know, am I

staying in Chicago or am I breaking a lease and moving back to California? And I was like, you know what, like I had a part-time job at that time too when I first moved here to like get on my feet outside of the shop, black and red. And I was like, you know what, I have a job here. I have friends, great friends. I got an apartment here already. If I go back, I'm like starting over again twice in one year. You even though it's California, it's familiar, I'm be starting over. So, you know, I came to realization and I'm going to stay and then, you know.

just with Andy E in the back, stuck to the grind of what are we doing? What's next? And index ideas were born and how to make it happen. And I'm so stoked to still be here. And I got to renew my lease next month for my apartment. So I might get that choice again. Am I going home? But probably not, because I got a store to operate.

I got I got the invite into this realm. Yeah. Yeah, I got the invite before the store is open ⁓ because I'd already been going to Black River so much ⁓ in the past years and starting to build parks for them. think like ⁓ with Martin, ⁓ me and him probably built like six fingerboard parks, if I'm remembering right, somewhere around that number over there in Germany. And then like back here in the state side, we built a few that were like branded Black River as well.

⁓ So it was really cool to be like trusted with the name and then they helped or allowed me and gave me that experience to help build the store. Right. So I got to build out the old store and you know, just I always feel like we died a million deaths learning, figuring it out. And just me and Andy in here constructing the original store that come index time, you know, I'm just reflecting back and forth.

We had like an army of finger boarders. That's what we call it. The army of people that's helping us build the new store. So like, you know, we, I, that's how I got my start to be in the store. And then I kept coming back, you know, Andy's been a good friend of mine since we met at fast fingers and now he's working for black giver. And, know, I've been a team writer for them for like 12 years and hosted all those events alongside him. So was like, I want to come back and make sure like the feeling feels good here too. And helping Andy and we're.

creating this new scene here or like reviving the scene, guess you could say, because, know, I'd never come to the Midwest until Black River. And ⁓ so I just kept coming back every other month to where it's like people thought I was local here and didn't realize I didn't live here. Yeah, because I'd stay for two weeks. So they'd see me for two and a half weeks, consistent. Right. And ⁓ and then I leave and then come back. So was like I was probably here just as much as some local that lived in town or in the States.

speaker-1 (05:24)
crazy because a lot of people think that you're local here, but like, lot of OGs myself. mean, I met you in 2020. I flew out, went to your Grindr's event and all that. All that sandwich, hamburgers and all that stuff. The event and during COVID time was crazy. It's all kind of how you did everything out there.

speaker-0 (05:39)
Yeah, so

Yeah, yeah. So, you know, all that just new state does do it here. You know, so was like all that came to fruition and then it was like, okay, I to start doing there's more work to be involved and we'll bring you out here. And so I got to come out and I started all that. And here we are a year later, you know, over a year later, because that journey started in September of last year or would have been some time. Yes. So 2020. Yeah. Right. Twenty three.

speaker-1 (06:10)
day.

24 to 25. Yeah, I know.

speaker-0 (06:15)
Yeah, 24. I

don't even know what year. We're in a new year now. We're in a new year now. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. So right now we just operating as a store. We're on since the second week we open we've been online. We have our in-store presence. You come to the shop any day for free. Come skate, come get a lesson, come play skate, whatever it might be. But I'm really excited for January 17th. We are hosting Big Stepas, which is a contest kind of inspired by the Pro Skateboard League. Yeah, with PSL. Andy and I hosted it.

speaker-1 (06:56)
Yeah.

speaker-0 (07:01)
last year and it was a lot of fun and I was like, hey, we got to it again. And we were really planning to do it right before we closed. But with all that happening, we just decided to wash it. So we're hosting it again as a new version. I'm building a new park with the guys in the back. ⁓ Then it's going to be a really sick design. I'm excited to see everything that goes down. It's like fingerboarding is as you won't get hurt. So the risk factors low. Fingerboarding is

hard in the park is going to be quite technical too. So we're like really trying to up the level, you know, and, that's what I'm excited for. Cause since I first came to Chicago, the scene has gotten so much better. Like I've watched finger boarders progress and progress and progress. And it's really cool to see it happening here.

Yeah, you

Exactly. you know, there's that. We got a lot of new product coming. Big pyro order, more Indies on the way. Black River stuff soon. More Sorry gear, more Sorry ramps. I don't know. I think I'm going to bring my pool back from California. van one? No, no, no. I got the pastel bowl. It's a custom one. Pastel, I'm sorry. It's a blue one. Hollow made by Indy out in the UK. So I'll bring that out.

speaker-1 (08:29)
And so they.

speaker-0 (08:40)
and ⁓ yeah

speaker-1 (08:41)
follow? Hmm? X-Rant follow?

speaker-0 (08:44)
No, no, Indy. name is Indy. Pastel is the brand of the I know if you're familiar. Yeah, yeah. So he's a really good designer and he designed this bowl and it's really more of an art piece. Most bowls you see are encapsulated in some box. This is all free floating. It's really super sick. You'll have to check this out. Yeah, yeah, really cool design. So I'm going back in a few weeks to California. I'm going to try and ship that over here.

and just fingers crossed it comes back to One Piece. I mean it's already made it across from London, like yeah, the UK to here, so if we can get it from California to here, One Piece would be nice too. And then yeah, just more ramps, more merch, know, wanna really drive like cool fingerboard clothing, know, like something that I wanna put on every day, you know, there's like, depending on...

how my laundry cycles go and I could wear a fingerboard shirt every day, know? I that. It's been kind of cool and ⁓ yeah, I don't know. I'm ready for summer. Not that it's too cold, but I love when people are traveling because I've noticed, even with Black River, when we're the old shop, ⁓ you notice the travelers die down and then summertime comes and it's like people from all over the world in one week. Right now it's just a really core community.

It's so exciting to see those new faces light up when they walk in the door like that. This is a real place, you know, so.

speaker-1 (10:13)
It's a destination. It is. People are like, yeah, I'm going to Chicago today for the day. They're like, oh, what are you doing? You gonna see this? You gonna go this museum? You gonna go check that out? I'm like, nah, I'm gonna go fingerboard at this.

speaker-0 (10:21)
Yeah, exactly.

speaker-1 (10:24)
I'm like, nah, dude, it's cool.

speaker-0 (10:26)
Yeah, yeah, I get it. I get it for sure. But yeah, I don't know. It's an exciting journey. I have to sit in the back and talk with Andy every single day. And we got to figure out what's the next new big thing we're going to do. Because every week it's something. And it's really cool to see product hit the website and fly off the shelves immediately. And it's really quite a treat. And the scene couldn't be better.

speaker-1 (10:55)
love it man, I love it. All right, anything you wanna add? I know I'm taking up some valuable time, you got some stuff going on, but I feel like we got so much to talk about, but not enough time to do it. I do not know.

speaker-0 (10:56)
Yeah

When does this come out?

Okay, okay. could be next week. It could be a week after. I I got a sale right now. If buy a crew neck, you get a board free, but that might be out. But stay on the website because I'm going to do it again one more time. So that's a little teaser on sorry for finger boarding. If you buy a hoodie or crew neck, I will give out some free boards while supplies last. I'm going back to make some ramps, hang out with my dad, see my mom. That's how I got some new stuff in the sorry pipeline coming out.

speaker-1 (11:38)
I saw the stair sats.

speaker-0 (11:39)
Yeah, yeah, those are just I've always done big stocks of them and put them out and Yeah, I don't know then we're just gonna keep growing forward. You know, that's all we could do Yeah

speaker-1 (11:50)
Where can people find you on the internet?

speaker-0 (11:52)
People

can find me most places as sorry for finger boarding YouTube, Instagram, the whole nine yards. You can find us on index. That's a brain child of me, Andy, tiny Mark, all those guys. ⁓ And yeah, stay sharp and still good.

speaker-1 (12:11)
Right on. Well, of course, Levine cutting him here. USFPL on all platforms. Smash. I appreciate you coming on the pod. Thank you.

speaker-0 (12:18)
Appreciate

you. I'm gonna go walk in the cold now. Thank you. ⁓

speaker-1 (12:21)
Until next time.

speaker-0 (12:48)
Take tight, I'm sorry. Every trick or story, every slide of word. Climbing on the edge, I'm breaking the mold. Fingerboarded dreams with the weight in gold. Hear the wheels as they scream in this fingerboarded dream.

speaker-1 (12:49)
Like

speaker-0 (13:33)
as they scream in this finger-boding tree