just starting out?

Question
hello scott ...my name is Yeonsil and i am 14 years old female who is just starting to ride skateboard... well i dont know if i will stick to it or anything but i really want to become a pro skater, but i am not sure if i am too late to be one... i mean i see all those pro skaters who are about my age and they have been riding since they were 4, like Ryan Sheckler... so i am not sure if i will be good enough for that...that was my first problem, and secondly, there is no skatepark or any place to skate at all at where i live...its really small town in Florida, and i cant drive yet to go out of town to skate... only place i can skate is on the flat road that goes on and on straight leading me to Wal mart...and my family is kinda poor so we can't really afford anything to get something on my yard or anything...and they work like everyday from morning to night so they cant take me to skate park...
do you have any idea? sorry this is such an impossible question

well what i am basically saying is...can a girl from no skate tolerating town (since they kinda ban riding skateboard around few areas...)and who is starting out late since i just started to ride and i am about to turn 15 at december, can ever be a pro skateboarder?

they all say if you are dedicated enough you will achieve whatever you want, and if thats actually possible, how much should i practice riding skateboard? (only thing i can do is go straight down the flat road with no steepness)

well thanks for listening to my sad and impossible story and again thanks in advance

Sincerely
Yeonsil


Answer
14  is the perfect time to start, and it's never too late to start something.  If you want to be pro - go for it, but you'll have to be more dedicated to it than the statement you made in you question:  "well i dont know if i will stick to it or anything..."   

Skateboarding is all about fun, if you're not doing it to have fun, stop right now(and that pretty much goes for anything in life).  If you enjoy it and have fun doing it - keep going.  There are going to be a lot of sacrifices along the way, but from someone who has been riding since he was 10 (I'm now 34), it's definitely worth it.  All of my friends have come from skateboarding - some still skate, some don't, but there's an understanding between us that goes deeper than most people's friendships.

I'm going to give you some reading material that may help with your situation:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802139450/002-2953800-1688852?v=glance&n=28315...

That sounds cheesy, but really gives an insiders view of the world of skateboarding as a culture / lifestyle - plus my friend took the cover photo for the book.

Subscribe to Thrasher or Skateboard mag - better yet, since you said you're low on cash flow, and since you've asked this question online - go to their web sites to keep in touch with what's going on.  Don't pay too much attention to what tricks people are doing, do your own thing, don't set goals with skateboarding - do it to have fun and push your own personal limits of what you can do mentally and physically.

Buy some videos.

Count yourself lucky living in Florida, at least it's warm there for most of the year - I get cold weather, snow and ice for most of the year, and it rains a lot.  That's why I built a mini-ramp in my basement.  So, save your money, search out scrap wood and put together a mini-ramp of your own.  You could build a decent one for $300.  Which you could also get some other skaters to pitch in - just make sure they sign waivers before you start building.  Or contact these guys and see how they did it:

http://www.wilmingtonskateproject.org or one of the many other cities that have built parks recently.

Good luck and drop me a line to let me know how you're doing.