Mok attempts to ride the ramp, which is no easy feat despite how simple it looks. It takes her a couple of tries but after much guidance from Dures and a couple of close calls, she masters it.

It’s a joyous moment for the gleeful duo as they high-five each other.

To Dures’s students, the sight of him cruising on a skateboard and turning heads with his stunts is nothing out of the ordinary.

But seven months ago, his former coworkers at the bank would never have imagined him in anything but a suit and tie, let alone in a cap and gliding across a handrail on his skateboard.

“I was a banker for a decade, in charge of executing trades and transactions for clients, brokers, and other parties in the back office,” recalls the 39-year-old, as he keeps a watchful eye on his student.

But a decade of experience proved to be no match for the problems the pandemic created, because, in October 2020, Dures says his whole world came crashing down.

He received the shocking news that he was on the redundancy list.

“We knew that something was going on because a restructuring exercise was underway but I never expected for my name to be on the list.”

Dures says he had to muster up his courage to break the news to his wife, who thankfully, was extremely understanding of the situation. The couple sat down and planned what to do next.

“Actually, while I was working, I gave skateboarding lessons over the weekends,” explains Dures, who is a National Skate Accreditation (NSA) certified skateboarding coach.

The Bidayuh from Bau Singai, Sarawak, tells FMT that he fell in love with skateboarding when he was a young boy after watching American professional skateboarder Tony Hawk perform his epic stunts on television.

“Back in the 90s, skateboarding was considered taboo. It had a stigma attached to it, something about skateboarding being a bad influence,” laughs Dures, who recalls running to his dad and begging for a skateboard at the age of 12.

“It was just my friend Luke and I. Back then there were no YouTube tutorials. All we had were some VHS tapes that we borrowed from a friend.”

Dures says that it took the adventurous duo practically three months just to learn how to stand on a skateboard.

They were also extremely creative when it came to practice, utilising whatever items they could get their hands on to perfect their stunts.

“We started off by ollieing a broom, then a brick, and a biscuit tin. That took us years to perfect but just attempting to get the trick right had us hooked on the satisfaction of succeeding after many tries.”

Smiling, Dures explains that he learned many life lessons through skateboarding, one of which was: “You will fall many times, but you will pick yourself up and become stronger and better.”

Soon, Dures was a familiar face at skateboarding competitions, representing Sarawak in the national arena and even the X Games Asia.

At one point, he was a regular judge at skateboarding competitions until he left it all to make it big in the world of banking.

He has come full circle after the fallout from the pandemic led him back to his initial passion.

Now, Dures is a full-time skateboarding coach with a clientele made up mostly of expatriates from Mont Kiara. His youngest student is just five years old, and his oldest is 42.

“The oldest student I had was a 56-year-old American man,” smiles Dures.

Age aside, Dures says the love for skateboarding is a universal one that transcends backgrounds and circumstances.

He gives his assurance that he can teach just about anybody to skateboard with confidence, even autistic kids and Orang Asli, who he is currently teaching about all things skateboarding.

“I believe that is my purpose and I am extremely grateful because just as one door closed on me, another door opened. Honestly, I didn’t really enjoy working in the corporate world and I actually had a plan to leave but could never find the right time,” laughs Dures.

He adds that when the redundancy letter arrived, it felt like a sign to launch his new career as a skateboard coach — a career path that he was anxious about getting into full time, especially where finances were concerned.

Now, however, Dures wishes he had made the switch earlier.

“When I was working as a banker, I could only take in 10 students. News spread fast when I announced that I became a full-time coach, so I currently have over 35 students.”

But Dures isn’t content to just relax and take each day as it comes. The former banker’s dream has evolved, as he now plans to open a certified skateboarding school by the end of the year.

Hopefully, when that happens, more people will be able to share the same ‘skate’ of mind and love for the action sport.

Interested in taking up skateboarding lessons? Reach out to Dures on his Instagram or WhatsApp at 012 6696951 for more information.