Kim, when your going down ramps and stuff I have some advice: WEAR HELMETS AND PADS!!!!!! Now, if your just going down the sidewalk then it doesn't matter. And when you're learning to skate on ramps try the smaller ones first and work on the larger. I'm not really much of skateboarder but I do mostly inline skate. And since you're no skateboarder I just also need to say one thing besides pads and helmets. WRISTGUARDS!