August 12, 2004Skateboarding Offers a Challenging WorkoutBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 2:54 p.m. ET
SAYREVILLE, N.J. (AP) -- While the tennis courts at Kennedy Park are bare on a hot afternoon, parents keep dropping off teenagers at the skate park, home to all the day's action.
A dozen boys sit on the ledge, cooling off while watching others take turns flying downhill on the concrete slope. Forget Little League: In some areas, skateboarding is now the sport of choice.
Clad in helmets and jeans, the teens have their choice of skating into a clover-shaped bowl -- resembling an oddly shaped empty swimming pool -- or over a series of obstacles not unlike the park benches or railings used in street skating.
``You can just, like, go out here and do your own thing,'' said Nick Marrone, 13, visiting from Poughquag, N.Y. ``It's whatever you want; you're just having fun.''
The sport once mainly practiced on backyard ramps and in Southern California skate parks has found universal appeal. One estimate is that there are 12 million skateboarders nationwide and more than 1,000 public skateparks on top of the multitude of private ones.
``It's a great rush,'' said 14-year-old Amelia Brodka, taking a short break from the vert ramp at the indoor RexPlex Skate Park in Elizabeth.
The sport is growing not only in the suburbs of big cities, but also in small communities like Searcy, Ark.
``There are more and more kids every single day getting involved and the stereotypes are really being lifted,'' said Alan Holloway, program coordinator for Searcy Parks and Recreation, which opened its municipal skate park in 2000 and expanded it in 2002 because of heavy use.
The core market seems to be in the 10- to 15-year-old group of ``energetic, crazy young kids who are fearless,'' and who now surpass the number of Little League baseball players, said Miki Vuckovich of the Tony Hawk Foundation, established by perhaps the sport's best-known athlete.
``A lot of kids are looking for alternatives now; they don't want to do team sports,'' said Mark Sperling, founder of Op Girls Learn to Ride, which teaches skateboarding and other action sports to females. ``Skateboarding is a way for them to express who they are and their creativity.''
It's also inexpensive -- just grab a secondhand skateboard and head to the streets. And while some skate competitively, others say they have fun without the pressures or politics of team sports.
``There's no coach yelling at you that you bobbled the play,'' said Chris Li, 16, of Livingston, N.J, who is lobbying his hometown to build a municipal park. ``It's not like you bobble one play, and you're benched for the rest of the season.''
The sport's popularity dates to the 1960s and has surged again in the last 10 years thanks in part to the X Games, the action sports competition broadcast on ESPN and ABC.
And its appeal these days is ever wider. Some parks have an ``Old Man's Night;'' and girls and women acccount for about 20 percent of skateboarders. There's even a California-based International Society of Skateboarding Moms.
``We just can't get this kind of buzz from scrapbooking,'' said founder Barb Odanaka, 41, of Laguna Beach, Calif. ``We can't get this on the tennis courts and we certainly can't get it from shopping at the mall. There's something about looking down a vertical wall of cement and basically hurling yourself down this wall on four wheels. That is a rush like nothing else.''
Avid skateboarders maintain their sport is no more dangerous than football or soccer.
Skateboarding-related accidents accounted for 113,180 emergency room injuries in 2002, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. That's about a third of the bicycle injuries suffered by kids under age 15, and about half the number of injuries from playground equipment.
Aspiring riders are usually drawn more to the adrenaline rush than the fitness benefits, but it does provide a great workout, experts say.
``It's cardiovascular; it's better than running,'' said Brendan Flattery, 28, who runs skateboarding programs at the RexPlex. ``You're constantly moving.''
Balance is key, and it also helps to have a sense of direction and agility. While learning to skateboard requires patience and perseverance, Vuckovich said the rewards are many.
``You're always progressing, you're always learning something new,'' he said. ``You see things and you want to replicate it. You want to be that guy. The closer you get there, the more the mystery is solved and the more excited you get. It's a great thing for kids to do.''
The trend also means teens are spending less time on video games.
``The more time that you can limit them from being squatted in front of the TV, and actually get them outside physically doing something, that's a good thing,'' said Searcy parks coordinator Holloway.
^------
On the Net:
The Tony Hawk Foundation: http://www.tonyhawkfoundation.org
International Society of Skateboarding Moms:
http://www.skateboardmom.homestead.com/home.html
Op Girls Learn to Ride: http://www.girlslearntoride.com
NEXT - POST YOUR FAVORITE SKATEBOARDING RELATED STORIES, ANECDOTES, PICTURES, ETC.
― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:10 (twenty years ago)
― ddb (ddb), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:12 (twenty years ago)
― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:13 (twenty years ago)
the gonz and the gordon
― ddb (ddb), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:13 (twenty years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:14 (twenty years ago)
― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:14 (twenty years ago)
― Red Panda Sanskrit (ex machina), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:14 (twenty years ago)
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:18 (twenty years ago)
http://www.skateboardingis.com/archive.html
― ddb (ddb), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:19 (twenty years ago)
― ddb (ddb), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:20 (twenty years ago)
Dear Skate Dudes,
Why am I such a HORRIBLE SKATER?
Lopsidedly,
hstencil
― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:20 (twenty years ago)
― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:21 (twenty years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:22 (twenty years ago)
― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:22 (twenty years ago)
THIS IS THE THREAD WHERE WE WELCOME gabbneb AND BRO, i mean MONETIZING EYEBALLS!
― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:23 (twenty years ago)
A couple years ago, I was coming out of a friend's Work Christmas Party, it was around 9 o'clock around 27th and 5th which is pretty empty at night. I was a bit hammered and it was cold...from out of nowhere the gonz comes skating up the street...Nobody around except me and my "date"...I yell "Gonnnnnz!!" he raises his fist in a black power kind of way and gives me the NOD.
I was giddy after that.
I so wanted to push my date into a freezy puddle and go with the Gonz.
― ddb (ddb), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:33 (twenty years ago)
― ddb (ddb), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:35 (twenty years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:36 (twenty years ago)
― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:36 (twenty years ago)
― ddb (ddb), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:37 (twenty years ago)
cutty yer drunk! howard has a lot of character...but his game is gone
― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:38 (twenty years ago)
― ddb (ddb), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:38 (twenty years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:39 (twenty years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:41 (twenty years ago)
― ddb (ddb), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:45 (twenty years ago)
― ddb (ddb), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:46 (twenty years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:46 (twenty years ago)
get u to the store and back!
― ddb (ddb), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:48 (twenty years ago)
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:49 (twenty years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 August 2004 19:54 (twenty years ago)
― brock (brock), Friday, 13 August 2004 11:48 (twenty years ago)
― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Friday, 13 August 2004 12:49 (twenty years ago)
Steve
― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 12 January 2006 23:19 (nineteen years ago)
― adamrl (nordicskilla), Thursday, 12 January 2006 23:21 (nineteen years ago)
(I don't think he'd appreciate my use of "adorable" there but he can deal.)
― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 12 January 2006 23:25 (nineteen years ago)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=gOu7udoqPZg
the one-footed shit that happens just short of halfway through is mindblowing. what a maniac.
― vahid (vahid), Saturday, 8 April 2006 20:34 (nineteen years ago)
-- brock (iheartscabie...), August 13th, 2004 8:48 AM. (brock)
jesus
― smokemon (eman), Saturday, 8 April 2006 21:03 (nineteen years ago)
― sleep (sleep), Saturday, 8 April 2006 21:26 (nineteen years ago)
Oh hey, I just got interviewed for a pretty big skateboard magazine about music stuff - I mostly just called out/shittalked everyone who owes me money/fucked me over in the last year.
― LeCoq (LeCoq), Sunday, 9 April 2006 02:50 (nineteen years ago)
― smokemon (eman), Sunday, 9 April 2006 04:17 (nineteen years ago)
SICK VIDEO
― gbx (skowly), Sunday, 9 April 2006 06:48 (nineteen years ago)
― LeCoq (LeCoq), Sunday, 9 April 2006 09:17 (nineteen years ago)
http://skateboarddirectory.com/articles/679748_fausto_vitello_skateboard.html
http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VQDzAukZplVMumTIMAVepA2QMWt8QLuQ0pVzbn6efAN9CLgqxeVT1OSpvgdnJceFOia7B1JrtU!G07*x2j!LE2e73tvj9*roq80zX70ZeGCaR9u*M4Yy9rL2cznkAbPK/1978%20fausto%20vitello.jpg
― guess papers (eman), Friday, 19 May 2006 02:22 (nineteen years ago)
― ddb (ddb), Friday, 19 May 2006 13:26 (nineteen years ago)
― superultramega (superultramarinated), Friday, 19 May 2006 14:13 (nineteen years ago)
― ddb (ddb), Friday, 19 May 2006 14:53 (nineteen years ago)
― FLOWING STRAIGHT FROM THE SURVIVAL SCROLL (vahid), Friday, 19 May 2006 15:43 (nineteen years ago)
― FLOWING STRAIGHT FROM THE SURVIVAL SCROLL (vahid), Friday, 19 May 2006 15:44 (nineteen years ago)
xpost - is that dennis wilson?
― jaxon, Friday, 4 January 2008 23:19 (seventeen years ago)
hahaha at ". . .a Gino can have. . ." I meant to say just say "Gino" (for those who use the term 'guidos' to refer to a certain unsightly stereotypical character, at least here we say 'ginos')
― mehlt, Saturday, 5 January 2008 03:22 (seventeen years ago)
FUN DDB FACT...I GREW UP WITH GINO AND HAD 360 FLIPS DIALED BEFORE HE DID.
― ddb, Monday, 7 January 2008 19:23 (seventeen years ago)
Sorry, I require fact cards to come in the mail at the prescribed size so I can fit them into the carrying case.
― Laurel, Monday, 7 January 2008 19:28 (seventeen years ago)
In a preferred alternate universe, I get lots of air― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, August 12, 2004 3:18 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― roxymuzak, Sunday, 8 March 2009 08:52 (sixteen years ago)
I do believe I will fit in shreddingly on this board.Steve
― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, January 12, 2006 6:19 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
I desperately need to see this: http://landscapeskateboards.com/
Anyone seen it?
― mehlt, Sunday, 8 March 2009 16:36 (sixteen years ago)
http://sk8boarding.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/strangenoteshaslam2.jpg
OMG joaquin phoenix shredzzzz!!!
― moonship journey to baja, Sunday, 8 March 2009 20:54 (sixteen years ago)
havent seen it mehlt
― roxymuzak, Sunday, 8 March 2009 20:55 (sixteen years ago)
WANT
― moonship journey to baja, Sunday, 8 March 2009 21:06 (sixteen years ago)
Every deck has its own distinctive wood pattern. All of them are equally beautiful.
― roxymuzak, Sunday, 8 March 2009 21:15 (sixteen years ago)
Every ilxer has its own distinctive wood pattern. All of them are equally beautiful.
― moonship journey to baja, Sunday, 8 March 2009 21:34 (sixteen years ago)
lol, i thought it was dj harvey
― (jaxon) ( .) ( .) (jaxon), Sunday, 8 March 2009 21:44 (sixteen years ago)
<object width="572" height="315"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7048233&;server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7048233&;server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="572" height="315"></embed></object>
― moonship journey to baja, Friday, 16 October 2009 02:26 (fifteen years ago)
eh fuck
just go here: http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7048233
and ID the first song in the video for me, i'm too drunk to recall what it is / who it's by
― moonship journey to baja, Friday, 16 October 2009 02:27 (fifteen years ago)
http://www.imeem.com/people/47xsHI1/music/qc3fEPCv/death-keep-on-knocking/
― ♪♫(●̲̲̅̅̅̅=̲̲̅̅̅̅●̲̅̅)♪♫ (Steve Shasta), Friday, 16 October 2009 02:39 (fifteen years ago)
pretty hilarious nod to "Stairway To Heaven" to open the song btw
― ♪♫(●̲̲̅̅̅̅=̲̲̅̅̅̅●̲̅̅)♪♫ (Steve Shasta), Friday, 16 October 2009 02:43 (fifteen years ago)
oh shit, i have that album
― moonship journey to baja, Friday, 16 October 2009 02:44 (fifteen years ago)
Damn, how old is Sean Malto, it's hard to believe how kids these days just get more and more ridiculously talented.
― EDB, Friday, 16 October 2009 14:02 (fifteen years ago)
̲̲̲̲̲˚ ˚
this is my favorite Skate Boarder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4ko8-MnMdU
― iiiijjjj, Friday, 16 October 2009 15:17 (fifteen years ago)
love that part
― sleep, Friday, 16 October 2009 15:27 (fifteen years ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7r2nxpgoIg
― sleep, Friday, 23 October 2009 07:02 (fifteen years ago)
^so good
― am0n, Friday, 23 October 2009 15:09 (fifteen years ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6-vb20srZI&feature=player_embedded
― be told and get high on coconut (gbx), Thursday, 22 July 2010 15:52 (fourteen years ago)
ha. i sent that to grady yesterday. it's totally dumb, but weirdly i watched the whole thing
― jaxon, Thursday, 22 July 2010 18:34 (fourteen years ago)
wow this thread
― skroink all over the place (jdchurchill), Thursday, 22 July 2010 21:11 (fourteen years ago)
Anyone seen "This Time Tomorrow"? I watched it a few days ago, really excellent.
― EDB, Saturday, 2 April 2011 03:45 (fourteen years ago)
The last trick on this is really just silly. I mean, really.
― EDB, Tuesday, 21 June 2011 03:31 (fourteen years ago)
i think i've been to that school
― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 21 June 2011 03:39 (fourteen years ago)
After years of ignoring it because of its association with Vice, belatedly watching epicly later'd has been one of the greatest joys I've come to known in some time.
I've just watched the Koston and Kalis ones, but damn were they great. The stories and footage is just incredible.
― formerly EDB (ed.b), Sunday, 10 February 2013 15:25 (twelve years ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7WweCVi1Wc
― am0n, Thursday, 5 December 2013 18:59 (eleven years ago)
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/video/2014/jan/23/two-year-old-skateboarder-skills-video
― (•̪●) (carne asada), Thursday, 23 January 2014 17:31 (eleven years ago)
http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ollie-tracking-optimized1.gifhttp://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ollie-tracking-with-CM-optimized.gifhttp://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ollie-CM-few-arrows-opt.gifhttp://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ollie-CM-all-arrows-opt.gifhttp://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ollie-wheels-force-arrows.gifhttp://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ollie-wheels-CM-ref-frame.gif
― (•̪●) (carne asada), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 18:59 (ten years ago)
a friend of mine wrote a really good article for King Skateboard about the skate industry's pathetic and cowardly deference to people like racist nazi-sympathizer Jason Jessee. Jessee complained and so they took down the article:
Jason Jessee reached out and asked us to allow him to address the issues brought up in this article with us in an interview.We will be conducting it in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
We will be conducting it in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
the original text of the article is preserved on this forum post: http://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=99673.msg2807402#msg2807402
― obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Friday, 1 June 2018 16:05 (seven years ago)
as a totally uninformed outsider to the skate world, when i read something like this
But I'm not sure many skateboarders realize just how small and insular the US skateboard industry really is. The slightest look behind the curtain reveals about 120 people, 150 max, cramped into a cozy pyramid; everyone knows everyone else. Nor might the average skater realize just how concentrated the power is at this pyramid's top. In 2012 I was surprised to receive an email from Dave Carnie, a writer I'll argue is second only to Stecyk in terms of importance to skateboarding. It seemed that Carnie had read my profile of Andrew Reynolds and wondered about doing something on Steve Berra. I'd have to be careful, he warned, because he'd have to give Berra final review of whatever I wrote. When I said, basically, hold on you're Dave Fucking Carnie, he explained how Berra had the power to yank advertising and thus was not someone to fuck with. He admitted that this was not very punk rock, but unfortunately he had to consider the reality of the situation.
my first thought is to say fuck the existing 120-150 people participating in this bullshit industry, tell everyone to assume those 150 people died and can't be communicated with anymore, and form a new community with cool people who aren't cowards. prooobably pretty hard to do that though.
― obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Friday, 1 June 2018 16:10 (seven years ago)
uh so jon4h hi11 is making this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Rx6-GaSIE
― F# A# (∞), Sunday, 29 July 2018 15:50 (six years ago)
who knows how much of kids he has ripped off
― F# A# (∞), Sunday, 29 July 2018 15:56 (six years ago)
https://youtu.be/ZeysRfe2LVY
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 3 June 2020 03:07 (five years ago)
god do i love rodney mullen
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 3 June 2020 19:05 (five years ago)
if you like rodney mullen, you'll love rodney mullen on bath salts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnFPQ57l0Dg
― the burrito that defined a generation, Saturday, 6 June 2020 01:07 (five years ago)
Today I discovered Japanese skateboarder Isamu Yamamoto. Just when you think he’s done the video gets better and better. pic.twitter.com/MrQFPBf3ee— Kelvin Liu (@getakliu) July 27, 2020
― (•̪●) (carne asada), Monday, 27 July 2020 19:13 (four years ago)
That kid rules.
― DJI, Monday, 27 July 2020 20:38 (four years ago)
it’s good but obviously v indebted to mullen, a good deal of it basically carbon copied, not that that’s a bad thing necessarily
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 28 July 2020 23:33 (four years ago)
Oh for sure!
― DJI, Tuesday, 28 July 2020 23:40 (four years ago)
that's just figure skating with skateboards!!!!!!!! i disapprove
― the burrito that defined a generation, Wednesday, 29 July 2020 02:08 (four years ago)
He's also great on free skates, which are generally a bad idea.
― Fetchboy, Wednesday, 29 July 2020 02:20 (four years ago)
Skateboard Kings (1978)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA9q4cmh9j0
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Saturday, 4 September 2021 21:59 (three years ago)
So I went to see a Tony Hawk cover band in a small bar in East London and @tonyhawk showed up and sang some songs. WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL. @SignatureBrewE8 pic.twitter.com/xxPSQro2Pt— Isabel Davies (@IsabelDavies_) July 30, 2022
― koogs, Sunday, 31 July 2022 00:30 (two years ago)
idgi is the thread actually the one skateboarding
― Disco Biollante (Neanderthal), Monday, 8 January 2024 17:45 (one year ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1167QnmqsgBam Margera - Bam's Park Footy (1998)
― budo jeru, Friday, 23 May 2025 15:14 (four weeks ago)