Growing Number of Dedicated Parks Help Skateboarders Shed Their Negative Image

November 19, 1998

Growing number of dedicated parks help skateboarders shed their negative image

Edited for Readability Level: 1080L

By REBECCA AGIEWICH SPECIAL TO THE P-I

Inside the popular Bellevue Skate Park, the thunder of urethane wheels speeding down plywood ramps is accompanied by the beat of punk band U.S. Bombs blasting from a boombox.

Despite the noise, order reigns in the city-owned park. Helmeted skateboarders, mostly guys between the ages of 12 and 25, politely wait their turn at the top of half-pipes, ramps and "street" courses.

The skaters are intent and focused, not talking much, but hitting the same obstacles, the same turns, over and over again with never-ending patience.

To the untrained eye, the individual maneuvers of each skater don't look that different. It’s easy, though, to spot the guys catching big air.

But each skater is working on something unique. Maybe their own individual style, or a version of the "Ollie" they want to perfect (the move that gets the skateboard airborne and has an infinite number of variations), or a trick borrowed from their favorite pro.

"Skateboarding is one of the most positive sports for creating individuality," says Marshall Reid. He is a well-known local skateboarder and skate-park designer who works at the city-owned park. "Each person has his or her own style. And since skateboarding has over 200 pros, that gives us a lot of positive role models that we can get inspired by."

Like its cool cousins, snowboarding and surfing, skateboarding has become a lifestyle. Its young participants share a rebellious, adventurous attitude toward life.

Ryan Parrot, another park employee, echoes Reid's statements. He says, "Skateboarding has been the best thing in the world for me. It's given me everything I have in my life today, including my friends and my job. It's also been a great way for me to express my individuality." Unfortunately, self-expression through skateboarding isn't always the most civic-minded of pastimes.

Today's skaters favor a bold, technical form called "streetstyle," where they seek out obstacles they can jump over or slide down, things like curbs, benches, handrails and cars.

But when skaters take to real streets instead of skate-park versions, they often leave property destruction behind. The metal trucks of a skateboard (which form the board's suspension system) can damage surfaces it drags along. So can the wax that some skaters use to help their wheels grip the riding surface. Wax leaves black marks on concrete. When used on benches, it can transfer to people's clothes (a recent lawsuit in Arizona involved such an incident).

This fall, University Village Shopping Center spent about $1,000 to install a new product called SkateBlock. Designed by a Seattle company, SkateBlock is a heavy piece of curved bronze that can be attached to a desirable skating surface (for example, a ledge), making it impossible for skaters to slide along it.

Caught in a Catch-22, today's streetstyle skaters have gotten themselves virtually banned from the streets.

The answer? More and better skate parks.

With a reputation as vandals, skateboarders have never had a great relationship with authority figures. But the good news is that the powers-that-be in the Puget Sound area are taking the need for skate parks seriously.

"This finally represents something that the skateboarders of Seattle have had a say in; we've created something, and the city acknowledges and accepts it," he says. "In creating this park, the city of Seattle took a big step to do something for youth."

For parents who are thinking of buying skateboards for their kids, Reid has this advice: Buy a top-quality board.

"Go to a skateboard shop," he says. "The cheaper boards that you get at department stores are actually dangerous -- not even advanced skateboarders can ride them well."

As for safety, almost all skateboarders get hurt at some time. The more hard-core they get, the more likely they are to have a serious injury. But with proper protection -- wrist pads, elbow pads, knee pads, and helmets (all of which are required at the Bellevue park) -- the chances of injury can be minimized.

Says Reid, "In five months of working here, I've only seen one break." Skateboarding has gone through many changes in the three decades since kids first hit the streets rolling on wooden boards. These days, because of the popularity of other extreme sports like snowboarding and rock climbing, skateboarding is getting a little more respect.

"A while back, people used to look at a group of skateboarders and think 'deviants,'" Parrot says. "Now that they see it on ESPN, they look at us and think we're cool."

But its reputation still has plenty of room for improvement. A recent anti-drug commercial shows a skateboarder smoking marijuana. But as skateboarders continue to get respect and support from their communities, the sport will continue to grow in productive, rather than destructive, ways.

Rebecca Agiewich is a Seattle free-lance writer who can be contacted at 425-649-9800, ext. 5853; or [email protected]