The Skate Park Scam

There’s a new skate park in Powder Springs, Ga. At a size of 20,000 sq. ft., and a cost of $1.8 million dollars, you would be forgiven if you thought it was going to be amazing.

Designed and built by California Skateparks, the park is located at Silver Comet Linear Park – just a short push from the parking lot, down the paved Silver Comet Trail, to the park. It’s divided into two sections; the bowl is in the back, with the “street area” taking up the rest. Sidewalks lead up both sides. And I do mean UP. For some reason, the park is uni-directional. Start at the top, roll into a bank and hit a rail, hubba, or some of the many, many stairs. There’s a couple of spots to keep rolling down banks into the next section where you can again hit a rail, hubba, or more stairs. And again, there are banks to roll down, through a short flat and into a 5ish ft. quarter pipe that runs the width of the park. It is tall enough that if you drop in you can do something at the first section you hit, but you’ll be pushing into the following section and back on up to the top. Or you can push or walk up the sidewalk to get back. In the one session I had, I did both. Neither was particularly exciting.

Another issue with the design of this park is that it is mirrored along the center axis. Now, I get wanting to make skating the same for both goofy and regular footers. But that can easily be accomplished on either side of a park, while providing some variety and dare i say – fun when building the other side of a park. And this is where I think the city of Powder Springs got fleeced by California Skateparks.

A symmetrical park gives the illusion of size and variety but really only provides the builder with minimal effort at maximum cost. Its like walking into a restaurant with a mirrored wall. It’s there to make you feel like it’s a bigger space without actually having to have that space. It’s a trick and a lie. Even with inflation, the rising costs of materials, and the cost of labor, it is hard for me to believe that this park justifies the cost that Powder Springs put into it.

I don’t really blame the city for this. The location is ideal – right off a major thoroughfare, and next to an excellent bike path. There’s a concession stand at the entrance to the path, with bathrooms. It’s a well thought out location. But the choice to make it a “competition-level park” was a mistake. Especially if you are planning to have competitions. While I like the overall space, there is absolutely no room for spectators if there is any kind of event here. See above photo.

Skateboarding is being funneled into this ideal sport-style activity that makes it more publicly acceptable. It is being mutated into just another dry, boring sport that is being squeezed for every dollar it can generate for big corporations – and California Skateparks is taking full advantage. Skateboarding is about fun, movement, and freedom. By choosing and building this style of park, skateboarding is getting pushed into an unnaturally structured domain. Skateboarding isn’t about straight lines and getting from point A to point B. It’s about starting at any point and pushing and flowing to any other point along the way. More than any other activity, skateboarding is about the journey, not the destination.

I was pretty sure I was not going to like this park from the first time i saw the renderings. But I wanted to see it first-hand and make a fairly informed decision. It’s not all bad. While it is still a competition style bowl, there isn’t anything else like it anywhere nearby. So for bowl and vert skaters, I think it’s a good addition. It has hips, gaps, and walls which definitely make it more interesting, although, the design is getting a bit dated.

I do wonder, though, how long the park is going to last. While we are being allowed to skate, I don’t know that technically it has officially opened. There’s already cracks in the concrete and some other questionable spots. I know nothing is perfect, but this seems a little too soon.

seems a little soon for this. photo courtesy of vincent parham -IG @putasweateron

I’m pretty sure this park won’t be part of my rotation. I know a couple of people that live nearby, so at the very least, it will be a more accessible park. And I’m always happy to skate with friends. But for a solo sesh, this is a no-go.

But by all means, don’t take my word for it. Go have a look. Roll around. Everybody has their own opinion. You may like it (which would be weird), but whatever. For me it’s just another disappointment – or maybe it’s just another reason to go skate street.

What do you think?

missed opportunities. just slide these over for some ride-on grinds.

nobody’s hitting this. so now it’s a spectator rail.

SLS and The Demise of Contest Skating.

the slow infection that is making our once healthy escape into a burning fever

Well, its back. The worst thing to happen to skateboarding since benihanas.

It’s all over instagram and youtube, clogging the arteries of boredom and procrastination.

The dread king of contest skateboarding – SLS.

From bad judging to non-lines, this format of contest skating has come to produce the worst in skateboarding. Taking it from the freedom of the streets and the parking lot contests into mainstream jockular culture, SLS has been the slow infection that is making our once healthy escape into a burning fever of fans, merch, and ticket sales.

Let’s start with the worst part:

FORMAT.

Multiple runs of inconsistent skating. Best run out of ~~five attempts; or is it three~~? two runs now; plus 4 attempts at best trick. It doesn’t matter because the problem lies mostly in the fact that these aren’t true runs. And they are definitely not lines, as they are being called now. Rolling in, doing a trick, and then getting off your board on the other side of the park (yes, its a park-not street), and then doing some other trick on your way back to the 1st side isn’t how a ”run” is done. The true difficulty of a run is multiple tricks done in succession without getting off your board in any way. Getting off your board after each trick is a way of cheating yourself and everyone else. Just that 1 or 2 seconds is enough to recharge the body, giving you a little break in the midst of your allotted time. Again, the difficulty or goal, is staying on your board for the set time, accomplishing as many tricks as you can. Doing it while winded ups the difficulty.

There’s already a best trick section of the contest. The set format of the runs pretty much voids it. Or maybe vice-versa. Having the best trick section, there’s no need for the best-of runs.

Judging/Points/Rank

The judgment of tricks is so subjective. Skateboarding itself is subjective. Just because a trick is technical or difficult doesn’t make it better or worth more than a trick that is objectively easier or simpler. Kickflip crooked grind to nollie flip out is a very technical and difficult trick. You know what I’d rather see? Back smith.

I think, really, what it comes down to is that the more technical a trick is, the further away skateboarding gets from the beauty it inherently has from being a simple form of self-expression. But this isn’t about self-expression; it’s about contests. So how do you judge a trick when everybody sees the value of a trick differently? Simply put, you can’t. Watch any SLS contest and you’ll see and hear it from the crowd. There is constant disagreement with posted standings and scores. You’ll even see it from the participating skaters-right before the camera cuts away.

And from those judgements come points. Because of how arbitrary the judging is, the points awarded follow in the same path. Sometimes more, sometimes less. More points equal a higher rank, but does that really mean someone is a better skater than somebody else? Maybe for the day or maybe even for only the 30 seconds of one particular run. Certainly not in any meaningful way or length of time.

Let’s make lines the new tricks

Technique/Style

Ah. Trick skaters. You have so much potential, but you waste it when you walk back from whatever you just tried. SLS has fostered a whole generation of people who only skate to do tricks. Sure, they’re fun, but they are not the point of skateboarding. Instead of the repetitive trickery that contest skating instigates, it would be nice to see a better push, or even a pre-trick and/or post-trick. Let’s make lines the new tricks.

It’s technique vs. style. How it’s done vs. how it gets done. It’s a literal judgement call when it should be anything but that.

Tickets/Venue

Get out your credit card. You’re about to waste a ton of money on convenience fees, overpriced food and beverages, and T-shirts promoting shit-culture. Everybody’s going to be a walking billboard for SLS and anyone affiliated with them.

And buying tickets through Ticketmaster? C’mon. They’ve been running this same scam for decades now. Overpriced, under-value; It’s a money-grab just because people will go along with it.

Look, I don’t blame the individual skaters for participating. There’s a lot of money getting thrown around and that’s tempting. But skaters are people and when people form groups…well that’s when things start to go awry. Groups make bad decisions based on their collective indifference to other groups. If there’s just enough to spark interest for something, people will often overlook the negatives because they think all the other people also don’t mind. I have no illusions that a few words I type out are going to change the trajectory of skateboarding, but if one or two people hear what I’m saying, agrees with what I’m saying, then another group is formed. And maybe that group will influence others and grow a little bit more. Eventually, maybe enough like-minded people will be enough to make a change in skateboarding. It’s happened before. It could happen again. Let’s make some new bad decisions.

Skateboarding

I grew up skateboarding, (if you’re reading this, you likely did as well) not like the millions of other kids who played some standardized sport, who’s mom or dad had to drive them to practice. I could skate right outside my house: in the driveway, the sidewalk, and especially the street. It was my means of transportation, my way of getting across town or to the gas station for a snack. That skateboard became an everyday part of me.

It now seems that this way of life, of growing up, has become much more rare. Kids aren’t using their boards to get anywhere. It’s all about the tricks. I don’t know. Maybe it’s a generational thing. It seems all I see are skaters rolling up to an obstacle, trying/doing their trick, and then rolling back to the start. (I blame SLS). Watching them, seeing their awkward pushes, barely staying on the board – balance is an afterthought, and then – the most atrocious trick, it all seems, looks, IS so ugly and uninspiring. So few are the skaters that aren’t worried about “doing tricks”. So few are the ones that push with a natural grace and athleticism, as if born with a board attached to their feet. Just by how they stand on their boards, rolling as if a manifestation of the wind itself, these rare skaters – these few and far between, represent the humanistic beauty of this athletic endeavor.

I complain about the rarity of style. But reading over these words, I’m starting to come around a bit. We might need these tricksters. Not for stoke or hype, but as a contrast. Without something so ugly, how can we be expected to see the beautiful?

Skatepark Differentiation

Everyone’s got their own opinion. Skaters are no different.
Everyone’s got their own style. Again, skaters are no different.

A recent topic of discussion i had was about the difference in skateparks – specifically, Evergreen Skateparks and competition skateparks.

If you’ve never seen/skated an Evergreen park, they are a wonder to behold. Smooth flowing transitions, curves that melt into other curves; pool coping and steel coping. Works of art, really, that are even more fun to skate than look at – and they are wondrous to look upon. Skating them is about feeling the board beneath your feet, the wind in your face. It’s about cruising and carving and connecting; putting together a line either by tricks or just working your way across.

I had the pleasure to skate the Evergreen park in Fredericksburg, TX. Banks and bowls, half-pipe and bumps all connected by frozen hills of concrete. It even had some of the traditional skatepark elements built within: a stair set, rails, a ledge, and even a couple of kickers thrown in the mix. Truly something for everyone.

On the flipside of this are the standard style of skatepark which i call competition parks. Those with a stairset and rail or hubba (or both) with lots of run-up. Or banks on the outer edges, a ledge in the middle or some sort of kicker/launch ramp. All placed perfectly for tricks. (that’s another gripe). Half-pipes and bowls are separate features – everything regulated to its own space. Skating this kind of park lends itself more to the trick skaters. The guys (and girls) that just want to get that trick. Nothing before but pushing, nothing after but rolling.

The argument can be made that this is ideal for the differing levels of skater – beginner to advanced. But this way of thinking introduces new factors into the equation. By separating skaters by ability, are we actually dividing skateboarding itself? Maybe I’ll answer that another time.