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FEATURE ARTICLE
Skateboarding is among the fastest growing sports in the nation, BY PETER T. DYKE AND MIKE PHILLIPS In much the same way as MTV was popular in the '80s, a new television sensation grabbed teenagers' attention in the '90s: the ESPN X Games. It seems as though every generation of teenagers ties itself to a particular cause or trend. In the '60s, surfing and beach movies were popular. Frankie Avalon and Annette Funiciello, stars of Beach Blanket Bingo, were teen idols. In the '70s, bell-bottoms and disco music were all the rage. By the time the '80s rolled around. Atari video games such as "Space Invaders" and Sony Walkmans could be seen in every home with teenagers. Teenagers are quick to take to new trends and it appears that another one has established itself at the end of die millennium: skateboarding. Unlike these other trends, however, it appears that skateboarding is here to stay. X Games Put Skateboarding in the Spotlight Popular culture, such as the movies and the media, has always had a way of shaping teenagers' interests and capturing the subtleties of their generation. The Music Television Network (MTV) was a huge influence on the teen culture of the '80s because it represented a diversion from the mainstream. Before MTV, the only television networks that people knew were NBC, ABC and CBS, MTV offered teenagers Extreme Sports http://espn.go.com/extreme/index.html a chance to move away from the mainstream. Teenagers saw this new music network as a statement of rebellion against society in general. In much the same way as MTV was popular in the '80s, a new television sensation grabbed the attention of teenagers in the '90s: the ESPN X Games. A made- for-television event, the X Games featured athletes pushing themselves to the limit in so-called "extreme sports" such as snowboarding, skysurfing and skateboarding. Like MTV, teenagers saw these games as a deviation from the mainstream and the athletes involved in these events as rebellious and risk-takers. While skateboarding has been around since the '60s, the ESPN X Games increased awareness and appreciation of the sport to the point that it's among the fastest growing sports annually among teenagers, with an estimated 6.5 million skateboarders in the United States. Sales related to skateboarding are reported to be more than $600 million annually. According to a study by the National Sporting Goods Association in Mt. Prospect, 111., inline skating has been among the country's fastest growing sports in the last five years, with a 118 percent increase in participation since 1993. Skateboarding: A Sport for Individuals What has caused the recent interest in skateboarding? Beyond the recent coverage of the sport by television and the media, teenagers are becoming interested July/August 2000/ 35 FEATURE ARTICLE U.S, Postal Service Sends Xtreme Sports Mainstream Evidence of the appeal of extreme sports such as skateboarding, the U.S. Postal Service introduced the "Xtreme Sports" stamps this summer, featuring BMX biking, inline skating, snowboarding and skateboarding. in the sport because of the self-satisfaction they derive from participating in skateboarding. American society in general tends to focus on individual athletic achievement, such as Mark McGwire hitting 70 home runs or Cal Ripken playing in 2,000 consecutive games. Skateboarding is an individualized sport in which teens can develop a sense of accomplishment and show off to others by performing individual tricks and stunts. The emphasis of this sport is on the "individual" which appeals to teens. Baseball and other sports are becoming less popular because they are more team-oriented: the emphasis is on the team as a whole, not just one player. Occasionally, there will be a breakout individual feat, such as hitting 70 home runs, but for most baseball players, individual feats such as these are not attainable goals. Additionally, in team sports, such as Little League, kids are in competition with each other. "Skateboarders don't have to worry about coaches coming up to them and saying 'I'm sorry, you didn't make the team,'" says Sid Abruzzi, who has owned a skateboard shop in Newport, R.L, since 1971. Interest in Skateboarding Spurs Skate Park Development With the interest in skateboarding, skate parks are being developed across the country to provide a safe and fun atmosphere where teenagers can practice their tricks and stunts. In Illinois alone in the late-1990s, skate parks opened in such communities as Mokena, Orland Park, Des Plaines, Palatine and Arlington Heights. "(The skate park) is the first step in serving the teen community," says Orland Park Village Trustee Brad O'Halloran. "While traditional sports, such as baseball are lagging and basketball courts sit unused, teenagers are looking for a safe environment where they can skate." Park districts across the country are now starting to look at skate parks as a viable way to provide an additional recreational outlet for teenagers. With the success of several recently opened skate parks in the Chicago area, they eventually could become as common in the Chicago suburbs as tennis courts and football fields. The city of Chicago even is getting in on the act and developing a skate park on the south lakefront area that is scheduled to open in the fall of 2000. According to Chris Gent of the Chicago Park District, interest in traditional sports such as baseball and basketball appears to be waning, while Chicago residents have been asking the city for a skate park. Gent is managing the project to develop the first skate park in Chicago and one of the first in a major Midwestern city, Says Gent: "People are looking for new types of recreation and this is a great opportunity for the Chicago Park District to provide a cutting-edge activity in the parks that people are interested in." The skate park is part of a larger attempt by the city of Chicago to upgrade its lakefront offerings to become more in line with the current recreational interests of teenagers and others who use their parks. By creating venues such as skate parks and offering activities such as parasailing, the city hopes to draw more people to the Burnham Park area south of downtown. Gent predicts that the park will draw skaters from all over the city, because of the tremendous local interest in the sport. Teen Involvement in Design Is Key Deerfield was one of the first communities in Illinois to look at building a skate park. In 1996, a group of local junior high school students—tired of skateboarding on dangerous local streets and parking lots—approached the Deerfield Park District with a stack of pe
36 ¦ Illinois Parks and Recreation SKATEBOARDING APPEALS TO THE '90S GENERATION titions requesting a legal and safe place to rollerblade. "The teenagers were tired of getting kicked out of our other parks and other public places and were looking for an area they could skate where they would not be asked to leave," says Linda Gryziecki, director of the Deerfield Park District. The teenagers received a very receptive response from the Deerfield Park District, which until that point had been unaware of the level of interest in skateboarding. "We recognized that teenagers were an age group that we were not providing enough programming or activities for," says Gryziecki. "We had tennis courts and pools but skaters were a special interest group that we were not accommodating." The Deerfield Park District began to study the possibility of designing a skate park in the village and decided to move ahead on the issue after the idea gained support from village residents and trustees among others. Thompson Dyke & Associates (TD&A), a local landscape architecture and planning firm, was hired in 1997 to develop the design concept for the skate park. The firm studied several skate parks in California, where skate parks had been established for a longer period of time, and put together several designs based on the California parks. TD&A then worked with local teenagers to refine what aspects from the California skate parks they wanted to see in their own park. Teenage involvement was a critical step in the design process of the skate park, especially a design workshop where the kids used modeling clay to show what features they desired in the park. They also viewed a video of other skate parks from around the country to further stimulate their minds. Says Gryziecki: "It is very important to have the kids involved in the whole process of designing a skate park, because they are the ones who are going to be using it."
"Additionally, wooden structures require more maintenance and are more susceptible to damage from adverse weather conditions."Jewett Skate Park is the first one located in a public park in Illinois and symbolizes what teenagers are capable of doing when they decide to become active participants in an issue that affects them. Says Gryziecki: "The youths of the community saw democracy in action. They wanted something badly enough and went about it the right way by circulating petitions and selling the plan to village trustees. The result is a skate park that has been a terrific asset to the whole community and it works as well as a nice, social gathering place after kids leave school or on weekends." Hoffman Estates Looks at the Deerfield Model In Hoffman Estates, where TD&A also helped to design a skate park, 26 teenagers traveled to the Deerfield skate park to determine what aspects of that park they wanted to see in their own skate park. The teenagers came away from the visit with plenty of opinions and ideas about the Hoffman Estates skate park, including the possibility of different skating sessions for rollerbladers and skateboarders as well as restricting age groups to different skating sessions. From that point, TD&A held several meetings with the skaters to discuss their vision for the skate park. The meetings were open to the public and were advertised at several schools. Todd Reese, the manager of the project for TD&A, believes that a minimum of 10 to 12 skaters are required at the meetings to ensure that enough input is being gathered from them for the skate park design. Says Reese: "The facility is geared toward them and the design of the skate park evolves in meetings so you need to have a cross-section of skaters there to make sure you're satisfying different skating styles." July/August 2000 ¦ 37 FEATURE ARTICLE
As in Deerfield, the teenagers used modeling clay to design features they wanted in a skate park. TD&A then incorporated the teenagers' suggestions into two concept drawings. From there, the teenagers and TD&A would agree on a final concept for the skate park design. "Taking the teenagers to Deerfield was a critical part of the process," says Dean Bostrom, the executive director of the Hoffman Estates Park District. "They took away different aspects from the Deerfield skate park, such as the 7-foot bowl, that were incorporated into the Hoffman Estates park. They were involved in the design process and were able to pick something they wanted that met all skill levels while providing challenges." "It's a comfortable place for kids to go and interact with their peers while partaking in a physical, healthy activity," says Bostrom. "In addition it's a long-term benefit to the community because we get far greater usage out of a skate park then we would for a playground. You'll see 30 to 40 kids at the skate park every day after school. These kids will eventually graduate from high school and then be replaced by the next generation of kids who will use the park." Safety and Liability Issues Safety and liability are two main concerns of any community looking to build a skate park, but Deerfield and Hoffman Estates addressed these issues without any problems. Deerfield has a mandatory helmet ordinance and a police station stands next to the park so that help is available if any problems arise. "There was a preconceived notion that putting in a skate park would bring in drugs and gangs but we have had no significant problems," says Gryziecki. The Hoffman Estates Park District is one of the few that provides constant supervision of their skate park as well as restricting different age groups to different skating sessions. Additionally, the Park District Risk Management Agency covers liability insurance for many Illinois park districts, including Hoffman Estates and Deerfield, in case of accidents and does not consider a skate park any more dangerous then an football field or a basketball court. The injury rate for inline skating is lower then for traditional sports such as football and basketball. According to a 1994 study by the National Sporting Goods Association, there were 0.37 injuries among 1,000 participants of inline skating while the number increased to 2.34 injuries per 1,000 participants in basketball. However, 90 percent of all inline skating injuries are preventable if protective gear such as knee pads and wrist guards are worn, according to a study in The New England. Journal of Medicine. Park districts should consider making protective gear mandatory in their skate parks to ensure the safety of skaters. Other steps park districts can take to make for an even safer environment at skate parks include: • Post park rules and regulations at the entrance to the skate park including a reminder to skate within one's ability. • Ramps and other skate park features should be built under strict specifications • The skate parks should be inspected and maintained on a daily basis • Constant supervision of the skate park There still is a very negative and false perception of inline skating as a dangerous sport, but by taking certain precautions, park districts will go a long way toward erasing the public's fear of the sport. Skate Parks Are Here To Stay It would seem for now that teenagers have spoken regarding skate parks. While the influence of the X Games has helped to propel the sport of skateboarding to national attention, teenagers have been skateboarding since the '60s and '70s. With the recent heightened interest in the sport due to the popularity of such events as the X Games, teenagers finally have a safe and fun environment where they can practice their craft without the threat of being thrown off city sidewalks or being hit by cars. As Chicago, the third largest city in the country, prepares to open a skate park later this year, it would appear that the sport of skateboarding is finally being recognized on the same level as baseball and basketball.
PETER T. DYKE
MIKE PHILLIPS 38 ¦ Illinois Parks and Recreation |
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Sam S. Manivong, Illinois Periodicals Online Coordinator |
