Some Positives and Negatives on Skateboarding

For this weeks post I decided to write about some of my thoughts on skateboarding. There are several things I enjoy about skateboarding, but there are also a few things I wish would change.

In skateboarding, I enjoy the fact that the idea of skateboarding is being free. It’s about you and your skateboard with the possibility of an endless amount of tricks. You can skate whenever you choose to and like many other sports you can learn a lot from skating. Skating has taught me that life is not easy; this includes the classic example, if at first you don’t succeed, then try again.

In skateboarding I also enjoy the fact that anyone can do it. In skateboarding, it doesn’t matter what age, race, or gender you are, even dogs can skateboard. I find it interesting how rapidly skateboarding has spread across the world.

Some things I wish I could change would include the negative stereotypes of a skateboarder. Many people look down on skaters and believe skating is a negative activity for their children. I believe some of these negative feelings come from the skating advertised in the variety of shows on TV, such as Viva La Bam and Jackass. These shows do not portray skateboarding in a good way due to the reckless behavior.

I also wish I could change several minor aspects such as getting kicked out of spots. There are not many skate parks around Ohio that are made for “street skating.” Skating spots within the community is fun, but depending on the spot, you can get kicked out very quickly. I also wish skateboards were cheaper. In the early years of skating, a board could last you months. As you progress and begin to skate stairs and gaps, all it takes is to land in the wrong position to break a board. Without the trucks and wheels on a skateboard, the board alone will cost about 50 dollars.

Our Acting Debut

Many people have heard of the professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek, due to his two shows in his past on MTV. Rob created the “DC Skate Plaza” in effort to give skaters a security-free environment with street spots that skaters would enjoy. The first Dc Skate Plaza was built in Rob’s hometown, Kettering Ohio.

I planned a trip with a group of friends of mine to visit the plaza during our exam week. We would all complete our exams early in the week, so we planned the trip on a Thursday. This plaza is very popular and many people drive several hours to skate there. Leaving during a school day was a good idea because the park wouldn’t be as crowded with many kids still being in school.

We left early in the morning and arrived sometime around 8 a.m. As we arrived to the plaza, we were happy to see only a few people there. We skated for about thirty minutes, until we witnessed a huge tour bus pulling up to the plaza. We originally had the idea that a professional team was going to skate the plaza, so we were all excited to see who it was. We waited for several minutes, and the first person we saw leave the bus was Big Black. If you were familiar with the hit series, “Rob and Big” on MTV, you would know that Big Black is a good friend of Rob and they always travel together. We waited a few more minutes and were shocked to see a variety professional skaters exit the bus including Rob Dyrdek, Paul Rodriguez, Ryan Sheckler, and Ryan Dunn from the movie “Jackass”.

The pros spent time skating with everyone at the plaza, and we had the opportunity to speak and ask questions. After speaking with Rob Dyrdek, he explained to us that they were filming a movie called “Street Dreams.” The movie was not a typical skate video, but it was an actual movie to be played in theaters. As more people arrived to the plaza, we were ordered to sit and watch as they filmed several scenes. During the last scene he asked my group of friends if we wanted to be in the background of the scene. We were so amazed yet confused, so it took us a while to register his question in our minds to give a response. We were asked to do a few tricks in the background, and that’s what we did.

The movie only displayed in select theaters, and a Bexley theater was the only place where the movie was being played in our area. We all watched the movie hoping to see our scene, and within twenty minutes, we spotted ourselves in the background. We were so excited that we jumped up and cheered during the movie. This experience was one of our greatest throughout our years of skating.

The Arnold Classic Welcomes Skateboarding

“The Arnold Classic” also known as ”Arnold Fitness Week” is known to be one of the most profitable bodybuilding competitions. This exposition is an annual bodybuilding competition named after Arnold Schwarzenegger.  This expo has been around since 1989, and it has taken place every year since then. The “Arnold Classic” takes place in Columbus, OH ever year, and people from all over the world travel to witness this competition.

When this event was created, bodybuilding and strongman competitions were the only events held in the expo. Over the years the event has expanded to feature a variety of sports. These sports may include anything from archery, fencing, cheerleading, or table tennis.

This year is the first year that skateboarding has been brought to the event. The event is going to be held at the Veterans Memorial on the sixth and seventh of March. Many pros will be attending the event and the well-known skate team; “Blueprint” will be judging the contests. The event will be broken down into a variety of competitions such as beginner intermediate and advanced contests as well as a best trick contest. Fans from all over the country will be attending this event to experience skateboarding at its finest.

This two-day event currently has about two hundred participants signed up for the contest. I plan to sign up by the end of the week because an entry fee of twenty dollars is required. This event attracts skaters all around the U.S. because you can win a hefty cash prize for winning. This event is also motivating because it is a good way to get your name out there. A small step such as this competition can lead to a positive future in skateboarding based off of your performance.

Skate Naked?..................new indoor skatepark

“The Flow” is the only indoor skatepark in the Columbus area. This is a fun and friendly skate park, but the park is mostly biker oriented. Many of the ramps were built for the satisfaction of bikers, and the street section for skaters is very small. These are some of the reasons as to why many skaters avoid going to this park.

About three weeks ago, it was announced that a new indoor skate park would be opening in Columbus. The name of the skate park is going to be “Skate Naked.” Although the name is humorous and misleading, it still looks as if it is going to be a great indoor skate park. The park is scheduled to open in mid-February.

Over the weekend, a few locals were invited to check out the park, and I had the privilege of skating it with a few friends. After skating and talking with the owner, I was very impressed with his ideas. The park plans to be very involved with their customers, such as having contests every other weekend with various prizes such as money and electronics. There will also be workers there to film and edit a video of your session for a reasonable cost. Over time, the owners plan to build a shop in the park to provide skate supplies, foods, and drinks.

In the winter, my friends and I would normally have to plan trips to the indoor park in Kentucky, simply because the park has consists of everything a skater would want to skate. It is going to save a lot of gas money and time having a more convenient park nearby. Another good thing about this park is how cheap it is; the cost is ten dollars for a whole day. This is a great price compared to a twelve-dollar cost for a few hours at the flow. Another great thing about this park that skaters are going to enjoy is, no bikes are allowed in the park. The skater’s in Columbus will now have a place in which they don’t have to watch out for careless bikers.