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Do skate parks help communities?

The Case for the skate park

If your city doesn’t have a skate park, it is one.
— Joseph LaPolla

Cities everywhere are joining in the movement of providing a place for skaters to come together and enjoy the sport they love so much. This is great news for communities that are nervous about skate culture. So what exactly is skate culture?

Skating is a sport

It has been estimated by skating enthusiasts that there are over 5,000 tricks and variations of tricks that can be combined in any number of ways. Skaters work for hours perfecting these tricks and then using their creativity and athleticism to link them together in a set. This sport takes tremendous effort and is very rewarding to the skaters who are so committed to it.

The sport of skating keeps people engaged and active, something that is becoming increasingly difficult in our tech-heavy world. There are even schools that have found a great interest in programs that started recently for children who are uninterested in joining traditional athletic programs.

How can a sport with all of these benefits be so controversial?

Skating isn’t for the city streets

Skating has its history and that history started on the city streets. There wasn’t a designated place for skating when it was starting out, and the very nature of the sport utilizes many features found on city streets. This is most likely how the sport began to get a bad reputation.

Skating on city streets can be a hazard to the safety of bystanders and skaters alike leaving liability for accidents and injuries in a grey area for business owners and property owners. Businesses can also find themselves, victims of property damage from skaters, the sport draws the attention of law enforcement for trespassing violations.

Skate Parks offer a clear solution

The increasing popularity of the sport and the benefits to the people who skate are not going anywhere. Skating is undeniable in our cities and it is up to the communities to make a safe place for this ultimately positive influence. It is possible to have both skating and a safe property damage-free city.

Skate parks offer a place for the skaters in cities to grow their community and skate culture. To ensure the future of this wonderful sport and cut back on the avoidable conflict between law enforcement and skaters. At this time there are an estimated 3,500 skate parks and over 16 million skaters.

Let’s be advocates for skating in our cities and support the creation of skate parks to grow our communities!

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Skating America’s Boardwalks

Join us as we explore in pictures this great American pastime.

A great American pastime is to get outside and skate the boardwalks along the beach. Whether you find yourself on the East Coast or West coast there are skaters enjoying the fresh air and sunshine!

Although Venice Beach is a fabulous spot for skaters, other boardwalks across the country from Ocean City in Maryland, Kemah Boardwalk in Texas, Santa Cruz Boardwalk, to Hollywood Beach Boardwalk in Florida. There are so many places to get outside and enjoy the fresh salty beach air!

It’s hard to say just where this hobby started but it easy to pinpoint the most famous of all boardwalks to find skaters, Venice Beach! The 2-mile-long boardwalk along the beautiful Pacific Ocean view is an experience anyone who loves to skate must seek out. Venice Beach even has a Skate Dance Plaza where you can find regular roller discos, and Venice Skatepark on a beautiful spot right next to the beach.

References:

Brugman, K. (2010). This Guy was Awesome [photo, creative commons]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/hyperbolation/4303212056/

Campodonico, C. (August 7, 2019). Roller Dancing is Alive on Venice Beach. Retrieved from https://argonautnews.com/roller-dancing-is-alive-on-venice-beach/

Cappa, F. (2017). Venice Beach [photo, creative commons]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/phalaenopsisaphrodite523/28517116368/

Cappa, F. (2017). On the Road [photo, creative commons]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/phalaenopsisaphrodite523/41486986005/in/photostream/

Johnson, E. (2018). Venice Beach Boardwalk [photo, creative commons]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/54081800@N07/45632759201/

Rupert, N. (2011). Check this Out [photo, creative commons]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/nathaninsandiego/5584397554/

Rupert, N. (2009). Side Steppin’ [photo, creative commons]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/nathaninsandiego/3551003662/

Roller Derby and Skate Culture

The Return of Roller Derby America’s only full contact sport on wheels

Are you ready for the intensity of Roller Derby?

The sport that took off in the 50’s and since seen a modern revival has swept through skate culture with an increasing popularity, recently being considered for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Once thought to be a full contact sport for only women the sport has branched off into men’s leagues as well.

So, what is Roller Derby?

Roller derby is a full contact, point scoring game. Two teams play each other fielding 5 skaters each 4 blockers that skate in a pack and a jammer who tries to sprint around the track. The blockers job is to stop the other teams’ jammer from passing them, and to help their teams jammer break through pack. The jammers start to make points the second time they lap the pack, scoring a point for each opposing skater they pass, including the other teams’ jammer.

That is a very basic run down of a seriously complex sport, that has as much to do with athletic skill and strength and strategy and play making. It is one of the few sports where you can find a team playing both offensively and defensively at the same time, which can be confusing the first time you see it. And although some leagues play by varying rule sets the basics are consistent.

Where can I find Roller Derby?

There is a roller derby team in every major city in the United States, and there are even teams in smaller towns across the nation. You can find them easily as a football team, roller derby is everywhere!

The sport is so big now that almost all major international cities have a roller derby team. The best advice is wherever you are Google that cities roller derby team and just see how close they are.

Who’s who of Roller Derby

There are different variations of the sport of roller most common variations have to do with the playing surface, one plays on a flat track (floor level), and the other on a banked track (raised up on the outside and sloped down towards the inside). The most pervasive version on the sport is flat track.

The World Champions of flat track roller derby right now are the Rose City Rollers. This team has dominated for the last two seasons of Roller Derby Champs with their athletic prowess. This tournament comes from the largest international roller derby organization Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). This organization is composed of over 450 leagues on 6 continents.

The reigning banked track national champions are the L.A. Riettes. The banked track organization is much smaller totaling 9 competing adult teams. The sport of banked track roller derby takes after roller derby’s earliest forms with the track being lifted and tilted.

So much more

Roller derby has a strong skate culture itself, and the sport is one that cannot be easily described in one small blog post, but it is a force to be seen in skate culture. Skaters everywhere should be excited and supporting of this intense sports future!

So, go out there and see it for yourself, you may get hooked and find yourself a new athletic outlet!

References:

McMillan, J. (2009). Roller Skates [photo, permission given].

McMillan, J (2009). Hellcats vs Cherry Bombs [photo, permission given].

Wikipedia Contributers. (2019, November 9). Roller derby. Retrieved November 24, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_derby