In the Naismith days of basketball, the fundamentals of pass-and-shoot and the set shot reigned supreme. These days, high flyers like LeBron James, Dwight Howard, and Kobe Bryant play above the rim, elevating — quite literally — the pace and power of an already brilliant game. The same can be said for skateboarding, where human-trick reels like Tony Hawk have helped take the sport vertical — and multi-planar — by pushing the envelope year after year.
This evolution might have seen its greatest leaps forward, however, in 1976, when the world’s first skate park opened in Western Australia. This park, simple in design, enabled skaters to go beyond the realm of ground-based tricks, like ollies and kickflips, and laid the groundwork for hundreds more like it and the type of edgy, gravity-defying riding we see at the X-Games and Dew Tour.
Two PowerBar
® Team Elite™ skateboarders — Gary Holl and Ruben Najera — weigh in on the impact that skate parks have had on modern riding and what goes into an awesome day at one of these urban recreational havens.
Gary Holl
Birthdate: March 31, 1961
Hometown: Midtown, Palo Alto, California
Website:
http://web.mac.com/garyholl
PowerBar
® page:
http://www.powerbar.com/user/GaryHoll.aspx
Ruben Najera
Birthdate: April 6, 1985
Hometown: El Centro, California
Website:
http://rubennajera.blogspot.com
PowerBar page:
http://www.powerbar.com/athletes/5/Ruben_Najera.aspx
Q: Do you remember the first time you rode at a skate park? Where was it?
Gary: Back in 1976 or 1977, a skate park opened in Anaheim, just across the freeway from Disneyland, called the Concrete Wave. Basically, it had four snake runs, and three ended in some sort of a bowl. By today’s standards, the terrain would be considered pretty mellow — something more for beginners — but back then it was the best.
Ruben: I want to say it was in San Diego, Ocean Beach, Robb Field Skate Park.
Q: What, in your opinion, makes a good skate park?
Gary: Something with a wide variety of terrain, pools with real coping, flow area, street area, fullpipe, not having a pad nanny at the entry gate, lights for night skating. Parks that are designed and built by people who skate seem to be the better ones.
Ruben: I think it depends on the type of boarder actually. There are so many different kinds of obstacles — vert stuff, street stuff, all-around stuff. If I had to go with personal preference, mine is street course. Even then, there are differences. I would like to have a lot of different-sized boxes, ledges, some pyramids, some flat gaps, some bumps, cement bumps that go over gaps. I even like skating interesting obstacles. More and more, I’m starting to prefer what’s called a skate plaza, which looks more like you’re out on the street. That’s ideal for me. One on Wilshire in Los Angeles is called Lafayette Plaza.
Q: Skate parks really started taking hold in the late 70s. How did they change the sport?
Gary: The parks of the 70s were a huge influence on skateboarding. While they were mostly a supplement to the natural terrain of backyard pools, they were hugely responsible for a lot of progression.
Ruben: Definitely. A lot of the vert and transitions came from the early parks. There were flat-grounders then. Those guys actually pioneered all those tricks like the kickflip that get used in street boarding today. Growing up skating I looked up a lot to Rodney Mullen, who created something crazy like one-third of the tricks in flat-ground skateboarding. Without that, there wouldn’t be the guys out there doing the stuff they’re doing today at the parks.
Q: Do you think that skate parks today are better or worse than they used to be?
Gary: Today there are so many skate parks, so it’s easy to say today’s parks are better. An exception to that would be the Winchester Skate Park in San Jose, California — that was near perfect. Skateboarding changes along the way, so today’s parks are best for today’s style of riding.
Ruben: Well, I started riding pretty late, when I was like 13. What I see more of is a lot of prefabricated skate parks. Budgets are tight with cities, so what they can afford are ramps made of metal. But the problem with that is that they dent. Back in the 80s, those didn’t really exist — they were all wooden. But the problem with wood is that they get worn down so they’re not really skateable anymore. It's tough, unless the city has tons of money to fork over into building a cement park. It’ll last through the decades.
Q: What are some of your favorite skate parks that you've had the pleasure of riding at?
Gary: Old parks would include Winchester in San Jose, the original Upland (California) skate park, Marina Del Rey (California), and Del Mar (California). More recent ones would be Lake Cunningham in San Jose, which is currently California's largest park, along with Santa Cruz (California) and Pacifica (California).
Ruben: I want to go with skate plazas. They’re like the new thing. I think they’re revolutionary. There are no rules — other than not getting into trouble, of course! It’s basically a skate park without a fence. Lafayette Skate Plaza near Wilshire in L.A. is super fun. It’s cool because you’re going cruising, skating the street, and then all of a sudden there’s this skate spot there. You get there and you’re so comfortable because it’s meant for your board. There’s two more that have opened in L.A. that I haven’t had the chance to skate yet.
Q: Is there a skate park you've always wanted to ride but have never had the opportunity to?
Gary: There are so many parks that I would love to ride. Almost all the parks up in the Pacific Northwest look like fun. It’s always fun to go to a park you have never been to. There is this great feeling of discovering the lines, watching the locals tear up their park — it’s a great feeling.
Ruben: I hear there’s a DC Skate Plaza in Kettering, Ohio. It’s been around for a while and it’s always looked really cool to me. And it’s random because it’s in Ohio. That one looks really, really good. There’s one in China, the world’s biggest skate park, which looks really cool. I’ve obviously never skated there.
Q: Pressure time: What is the best U.S. skate park? Why?
Gary: I think to fairly judge that, you would have to have skated all of them. For me at this time, my favorite park is Lake Cunningham in San Jose. The reason is that it has a wide variety of things to ride. They have a 22-foot-diameter fullpipe that is 70 feet long, they have two pools with pool coping, they have this crazy flow bowl thing, and so much more.
Ruben: Based on where I’ve been — the one on Wilshire. There’s just nothing that compares to the freedom of skating it. It’s so cool that you can just take your camera there and film. And some people would be like, “Where is that? Is that a street spot?”
Q: What's your best advice for people heading to the skate park for the day?
Gary: Invite your friends, bring drinks and food. Push each other to learn new stuff. Laugh. Don't get hurt. Have fun!
Ruben: When going out to skate a park, be aware of where you’re going. For instance, if you’re going to a skate park, it sucks to have to wear a helmet and you didn’t bring one, or pay $15 to get in. Check it out online. See how it’s rated. Check them out before you go. When you do get there, just have respect toward everyone. Some allow bikers and skateboarders, and that’s kind of asking for trouble sometimes — you see a lot of collisions. Some get along completely fine, but in some cities they are kind of opposite.
Readers’ Choice
| PowerBar® fans’ Top 11 skate parks in the U.S. |
| Skate park | Location |
| Missoula Skate Park | Missoula, Montana |
| Riverside Rail Yard | Great Falls, Montana |
| Louisville Extreme Park | Louisville, Kentucky |
| 688 Skate Park* | Clearwater, Florida |
| FDR Skate Park | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| DGS Skate Park | Moorestown, New Jersey |
| Black Diamond Mountain Sports Skate Park* | Moorestown, New Jersey |
| Bainbridge Island Skate Park | Bainbridge Island, Washington |
| Kenmore Skate Park | Kenmore, Washington |
| Sequim Skate Park | Sequim, Washington |
| Lake Cunningham Skate Park | San Jose, California |
|
Obstacle 411
Get to know your common skate park obstacles better with this quick list
| Obstacle | Description |
| Quarterpipe | Literally, a quarter of a pipe — riders air from it and perform tricks in the air or on a platform above the ramp, or drop in on it to gain speed |
| Spine | Two quarterpipes back to back |
| Flat bank | These can vary in angle, but they are simply an angled wall to ride on |
| Vert wall | A vertical wall above either quarterpipes or flat banks |
| Mini ramp | Two small quarterpipes facing one another — like a halfpipe but with a short, flat area between |
| Hip | Two quarterpipes or flat banks, each with one edge at a right angle or a more aggressive angle to the other |
| Funbox | A steep, quarterpipe-like lip with a deck extending to a landing that’s often less steep than the lip |
| Pyramid | A four-way wedge or transition box |
| Launch | A curved ramp that launches the rider into the air — like a quarterpipe but less steep |
| Roll-in | A long, sloping ramp used to gain speed |
| Euro | A ramp where the platform drops like a step to a flat ramp |
| Halfpipe | Two quarterpipes joined together, like half of a pipe |
| Bowl | A ramp that is in the shape of a bowl |
| Pool | Usually an empty swimming pool |
|
Source: Wikipedia
If you’re interested in knowing about PowerBar
® Team Elite™ athletes or how you can join the ranks, click on the
Team Elite link at PowerBar.com.
Topics:
General
Rights of Usage Policy