skateparks

The first time I remember going to a skatepark was about eight weeks ago. It was on a Sunday at about 8 o'clock in the morning.

This particular skatepark (Maroubra in Sydney if anyone wants to know) was empty except for a couple of kids and their dad.

The park itself consisted of a great deal of concrete arranged into various slopes and shapes.
There was also something that resembled a swimming pool with no water.

As I walked around the park I tried to imagine how anyone could ride such steep slopes on a skateboard.

I watched the kids for a while. They were having a lot of fun. Their father was not. He was put out that the boy kid was not going down the bigger slopes. He then did something that I have seen many times since. He encouraged, forcefully, his son to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous and guaranteed to end in injury. In this case he told his son to go down one of the larger, steeper slopes whilst sitting on the skateboard to 'get the feel of going fast'. Even I knew this was a bad idea.

He got the feel of going fast, alright. Then he got the feel of skin scraped on concrete. Then he got the feel of having some idiot (his father) yelling at him while he rolled around in a bloody mess.

You get that.

Soon after that a man turned up who could really skate. He was not young, but he was really good. At least I thought so. He glided over the concrete waves with speed and grace. That, I thought, is what I would like to do.

I was a bit shy of having a go myself. Mainly because I felt so hopelessly inept at even standing on a skateboard, let alone riding it. I decided that I needed to find an empty skatepark to learn on.

The park in the photo is of a skatepark (Dulwich Hill) that is almost always empty. I go there a lot, at least I used to. The reason it is empty is because right next to it is a new skatepark where everyone who can skate goes. The old one is rough. The slopes are at some peculiar angles. Still, I was left alone there to learn.

I realised pretty early on that there is just no point worrying about how you look to other people. A lot of good skaters don't wear any protective gear. At first I felt a little self conscious about wearing a full set of pads and a helmet, but pretty soon I couldn't care less.

I have found most people to be pretty friendly. Nothing nasty has happened, unless you count a bunch of drunk boys lobbing homemade bombs into the skatepark nasty. No one has been rude to me even though I can't really skate. Generally I am either ignored or people are friendly.

Lately I met a bunch of guys my own age who all meet a particular skatepark on a Sunday morning. They are really friendly and most of them can skate really well. They give me lots of encouragement, even though I am pretty hopeless.

I love skateparks!