SKATEBOARDERS and BMX riders say they feel “cheated” after an area they have used for more than 30 years was flattened without warning.

BMX fanatic Tom O’Boyle said about 100 people on skateboards and BMX bikes used the raised concrete humps at the back entrance of the Broad marsh banks every week.

But the young people who turned up to the site on Monday found contractors flattening it.

Broadmarsh owners Westfield say they want to make the area more suitable for shoppers and fit in with the Nottingham Contemporary art gallery.

But the skaters and BMXers say it is still the best place in the city to enjoy the pastime due to its lighting and distinctive humps.

They will stage a protest against the demolition at 1pm tomorrow.

“It’s come as a massive shock to anyone involved with skateboarding or bike riding,” said Tom, who has ridden on skate parks across the world.

“I feel very cheated to be honest. We have always been willing to accept it if the Broadmarsh did expand or the trams, but for it just to be taken away out of the blue is such a shock.

“If you go down there at weekends or week nights it’s full of kids riding bikes or skateboards. It’s made a positive impact on the area.

“It’s the only place in the city where you can go at night and ride and know it’s OK. There are small parks out of town, but nothing really floodlit, nothing with any cover.”

Tom said people from across the country have come to use the area and he has been riding there for more than ten years.

“You could always go there at any time, it was an accepted area. It just happened to be almost as good as a skate park. There’s going to be people with nowhere to go now.

“What they should have done is consult with people that use it, talk about how to improve it and tidy up the area.

“The best thing we can ask for is a big skate park in Nottingham city. This is what we are going to try and fight for.”

Alan Cairns, 28, of Sneinton, rides a BMX and has been using the area for about 11 years. He said: “I usually go down there between 6pm and 10pm and at weekends there can be 30 to 40 kids there.

“I’m completely gutted. There isn’t anywhere else for us to go. If I want to go to a proper park I would have to go to Corby, Birmingham or Leeds.

“It’s a shame a city of this size does not have these facilities. This needs to be addressed or the ones we have need to be improved.”

A Westfield spokesman said: “The works are part of a wider scheme to improve the look and feel of this area. We have listened to the views of our shoppers and local residents who have expressed their desire for a refurbishment of this important route to make it more attractive and in keeping with the new arts centre.”

The works are also designed to improve links between the bus station and Canal Street, Cliff Road and the soon to re-open Garners Hill.

“This is part of our ongoing commitment to the local area and we hope everyone who uses this part of town will be pleased with the results,” the spokesman added.
Courtesy: This Is Nottingham. Co. Uk

The Damn Am Series was created by Brian Schaefer and Rob Meronek as they noticed that there was a need to bring the Tampa-style am contests to skateboarders outside of Tampa. If you can’t get into Tampa Am directly through your sponsor, entering a Damn Am is the only official way to qualify for Tampa Am. Basically, the flavor” of the Tampa Contests is taken to locations around the country and Europe, too.

The first Damn Am started in 2001 at the Volcom Warehouse in Costa Mesa, CA and has been going strong ever since. The success of that event led the inception of the Minnesota Damn Am, taking place every June at 3rd Lair Skatepark in Minneapolis, MN, which has been running strong since 2003. In 2006, Volcom decided to help us take the Damn Am Series over the pond and the AmsterDamn Am was born and has been etched into the schedule as a yearly event.

Here is some footage of the Damn Am Best Trick Contest which was held on October 25, 2009

ABOUT 1000 skateboarders a year are ending up in Queensland hospital emergency wards but nothing is being done to enforce the wearing of safety gear.

Under Queensland road rules, there is no legal requirement for skateboarders to wear helmets and a State Government campaign to promote their use has been scrapped.

The “stay pretty, wear a helmet” campaign by Queensland Transport was discontinued last year after failing to make a real difference.

Dr Ruth Barker from the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit said that only 10 per cent of skateboarders wore helmets despite evidence they could save lives.

Dr Barker said statistics gathered from hospital emergency rooms found one in 20 injuries suffered by skateboarders could be prevented or minimised by wearing a helmet.

“I don’t care about elbow pads and knee pads. If they just wore a helmet I’d be happy. Most of the other stuff is fixable, but when they hit their head they can die or suffer a serious brain injury and that’s a huge impost on our health system and families,” Dr Barker said.

The QISU research also found most skateboarding injuries occurred on roads, followed by skateparks, regular parks and footpaths.

“The potential for danger on the road is greater than at skatebowls because they can get up quite a bit of speed as they go down the road,” Dr Barker said.

But She said she was not convinced legislation was the answer.

“It’ll only save lives if it’s enforced and then is it only going to be if it’s on the roads?” Dr Barker said.

“What it needs is a sustained co-ordinated approach to continually engage kids and teach them why wearing a helmet is good, rather than putting the onus on police to enforce it on the roads.”

Brad Shaw, from the National Skateboarders Association of Australia, said convincing skateboarders to wear helmets was “an uphill battle”.

“The only time helmets are required (for skateboarders) is for competitions and even then it’s not always enforced,” Mr Shaw said.

“It’s something we know that it would be good to see just for safety reasons, but the skateboarding population just don’t want it. It’s too uncool.”

Two skateboarders, men aged 25 and 18, have died in accidents since 2006. Both were riding on the road and neither is believed to have been wearing a helmet.

Courtesy: Robyn Ironside

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25587421-23272,00.html

I have heard of security guards and cops harrassing skateboarders for skating on private property but this video takes the cake! Basically this guy dropped in on a quarterpipe in the Milton Skatepark in Florida and got suspended from the skatepark for 30 days. It is hilarious to watch how the cop and security guard explain that you can’t climb obstacles in order to skate them. Yes this really happened!

The Pro Riders Unfinished Bizness Tour is going on right now at 3 skateparks in Florida. Skateboarders in attendance will be Chris Gentry, Austen Seaholm, Phil Hajal, Anthony Furlong, Kyle Berard and Mike Peterson.

Dublin City’s first public skatepark was opened in 2006 in Bushy Park. It consists of a concrete bowl surrounded with typical street elements. The park is open to skateboarders, in-line skaters and B.M.X. bikes. That is why it is called Bushy Skatepark.

Part of an extensive open space network along the Dodder, Bushy Park extends to 20.5 hectares. The park originated in 1700 when Arthur Bushe of Dangan, Co. Kilkenny, Secretary to the Revenue Commissioners, built the house known as “Bushes House” on a site of 4 hectares. A John Hobson became owner in 1772 and changed the name to Bushy Park, possibly after the park in London of that name. Purchased by Abraham Wilkinson in 1791 who added almost 40 hectares to the estate, he gave it as a dowry to his daughter Maria when she married Robert Shaw in 1796. George Bernard Shaw was a distant relative, his grandfather being a nephew of Sir Robert Shaw (1st Bart). The Shaws were connected with Bushy Park for the next 155 years until 1951 when they sold the estate to Dublin Corporation.

In 1953, the Corporation sold 8 hectares to the Sisters of Religious of Christian Education but later re-acquired 2 acres of woodland in 1993. The park is noted for its woodland walks, ornamental ponds and beautiful Dodder Walk as well as catering for football, tennis boules, and children’s play.

1)Skateparks – There are a lot of skateparks out there that charge money. You know why these skateparks charge money? Well, its because parents think that they are paying to have their kids babysat all day like it’s a daycare or something.

2)Fashionable Skateboarders – Skateboarders are all about fashion these days. They have to get their Sunday best on to go out and skate. Why would you put on your new kicks and clothing to just go and get all dirty and sweaty and damage all of the above. Personally, I have the same gear to skate in when I go skateboarding. I might change shirts but I have the same old holy shorts, and the same old beat up shoes with duct tape on the laces from knee-sliding out of bails.

3)No Union – Skateboarders don’t have a union! Skateboarders wreck themselves, become popular, and sign their rights away and their likeness when they enter the X- Games. When they get hurt (and they will for sure) there is no health care, and the veterans that got this sport going have no pension or retirement for helping make the sport as big as it is. Chris Gentry is working on forming a union called the Pro Riders Association, but it is very hard to start a union when everybody is just looking out for themselves. This goes for the skaters and the corporate sponsors alike.

4)Shop Decks – Skate shops found out years ago that they could print their own boards for cheaper than that of the pro skaters that keep their shops open. To make it even worse, they are getting these shop decks made in china for cheap, and importing them in by the thousands and its all about profit not about supporting the sport.

5)Security Officers and Cops

Cops and Security guards hate skateboarders! Their whole mission in life is to ruin your day. Next time one of them comes up to you with an attitude and asks you to leave, just be polite and do it. They are expecting you to make some kind of smart ass comment and then they can escalate the situation. Now there are exceptions to this rule. There are security guards that will creep up and grab you, I guess it’s because they think you are going to run. I remember one time I was filming and a security guard came up and started harassing the skater I was filming. We were on a 12 set and I was lying low on the bottom to get a good angle, so the security guard didn’t see me at first. After a little harassment to the skater I walked up and asked him what the problem was. The 150 pound 21 year old Security Guard wasn’t so froggy when I walked straight up to him with all 230 pounds and explained to him that all he has to do is be polite and we will leave. If you want respect in this world you have to gain it, you don’t automatically get it because of a uniform. Especially a Security Guard uniform?

Skateboarding first begun in the nineteen fifties, which was when surfers all across California got the bright idea that they were going to try and surf the streets. Even though no one actually knows exactly who made the very first skateboard, it appears that several different people came up with a lot of similar ideas all at the exact same time. There have been several people that have claimed that they have invented the very first skateboard, however nothing can really be proven and the skateboarding still remains being a very spontaneous and strange creation.

The very first skateboarders began with wooden boards or boxes with some roller skate wheels slapped onto the bottom. Just like you would imagine, there were a lot of people that got hurt during the early years of skateboarding. Skateboarding was just a sport that was being discovered and born, so just about anything went. All of the boxes eventually turned into planks, and the companies eventually were producing decks that were created with pressed wood layers which are very similar to the skateboard decks we use today.

It was during this time that skateboarding was viewed as something that could be done for fun after having gone surfing. During nineteen sixty three, skateboarding was at the very peak of its popularity and some companies such as Hobie and Makaha, and Jack all began holding competitions for skateboarding. At this particular time, skateboarding was mainly freestyle or downhill slalom. Woody Woodward, Torger Johnson as well as Danny Berer all were some very respectable skateboarders at this particular time; however they looked completely different than what skateboarding appears as today. Freestyle, which was their particular style of skateboarding, was a lot more similar to ice skating or dancing ballet with a skateboard.

In nineteen sixty five, the popularity of skateboarding suddenly crashed and most people just assumed that skateboarding was a fad that had faded out, just like the hoola hoop. All of the skateboarding companies had no choice but to fold and all of the people that still possessed the desire to skate all had to make their very own skateboards again right from scratch.

However, there were still some people that skated, even though all of the parts that were needed for their skateboards were very hard to find and the boards were all home made. The skaters were using boards that were made out of clay wheels, which was very hard to control and very dangerous. However later on in nineteen seventy two, Frank Nasworthy invented the urethane skateboard wheels, these are very similar to the wheels that are most commonly used by skateboarders today. Cadillac Wheels was the name of his company and his invention was what sparked a brand new interested among young people and surfers in skateboarding.

During the spring months of nineteen seventy five, skateboarding was able to take an evolutionary boost forward into the sport that we are currently seeing today.

In all actuality, Vans No Skools in the past has gone through thousands of incarnations. However, the greatest and latest are the skateboarding shoes known as Vans No Skools 2s, these are professional signature shoes by Dustin Dollin, and they are very great to wear. Reinforced toe and heel caps, strong side panels, double stitching, mainly the works plus a very sweet degree of style, all of these things are what makes these really awesome skate shoes.

Pros

• Very durable construction with triple and double stitching.
• An extremely cool style.
• Vans No Skool 2’s are the most recent incarnation in the very long time of signature model shoes by Dustin Dollin that are well built.

Cons

• Just like all of the other lightweight skate shoes, eventually aggressive skating is going to destroy them, but that is only natural.

Description of Vans No Skool 2

• Vans No Skool 2’s are Dustin Dollin’s most recent pro model skateboarding shoes.
• Durable canvas and double stitched suede upper.
• The tongue and the heel collar have extra padding in them.
• The tongue is attached along the sides with some elastic, which is an upgrade to the normal tongue straps.

The Pro Signature Model by Dustin Dollin

To put this in prospective for you, the original skateboarding shoes, Vans No Skools were actually a redesigned version of the skateboarding shoes Vans Old Schools. So now, we have the No Skool 2’s and they’re basically a remake of the old remake. By now you are probably wondering what these new shoes are like. Well, the Vans No Skool 2’s are very awesome and they possess a punk style. However, you have to keep in mind that show skateboarding shoes look is only the half of it. These skateboarding shoes are also built extremely well. With the toes and heels having reinforced double layers, it will help the shoes to last a little longer through heavy skating. The shoe’s strong side panels will help to keep your skateboarding shoes from blowing out.

The Vans No Skool 2’s also have a gum sole of waffle grip which is very similar to the sole that is in most of Vans skateboarding shoes, even though its northing new, it works. The tongue on the shoe also has some very good padding, not to mention that the heel collar is padded to, which adds some stability and comfort. Last but not least, the shoe is very light and it isn’t going to pull you down. As you probably already know, everyone has opinions, there are some skateboarders out there that may not like this particular type of skateboarding shoe and then there are some skateboarders out there that love skateboarding shoes that are lightweight, and in the event that you fall into this category, you aren’t going to be disappointed with the new Vans No Skool 2’s.

Just remember to show them off to all of your skateboarding friends when you get them.

Generally speaking, skateboarding has its very own culture. In general, skateboarders, mostly have their very own style. The clothing that skateboarders wear is individualized. There are some skateboarders that may have piercings and sport tattoos. Skateboarders are well known for practicing their craft on their most favorite skateboard within shopping malls, within their driveways and on stairs.

There are several places that have some skateboarding parks where all of the people that are passionate about skateboarding can practice all of their tricks and socialize with all of their friends as well. There are several people that are intrigued by the culture and really want to join along but they just don’t know how to go about doing it.

In any situation where you have the desire to get involved in skateboarding, the very first thing that you should do is purchase a skateboard. When selecting your skateboard, make sure that the board matches your personality and style, because these two things are a very important factor in what skateboarding is really all about. You are going to want to locate a skateboard that you are going to be proud to own because it is a symbol of you as an individual and it represents who you are.

It would also be a very wise idea to pick up a couple of pieces of safety gear while you are purchasing your skateboard, at first you are more than likely going to need it a lot. For skateboarding, there isn’t any dress code. All you have to do is wear something that is comfortable. In the event that you want to become a part of skateboarding, you shouldn’t feel as if you need to dress like all of the typical skaters if that really isn’t who your cup of tea.

The main objective is to find a very unique way to express who you are; it shouldn’t be to fit into a group. Most people are going to respect you more because of your individuality. The very next thing you are going to want to do is take your very first ride on the skateboard. Make sure that you get someone that has some experience to help you out.

Keep in mind that it is going to take some time to learn how to balance yourself when you are on the skateboard and to be able to maintain your balance as you ride. Once you have master that, you will be able to being learning some tricks, you may learn by simple trail and error or you may get someone experienced to show you how. After all of this, you are well on your way to becoming a professional.

At first, skateboarding may just be a hobby, something to keep you busy when you are bored. However, there are times that skateboarding becomes the love of your life and you want to take it farther. In the event that you dream of being a professional skateboarder, never give up on your dreams because you can achieve anything when you set your mind to it.