Not every athlete grows up dreaming about hitting a walk-off home run, scoring a three-pointer at the buzzer or catching the game-winning touchdown.
Extreme sports have made an intense push into the mainstream during the last 15 years. For athletes like skateboarders, inline skaters and BMX bikers, their Super Bowl is the annual summer X Games, which highlights the world’s top professionals. The 15th installment of the event starts at the end of July and is broadcast on ESPN.
If young skaters ever want a shot at making their own ESPN top-10 highlight, they need a place to practice. The last decade has seen many suburban park districts and organizations like the YMCA respond by building skateparks.
The concrete facilities feature ramps, quarter- and half-pipes and rails where skaters aim to perfect their craft.
Richard Grodsky, Elmhurst Park District executive director, said the Elmhurst Skatepark has helped usher the alternative sports scene into the local mainstream since being constructed in 2000.
“The need for a facility was expressed by young people from Elmhurst and we became one of the first to build one in DuPage County,” Grodsky said. “Parks and recreation have created popularity with major sports throughout the years. Our facility has become so popular. I couldn’t be more pleased.”
Cracking the safe
When kids with wheels attached to their feet are sliding across metal railings and ramping off concrete walls, the issue of safety naturally becomes a concern.
But for the 8-year-old skatepark in Westmont, injuries and impact on liability insurance have not been much of an issue at all.
“It falls under the existing coverage,” said Bob Fleck, Westmont Park District superintendent of parks and recreation. “And there have actually been fewer incidents (of injury) with skateparks than with youth soccer.”
Westmont has taken the added safety step of requiring that riders wear helmets, and a park district employee is always on the premises.
Access to Smirz Skatepark in Berwyn, which was built in 2000, is allowed through a permit system. Anyone interested in inline skating or skateboarding (no bicycles) in the facility must have an ID pass, which can be obtained free of charge by filling out paperwork at the Berwyn Park District.
Children must have their parents sign off on the paperwork. This is a way to monitor safety, which has not been a serious issue, according to Jeff Janda, Berwyn Park District executive director.
“Since the park opened up, we have had just one case of broken bones,” said Janda, who held in his position since 1990. “It’s a dangerous sport and we strongly recommend participants to wear a helmet and pads.”
Positive switch
Even kids who did grow up fantasizing about playing on the grass at Wrigley Field or on the ice at the United Center have transitioned to concrete and asphalt at skateparks.
Cal Lavery, 12, of Darien grew up playing ice hockey has adapted his skating skills to inline skates.
“I’ve only been Rollerblading for a couples years,” Lavery said. “Playing hockey helped me pick this up pretty quickly.”
Nathan Metzger, 17, of Elmhurst — an aspiring Naval engineer — played baseball and soccer up until eighth grade and was on the freshman and sophomore football team at York High School.
“Not having the team structure lets us make up our own rules,” Metzger said of skateboarding.
The senior and his Elmhurst friends Jeff Grainge, 17, and Will Fanilli, 17, are part of a developing trend which incorporates skating and the Internet. Not only can fans of the sports watch professionals perform on the Web, they can post their own action.
What starts with a warm-up at the Elmhurst Skatepark, eventually develops into a documentary-style YouTube.com tour through town. With camera set to record, Metzger and Co. go from one residential neighborhood to the next, capturing their mixture of athleticism, guts and artistic form.
“You can only do so much with the ramps at the (skate) park,” Metzger said. “The ledges and rails (in the neighborhoods) allow for more freedom, creativity and flow.”
Obviously, skateparks don’t keep skaters completely confined to their boundaries. But many skateparks were designed in part to reduce the amount of skating traffic throughout public spaces.
The planning and construction of the skatepark at Mount St. Mary in St. Charles, which was done with input from skaters in the community, has helped alleviate what was to that point a growing nuisance in St. Charles: street skating.
“It was an issue,” said Denny Ryan, superintendent of parks and planning with the St. Charles Park District. “There was no place for the kids to go so they’d skate and grind the rails at the municipal center.
“After we built the first park (in 2000), we saw a decrease in that quite a bit.”
