Backyard Getaways: A Whirlwind Tour of Skate Parks
This week in Backyard Getaways it’s all about chills, thrills and spills.
Plymouth Skate Park
At Plymouth Skate Park, creativity is on display. For young kids involved in the sport, it’s all about trick moves and the pursuit of a skateboarding high.
“You get like this adrenaline rush,” said Yasin Abuelgasim, a student at Wayzata High School. “Especially if you are going up a ramp and coming down. You get this like anti-gravity feel. It’s pretty fun.”
“Skateboarding is about 10 percent physical and 90 percent mental,” said Nolan Digerness of Plymouth.
For decades skateboarding has been perceived as a rebel sport. But that perception is fading.
“I’d say it was,” Digerness said. “But no it’s not anymore. It’s just about having fun.”
“It is a sport,” Abuelgasim said. “You can get a really good workout, especially if you can get up some ramps jumping. That’s a really good leg workout.”
For the skaters in Plymouth this park gives them a chance to do their thing.
“I’m happy through skateboarding,” Digerness said. “Through other sports I did it only because my friends did it.”
Crystal Skate Park
At the Crystal Skate Park, you’ll find Wyatt Tutila.
“It’s got s lot of stuff that is smaller,” said Tutila of the Crystal Skate Park.
Tutila goes to the park often to showcase his talents. He is able to channel his inner daredevil and try new tricks.
“I like that box a lot,” Tutila said pointing to parts of the course. “I like this rail and I like that bench.”
Champlin Skate Park
From Crystal it was on to Champlin, where we discovered a skate park with plenty of action.
“It’s fun,” said Austin Morehouse of Champlin. “It gives me something to do with my summer other than sit home and play video games.”
On a recent sun-kissed summer day, this venue had lots of traffic. It was showtime as the skaters expressed themselves on the jumps and ramps.
“If you’re having a bad day it always feels good to one-up somebody,” Morehouse said. “If someone like misses a trick or misses a rail. I know it sounds kind of mean, but if you go and do something better on the rail it makes you feel kind of better about yourself.”
There is a certain risk factor in this sport. But those who choose to jump and roll don’t have time to worry about that.
“Stuff can be sketchy at times,” Morehouse said. “Especially when the ramps are wet because these are weird metal ramps they can be so slippery. Other than that you just got to commit.”
Next Stop Tokyo
Skateboarding is clearly trending up and is going to garner even more attention next year. It will be a sport at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“That’s amazing,” Abuelgasim said. “That’s actually real interesting. I want to see how that goes.”
