Mar 26, 2012 | Activism, Headlines, Skateboarding
Skateboarders head to Mexico
By Sarah Junkin
More than a dozen Cochrane skateboarders are preparing to head to Ensenada, Mexico to help build some houses for underprivileged families.
The teens will join more than 40 other kids from Medicine Hat and Sundre as part of YWAM, Youth With a Mission.
The international volunteer organisation is made up of Christians from many backgrounds, all with an interest in improving the lives of others.
Spearheading the trip for the Cochrane group is Josh Poffenroth who along with some friends noticed about two years ago that many Cochrane youth didn’t have a lot to do.
He hooked up with Dylan Oosterveld of the Cochrane Youth Association, and together they hosted evening drop in sessions at the Boys and Girls Club.
But though some kids came often, some nights nobody came at all.
“So we went to the skateboard park and there were a ton of kids there,” said Poffenroth. “So we hung out there instead. We asked the town to keep the lights on later and we brought snacks and drinks. We could see it was a great opportunity to build relationships with the kids.”
Poffenroth and his helpers helped the kids host a couple of mini competitions and as a result they were able to donate $70 to Cochrane and Area Victim Services with the cash they’d raised.
“It doesn’t seem like a lot, but it was an important first step,” said Poffenroth, adding the group has since taken part in skate cleanups and raised cash for cancer. “It’s been great watching them try to be a positive light in the community.”
The community, meanwhile has responded positively in turn.
Home Treasures feeds the group, now known as the Inside, and All Saints Anglican Church has given them the use of a garage as well as cash to build indoor ramps, and even paid for the insurance.
Calgary’s C3 Church West, near Calaway Park, has also let them use several thousand square feet of their facility rent free so they have somewhere to skate when the weather’s bad.
Cochrane’s popular skate and snowboarding store Shredz, has agreed to host a fundraising event for the skaters who are still trying to raise the cash to get to Mexico in April.
“Sam (Stuart, the owner of Schredz) has been so supportive,” said Poffenroth.
The March 14 event will take place at the store at 7:30 p.m. and will feature three acoustic bands, a silent auction, and a presentation about the Mexican trip.
The group will be in Ensenada from April 6-16 and together they’ll build three homes. They must purchase the materials to the tune of about $5,000 and then provide housewarming gifts costing approximately $1,500.
“In total our team has to raise about $20,000,” said Poffenroth. “We’ve been having bottle drives and so on and still have about $4,000 to go.”
To learn more about the Inside, or to donate online to help them reach their Mexico fundraising goal, visit www.theinsidecochrane.com.
Mar 6, 2012 | Activism, Events, Skateboarding
The Inside, a Cochrane-based skateboard group is hosting a fundraiser on March 14th. They’re traveling to Mexico to build homes for underprivileged people and are drumming up support. Check the poster out for more details:
Feb 22, 2012 | Activism, Skateboarding
The article below is from an Australian website called Essential Kids. It shows how a type of mentorship occurs automatically within skateboarding. In this case, a mini-ramp helps bring skaters together:
Finding Their Tribe
When Kim Berry’s special needs son befriended the seemingly wild older boys next door she discovered that sometimes relaxing the reigns will see your child finding their own tribe with very little input from you.
My mum came in exclaiming the boys next door were building something ‘massive’ in their front yard. I figured it was either a dance floor or a skate ramp and so it came to pass, there is now a sizeable skate ramp there. Like the hippopotamus on the roof eating cake but not at all. Who was to know that ramp would do more than bring a whole lot of boys to the yard?
The creators of this ramp – and it’s not just any skate ramp mind you, it’s a fully legit, structurally sound, 2000+ screws involved skate ramp – are a group of surfer-skater 20-something guys. When they moved in our eldest son Oscar, who also has special needs, made it his job to get to know them. I was uncertain about this because, well, they were young, they drank, they smoked! The horror at such 20-something carefree ways! Was Oscar going to become their mascot? A patsy for local pranks and petty crime? Oh the parental anxiety, the woe!
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Oh sure, they were busy lulling me into a false sense of security by playing basketball with Oscar every afternoon but I was keeping my wits about me. To everyone else it was just a hug between mother and son but really? Totally on smell-alert for any alcohol, smoke and yes, alright, weed. I know, even I missed the memo telling me I’d turned into my mother.
The skate ramp forced me to question my whole based-on-assumptions, stereotypes and gross generalisations game plan. Instead of the drunken debaucherous all-night bong parties I was expecting I witnessed a group of friends building something together. It was really quite poetic made more so by their penchant for doing so bare-chested in low-slung board shorts. Cough.
As I stood at the fence watching the boys interact with Oscar, seeing three of them help him onto a skateboard and holding him so he got the sensation of it all, I had a rare moment of clarity. Firstly, that these were, in fact, fine men but perhaps even more importantly, the capacity of my son to make his own friends and form his own tribe.
All those years of worrying about people seeing Oscar for who he is not for what he can’t do and finally I get it. Oscar is perfectly capable of making his own friends and will do so regardless of my hand-wringing. He is, indeed, a fine judge of character.
These guys love having Oscar hang out with them. Every afternoon there’s basketball and a skate. The weekends are a veritable open door policy of comings and goings. He’s even gone to the tip with them after a yard clean-up. One of them has told me that if he doesn’t see Oscar every day then his day doesn’t feel right. They see him for who he is, generous of heart, funny as hell and into whatever sport is on offer.
There are also a couple of other young boys from the neighbourhood who come over to skate. They always ask before coming in and the guys always give them time and encouragement when they’re on the ramp. Last week Oscar’s school bus drove past and one of the other boys from the neighbourhood called out excitedly, ‘Oscar’s home!’
So, completely unexpectedly but not the first time, Oscar has opened my eyes and obliterated yet another parental paranoia. Give him a bit of space, hold my breath and voila a whole new wonderful world has exploded.
Here’s a group of guys living together, building something together, looking after each other, skating, surfing and just hanging together, with my son. They’re working and studying and being so much more. These guys haven’t built a skate ramp, they’ve created a community. And as they say, skate or die dude, skate or die.
Feb 18, 2012 | Activism, Indoor, Photos, Skateboarding, Skateparks
There are probably more than a few backyard or garage mini ramps in Calgary. Since there is no indoor skatepark, us skateboarders need somewhere to skate during the long winters.
“The Mental Block” is the name given to a unique garage ramp, mostly built by three veteran Calgary skaters. We chatted with them about it to learn more.
Why did you build this ramp? What was the inspiration?
Most of the inspiration was from some of the other garage ramps I’d skated over the last few years and the lack of places to skate in the winter. Especially since The Source [skatepark] closed down.
Where had you been skating previous winters?
For the last couple winters it’s been the other guys’ garage ramps in town [names withheld]. I built my own last year in my old house– just a little 8 foot wide one. I moved 6 months later, had a bigger garage, and said, “F#$% this!” and built my own little ‘Skateopia’.
Where did the name of the ramp come from?
I put some parking blocks on it for something different. That’s where the name came from. Everyone that came over to skate was intimidated by the big block and like we all know, everything in skating comes down to a mental thing, so the name stuck. “The Mental Block”.
How long did this ramp take to make?
Started on it about two weeks before Christmas, worked on it mostly every weekend and the odd weeknight and today (February 17th) we put the last pieces in. I’d say it took a good two and a half months overall.
How many people helped out?
Well, there were three main guys but I called in a few other friends who helped out too. There were about 10 in total who helped and also donated a few bucks for masonite, 2 by 4s, and bags of cement. We’re all in our 30s, tradesmen, so we were able to figure it out.
What was the hardest part? The coping? The bowled corner?
I wouldn’t say the bowled corner was the hardest thing to do but it was the most time consuming. Lots of details. The coping was a first time pour so it was kind of nerve racking. We had enough guys that we knew we could sort it out. It worked out pretty good.
Did you go off any plans?
The plans were from the original ramp that was three feet high by eight feet wide. I shuffled a few ideas around with the layout of the garage and this is the optimum layout.
Are you worried about your neighbours at all?
No. We’ve done a lot of soundproofing with carpet and we keep the sessions light and small. I want to be a good neighbour.
Any plans to build more?
There’s talk of a spine already in the parking block corner but that’s a long way down the road.
Feb 3, 2012 | Activism, Politics, Skateparks
A busy Calgary bikepath from Flickr user Vicapproved
Calgary is recognized for its network of some 700 km of bike and pedestrian pathways across the city which are enjoyed by citizens of all ages and from all walks of life. Pathways are well used, with an average of 149 users per hour and almost 27,000 users per day in a recent study. Calgarians use their pathways for recreation, fitness, and transportation with cycling, walking, and running the most popular ways of getting around (1). Today we take the bike paths for granted, but it is interesting to look back at how the bike paths got started and the parallels to where skateparks are today.
The Calgary Herald’s Tom Babin reported that in 1971 a group of 40 U of C Physical Education students received a $56 800 grant from the Federal government to build the first bike path from the zoo to the Glenmore Reservoir along the Elbow River. Those pioneering Phys. Ed students wanted to see Calgarians live a more active and healthy lifestyle, and as many supporters as there were, not everyone understood. One critical comment quoted in Babin’s article was concerned that “Some areas of the river are dangerous because of deep water, I wouldn’t want to see young kids going for a bike ride there and ending up drowned.” Not much of an informed or reasoned argument against the bike paths as the bike paths would not have been planned for the water’s edge in the first place.
Go Skateboarding Day 2011 at Millennium Park
Fast forward to today when CASE has picked up the banner from the Fellowship of Calgary Skateboarders who had advocated to see Shaw Millennium Park built. Like the Phys Ed students of long ago, CASE has had to advocate for our cause with City Council, and we hear some ill informed, baseless, and at times irrational arguments against skateparks. There are those that think skateparks are noisy, messy, expensive wastes of space and money that only attract crime and violence to their communities. None of those objections are true of course, but like the individual that thought kids would be drowned on the bike paths, those who object to skateparks have a right to be heard too, so we need to respond positively and constructively to address their objections. The best way to respond to the concerns of those who don’t understand skateparks is with good factual information, rational explanations, a positive attitude, and hard work to advocate for the skateparks Calgary so badly needs. Contact CASE if you need information to advocate for skateparks, or if you want to help us push for more skateparks in Calgary.
(1) City of Calgary (2011). Pathway Safety Review Report 2011. Retrieved December 14, 2011 from http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation/TP/Documents/cycling/Cycling-Strategy/pathway-safety-review-report2011.pdf
(2) Tom Babin’s article in the Herald: http://www.calgaryherald.com/homes/Path+popularity+creating+planning+problem/5839722/story.html
Jan 14, 2012 | Activism, Headlines, Photos, Skateboarding, Skateparks
Calgary Flames centre, Brendan Morrison supports skateboarding in the town of Tofino, BC. Read below to find out how he’s helping raise funds to install a new bench at the Tuff City skatepark.
TOFINO SALTWATER CLASSIC
In a few months, a bench is being installed at the Tofino Skateboard Park. A portion of funds received by the District of Tofino’s Parks and Recreation from the Tofino Saltwater Classic fishing derby made this possible.
The Tofino Saltwater Classic is now in its third year and has already raised over $45,000 for local initiatives and programs.
The derby, which returns this year on July 7 and 8, is hosted by National Hockey League star Brendan Morrison.
“In a small town, there are always issues for programs, finding funding and continued funding. We are trying to make a positive difference. Benefiting the community, that’s our goal,” said Morrison.
Although Morrison lives in Calgary, Alberta, during the hockey season, he knows how the funds are helping the community.
“The skateboard park is such a big part of the Tofino culture. [The funds] will help out with the benches down there,” he said.
Read the entire story here.
