Trey Feary testing the equipment at the parklet in Park St. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
Skating ‘a good social thing’
PAM GRAHAM
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Skateboarder Sam Hall says it’s really sad how people are criticising the parklet in Park St.
“There’s nothing wrong with it. I think it’s great,” he said.
That said, he was headed down to the parklet on Sunday only to find all the skate furniture was not taken out of the container it is kept in overnight.
There was a workshop for skateboarders on Saturday and Hall said a few people turned up.
There had been more activity during the week when there was some great skating going on, he said.
Hall has been a successful skateboarder and attracted sponsorship while remaining an amateur.
He’s taking on the stigma against the sport.
Ironically, he agrees with car dealer Roger Southey that children need to get off electronic devices and get active but he thinks skating is the activity they should try.
He said people were trying to contain skateboarding to the skatepark at Queen Elizabeth Park, which is a small corner of town.
“Skating is a good fitness thing, it is a good social thing and it keeps kids out of trouble,” he says.
“It is exactly what this town needs instead of kids being inside playing Playstation or drinking.”
The parklet “should be something that should be celebrated”, he said.
He says it is hard to get younger people into the sport because everything is so big at the skatepark.
“What happens is people bring their kids down and there are the big older skateboarders flying around and then it just takes one kid to get hurt and they never come down again.”
The equipment at the parklet was easier to use and easier to learn on and “it is just not so intimidating”, he said.
He is organising a competition to be held later this month in the skatepark. It will be open to skateboarders, bikers and people on scooters.
“I have got a lot of businesses behind it. There are an amazing amount of spot prizes and good prizes.”
He said there was to be a meeting yesterday to finalise the details of the competition, including the date.
People needed to realise skateboarding was basically an activity for young people, he said.
“Skateboarding promotes a healthy lifestyle and fitness and it’s not really doing any harm at all.”
