Skatepark

Skatepark designed by Landscape Structures Inc.

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Skatepark in Davis, California, U.S.

A skatepark is a purpose-built recreational environment for skateboarders, roller skaters, rollerbladers, scooterers and BMX riders to ride and develop their technique. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, quarter pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, pools, bowls, snake runs stairsets, and any number of other objects.

Skateparks were originally designed for skateboarding, but have evolved to support mainly roller bladers and BMX riders. Skateboarding and BMX riding have been known to create safety issues if done at the same time, leading some skateparks to ban BMX riding. There are many skateparks that are an exception to that rule, however, and several exclusively "bikes only" parks have been built (for example, Espee Bike Park in Chandler, AZ).

Skateparks may be privately or publicly owned. Privately owned skateparks usually have admission fees, while publicly owned skateparks are generally free. Many privately owned skateparks are indoors, usually in warehouses, roller rinks or buildings with high ceilings, especially in areas with snowy winters. Public skateparks are usually outdoors.

Concrete parks, now "pretty much the industry standard", according to an editor of Transworld Skateboarding magazine, can cost three times as much to build as parks with ramps and wooden obstacles, but in the long run they require fewer repairs and less maintenance.

History

File:BMX in park.jpg

BMX rider in bat mans cave

The first skatepark in the world was officially opened in February 1976 in Albany, Western Australia with the reigning US skateboard champion Russ Howell as guest of honour and the publicity recorded by Russ Howell's photographs and film was used as a basic concept in the design of the first skateboard tracks in the USA. The 140 metre long track was converted from an old gravel quarry with many open cut excavations. The one way downhill track contains three sharp bends with vertical banked walls and ends in an open circular area surrounded by banked walls between 3 and 4 metres high. The Albany Skatetrack was host to the Skateboarding World Championship competition in 1976.

The first skatepark in the USA was built in March of 1976 in Carlsbad, California. Carlsbad Skatepark was designed and built by inventors Jack Graham and John O'Malley and resided on the grounds of Carlsbad Raceway. http://www.carlsbadskatepark.org/index.html

The first skateparks were primarily private, for-profit endeavors, although several public parks were built globally. Parks then included pools, bowls, snake runs, freestyle areas, banked slalom areas, half-pipes, and full pipes. Most were concrete and were outdoors. In more extreme climates parks were built indoors, often of wood.

None of the private parks of the 1970s remain, with the notable exception of Kona Skatepark in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Many of that country's public parks remain, such as Derby Park in Santa Cruz, California. Most of that era's parks were poorly designed, being built by business people seeking a quick profit. Better parks, such as Upland, California's Pipeline, designed by skateboarders and carefully built, survived into the 80's, until escalating land values made their sites vulnerable to development. Exorbitant liability insurance premiums also contributed to the demise of the original skateparks.

Modern skatepark design can be traced back to Burnside Skatepark, a DIY "barge build" beneath the Burnside Bridge, in Portland, Oregon. Skateboarders used an area populated primarily by the city's "undesirable elements" to create a skatepark, building one section at a time. The process is called "design/build" (D/B), and is a characteristic of nearly all the best skateparks today. The design/build process ensures that adjacent skatepark features are harmonious and rideable, allowing skateboarders to create endless "lines" to ride among the many features.

The modern public skatepark is relatively new, made possible by legislation such as California's 1998 law stating that skateboarding is an inherently "Hazardous Recreational Activity" (HRA), and therefore municipalities and their employees may not be held liable for claims of negligence resulting in skateboarders' injuries. Parks are usually for persons 14 or over.

Burnside Skatepark in Portland, Oregon

The world's largest skatepark is located in Shanghai.

Common obstacles

• Quarter pipes – Literally, quarter of a pipe - riders air from it and perform tricks in the air or on a platform above the ramp or drop in on it to gain speed.
• Spines – Two quarter pipes back to back.
• Flat banks – These can vary in angle but are simply an angled wall for which to ride on.
• Wall rides/vert walls – A vertical wall above either quarter pipes or flat banks..
• Mini ramps– Two small quarter pipes facing one another, like a halfpipe, but with a short flat area between.
• Hips – Essentially two quarter pipes or flat banks, each with one edge at a right angle or a more aggressive angle to the other.
• Funboxes – A steep quarter pipe like lip with a deck extending to a landing often less steep than the lip.
• Pyramids – A four way wedge or transition box.
• Launches – A curved ramp that launches the rider into the air, like a quarter pipe, but less steep.
• Roll-ins – A long sloping ramp used to gain speed
• Euro – A ramp where the platform drops like a step to a flat ramp.
• Halfpipe - Two Quarter Pipes joined together (half of a pipe).
• Bowl - A ramp that is the shape of a bowl .
• Pool - Usually a typical pool used for swimming, only unfilled by water. Pools usually tend to have tiles.
• Foam Pits - A pile of foam pads to land safely into while learning tricks, usually found after a launch ramp.

Notable skateparks

Pedlow Skate Park, San Fernando Valley, CA

• Monster Skate Park, Australia's largest indoor / outdoor skatepark located within Sydney Olympic Park
• The Flow Skatepark - Columbus, Ohio - One of the largest indoor skateparks in the United States at 50,000 square feet (4,600 m²).
• Alamosa Skatepark Environment - Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• Stockwell Skatepark - South London, UK
• Harrow Skate Park - Harrow, UK
• Tallahassee Skate Park - Tallahassee, FL
• Louisville Extreme Park - Louisville, Kentucky
• Skatepark of Tampa - World famous skatepark in Tampa and home of the annual Tampa Pro and Tampa Am.
• FDR Skatepark - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Shaw Millennium Skatepark- One the world's largest outdoor skateparks, designed by Spectrum Skateparks with Landplan associates. Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Louisville Extreme Park, Kentucky

• Kona Skate Park - Jacksonville, FL , one of Florida biggest parks
• Concrete Wave Country - Nashville's first public skatepark.
• Skatopia
• Pedlow Skate Park - Encino, California great for pool skating, more than 12,000 square feet (1,100 m²).
• Burnside Skatepark - Portland, Oregon featured in Tony Hawk video games and the movie Paranoid Park.
• Hollywood Skatepark - Las Vegas, Nevada one of the U.S. largest outdoor concrete skateparks.
• Bondi Skatepark - Bondi Beach, Australia featured in one of the Tony Hawk video games.
• Albany Skatepark, The world's first skatepark. Albany, Western Australia
• Eagle Skate Park - Cape Coral, Florida 315 SW 2nd ave.
• Turf Skatepark - Built in 1979, included five concrete pools in a indoor/outdoor facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (defunct since 1996).
• Livingston skatepark, Livingston, Scotland - opened in 1981, is known worldwide for its transitions and bowls and was described by the cast of Dirty Sanchez as "the best skatepark in the world, except for the ones in Wales."

Free Public Skateparks

• Missoula Skate Park - McCormick Park, Missoula, Montana. http://www.missoulaskatepark.org/map/

Missoula Skate Park, Missoula, MT

• Santa Maria Skate Park - Fletcher Park. 700 Southside Pkwy, Santa Maria, California.
• etnies Skatepark - Largest free skatepark in California.

External links

• Skateboardpark - A directory of skateparks around the world.
• SkateSpotter - skatepark videos, photos, and maps
• The Skatepark Directory - Large Skatepark Directory
• SkateparkHunter - Skatepark Directory with photos and maps
• Concrete Disciples - The most comprehensive worldwide Skatepark
• Skatopia - Free DIY Skatepark

Directory

• List of skateparks around the world - churF international skateboard community
• World Skateboarding Map - Community built map with videos and pictures
• Skate Parks Maps (extremesportsmap.com) - See worldwide skateparks on Google Maps
• Skateboard411 Skatepark Directory - Large skatepark directory with Google Maps feed
• iSKATEhere - Map-based directory of skateparks and skate spots around the world
• ChicagoSkateSpots.com - Online and Mobile directory for skate spots and parks in Chicago - Chicago Skate Spots online directory