Grip

Skate Everywhere

Why you should try something new

6 Reasons to Skate

Letter From Tony HawkWhat he had to say aboutThe Tony Hawk Foundation

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How to build your own skatepark

May 2009

SIXREASONS TO SKATE

1 2If you haven’t given skateboarding a shot, and you are looking for something to challenge yourself with, then skateboarding is a perfect choice. Skateboarding will challenge you in new ways and teach you a new skill set. Try-ing new things and gaining new experiences is what keeps your brain alive and active, which in turn gives you new insights into the world and makes you a better, more interesting person!

This might seem weird at first, but, skateboard-ing trains your body in unique ways. A huge part of skateboarding is balance, so your core will gain strength as you skate. Plus, your legs will get a good workout as well. Skateboard-ing is also very aerobic, and you can easily work up a sweat while skating. It’s pretty easy to loose weight when you are out pumping your board around all afternoon. If you really dig into skateboarding, you’ll end up lean and tough.

Skateboard to Try Something New

Skateboard For Fitness

43 Skateboard to Make FriendsThis is true no matter your age. If you are a teen-ager, then there should be groups of skaters at school, and if you choose to skate, you should have several groups of instant friends if you want. You’ll be more interesting. This works for adults, too. Plus, it’s easy to run into people at skateparks and make friends, or you can check at your local skate shop for local groups and clubs.

Sometimes you learn a trick one day, and then the next day you just can’t land it. Some-times you’re doing great, and suddenly you find yourself smashing into the pavement and it hurts. But you stick with it. You keep try-ing. You lean the value of staying with some-thing, even when it’s not easy. Life is tough, and learning to push through because the payoff is worth it will help in every way.

Skateboarding Teaches Perseverance

65When you’ve been practicing a trick for a long time, and you finally get it, you realize that you can do something that only a small handful of people can even do. You learn that if you try hard, you can defy gravity. So you move on to a harder trick. You start to learn that you can skate, no matter what other people say. Believing in yourself and understand-ing how powerful you really are is important!

Skateboarding to Build Confidence

Skateboarding is also fun! And not fun like playing a video game is fun - skateboarding is that deep kind of fun that gets down into your gut. Maybe it’s because of all of these other reasons chipping in, plus learning and landing a new trick, feeling the burn and the wind as you fly down the side-walk, the click-clack sounds and crack of the tail as you olly, the pull of gravity and you bend your knees and push up a ramp or around a corner.

Skateboard For Fun

Community skateboarding clubs

are casual and social, open to any-

one, and offer a great place and

time for skaters to come together.

They can make friends, challenge

each other and learn new tricks,

all in a safe environment. I would

partner with a good legitimate or-

ganization to start your skateboard

club. Having the backing

of a company or group

can be very helpful in

getting seen, and legiti-

mizing what you are doing

in the eyes of parents. Churches,

YMCAs, youth organizations like

Campus Life are all great places

to start looking. Skate shops can

be good to talk to as well - even

if you don’t want to help run the

club, they might be able to help

promote it, or they might know

of other people who might be in-

terested in helping you out. Just

call around or stop by, and

see what people think about the idea.

The hardest part will be finding a

place for the club, and getting the

ramps and obstacles to make it a

fun place to skate. If you’ve teamed

up with a YMCA, a church or some

other youth organization, they

might have a parking lot that you

could use once or twice a week (or

more!). Otherwise, you might need

to ask around and try and make

some connections to get a good

HOW TO START A SKATEBOARD CLUB IN YOUR COMMUNITY OR YOUR SCHOOL . . .

SKATE WHER EVER

place for the club to meet. The more visible the

spot, the better. The two main organizations that

I have seen build groups like this are churches or

youth ministries, and the YMCA. There are a lot of

Christian skate clubs around the country and has

been running for over a decade. It’s called

Skatechurch”. I know that Christian youth organiza-

tions like Youth for Christ sometimes build clubs like

this, too. And I know a guy in Texas who works for the

YMCA, and he runs a skate club through them. What

these look like can vary quite a bit. The one in Southern

Oregon I mentioned meets once a week after school,

and they skate for maybe 5 or 6 hours and he got a

group of people together to help build some ramps and

rails and funboxes. For the ramps, you will probably

need to build them yourself. If you have other skaters

interested, then you can get them to help. Your local

skateboard shops are great places to ask for some

help . Try to get parents and local business to chip

in. Maybe a lumber company would be willing to do-

nate, or even sponsor some ramps. Ask if they know

of anyone who could help with building the obstacles.

The ramps and obstacles need to be well built. There

are websites with free ramp building plans online, there

are books, and you can even hire people to build the

ramps for you, if you have the

money and want to make sure

they are the best quality. If you

have skaters already interest-

eded, ask them to help out.

You might also need some kind

of goal for the group - some-

thing that the club is working towards. An easy way to

do this is to set up a few contests. These don’t have

to be huge (if you want them to be, then read How to

Start a Skateboard Contest for help). But for your club,

it can be something as simple as a game of skate once

a month. Have stuff to drink, maybe even advertise it

around school so other people can come and watch.

Finally, I would recommend coming up with a name

for the club. The key to making it a good experi-

ence that skaters want to go to, is keeping it “cool”.

They asked and were given permission to use a church parking lot for the events

I have a friend who ran one in Southern Oregon for around seven ”

” SKATE WHER EVER

WHENEVER

“

“

It can be good to have some adults around, too, to en-

courage the kids and to keep fights from breaking out. It’s

important though that the adults don’t try to be anything

they are not. If they aren’t skaters, then that’s actually

ok – but they should appreciate skateboarding. If they

do skate, then just make sure they don’t brag about it.

If you want to charge, then keep it cheap.

The money should go to cover the costs, not into

your pocket. It’s also a good idea to have some kind

of waiver form ready for parents to sign for minors.

Finally, the key to making it a good experience that kids

WANT to go to, is keeping it “cool”. I’ve been told that

it’s a good idea to not call it a “club”. There’s some

good wisdom in that. Also, don’t get too wrapped up

in how it looks – skaters often enjoy the rough, unfin-

ished look. Focus more on keeping it relaxed, easy

going, and functional. The main point should be for

skaters to be able to have fun with other skaters.

School sponsored skateboard clubs are a great

way to get a skateboard club going, but to offer it in

a way that legitimizes it to parents and other adults.

When they see it linked to the school, the skaters

get more respect, they can list it as school spon-

sored activities on college applications as well as

their resumes, and the club is instantly more visible.

If you would like to start up a highly competi-

tive skateboarding club in your town, something

that will compete with other schools, then read

How to Start a Competitive Skateboard Club. These

instructions are here to help you start up a more ca-

sual skateboard club that meets at your school. It

might develop into something more later, but for

now, you want to give the skaters the opportunity

to skate, and perhaps hold a few low key contests.

School SPONSERED skateboard clubs are a great way to get a skateboard club going, but to offer it in a way that legitimizes it to PARENTS and also other adults.

Once you have a vision, then you need to relax a bit

and keep it flexible. The key will be to offer the school

an idea, and then to be able to bend your idea around

what the school wants! This doesn’t have to be any-

thing too detailed, but you need to have an idea of what

you are talking about before you approach the school.

Probably, you are picturing having some ramps,

maybe a funbox, some rails - nothing too huge at the

beginning. Or maybe you

would like to use the local

skatepark. How would you

like to organize the club?

Do you want contests? If so,

how complicated If you want to push for it, there is one

other way to get a skate club at the school. You can

go to the school board, and present your idea. Call up

the district office, find out when the next school board

meeting is, and you might need to get permission from

the superintendent to speak. Things can get dicey here

if there isn’t much support for the idea. This all works

far better if you know a board member or a teacher

who can help grease the wheels. It can be helpful,

maybe, to track down the board members before the

meeting and talk to them about what you are doing.

This all works better if the board, superintendent and

principal are on board with the idea. And that often

happens more eas-

ily when personal re-

lationships exist, and

people understand

who you are and what

you want to accomplish. However, to be honest, if the

principal is against the idea you might be sunk right

there. It all depends on why the idea was shot down.

First, you have to have a vision for the skateboarding club.”“

School SPONSERED skateboard clubs are a great way to get a skateboard club going, but to offer it in a way that legitimizes it to PARENTS and also other adults.

The Tony Hawk Foundation Mission

The Tony Hawk Foundation seeks to foster lasting improvements in society, with an emphasis on supporting and empowering youth. Through special events, grants, and technical assistance, the Foun-dation supports recreational programs with a focus on the creation of public skateboard parks in low-income communities. The Foun-dation favors programs that clearly demonstrate that funds received will produce tangible, ongoing, positive results.

letter fro m tony hawk

Seven years into THF, our efforts are now visibly success-

ful. Most of our grant recipients have completed skateparks in

their towns, and we have awarded more than $2.7-million. This

money has helped support and partially fund 427 skatepark proj-

ects across the U.S., but the most rewarding aspect is seeing

the joy on the faces of kids who realize their years of persever-

ance have finally paid off. It doesn’t take long for cities to realize

that their modest skateparks get more use than the local tennis

courts or baseball fields. We are proud to be a part of this pro-

cess of enlightenment. Last Fall our fifth-annual Activision Pres-

ents Stand Up For Skateparks fundraising event was a huge suc-

cess. We returned to Ron Burkle’s estate in Beverly Hills, where

Social Distortion played an incredible acoustic set, & some

friends (Shaun White, Bucky Lasek, Andy Macdonald, Kevin

Staab, and BMX riders John Parker and Dennis McCoy) and I

rode my halfpipe. Stand Up For Skateparks was co-chaired by

me, Lance Armstrong, Rob Dyrdek, Christopher “Big Black”

Boykin, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Jamie Lee Curtis, Mia Hamm,

Dana White, Jr., Jon Favreau, Mat Hoffman, Shaun White, Rob-

ert Kotick, Bob McKnight, Scott Greenstein, and Ron Burkle,

and attended by a host of celebrities--including Anthony Kiedis,

David Spade, Jamie

Lee Curtis, Perry Fer-

rell, Chris “Big Black”

Boykin, Mia Hamm,

Kathy Ireland, Bam

Margera, BMX leg-

end Mat Hoffman,

tand others. Attend-

ees and stars took part

in live and silent auctions, and for the second year in a row we raised

over $1-million, including $79,000 in pledges for a skatepark

in my childhood neighborhood of Tierrasanta in San Diego.

Last August we also hosted a Stand Up For Skateparks event

in Bridgehampton, New York, where we raised $575,000, in-

cluding $50,000 to improve the Manhattan Bridge Skatepark in

New York City. Celebrity guests included Jon Bon Jovi, Russell

Simmons, Vern Troyer, Michael Gelman, Nacho Figueras, UFC

fighters Wanderlei Silva and Matt Serra, and others. We have

plans to make SUFS 2009 even bigger and better, and to reach

out to and assist even more communities across the country.

The quality of public skateparks is improving and their numbers

are growing, but let’s not forget where they are needed most.

Low-income areas and cities with too many at-risk kids are often

overlooked because of their limited ability to raise funds or a lack

of support from civic leaders. The more successful the founda-

tion is at fundraising, the more we can help these communities.

My main job at the foundation’s biannual grant-application re-

view meetings is to approve and suggest changes to skatepark

designs. But my favorite thing is seeing the parks themselves.

I’ve had the privilege of attending a few grand openings, and

the appreciation of the lo-

cal skaters is overwhelm-

ing. It’s a blast to see the

finished product, espe-

cially when they’ve taken

my design comments

into consideration. Even

more gratifying is the

sense of pride that the

locals have when they finally get to ride the fruit of their labor.

The foundation staff is doing an amazing job helping communi-

ties with their skatepark projects, organizing fundraising events,

reaching new donors, and raising the awareness of our mission.

Chances are that you have heard about THF because of their

efforts. We still have a lot of work to do, so your support is greatly

appreciated. With your help, we can give kids a positive outlet

for their energy, and a safer community for them to grow up in.

letter fro m tony hawk

” This money has helped support and partially fund 427 skatepark projects“

The Tony Hawk FoundationSpecial Thanks to ...