Skateboarding in La Grange

Let me preface this by saying that people in general are highly annoying,  and also easily annoyed.   This makes it a wonder that we are able to be around each other at all.  We hate bikes who slow us down when we are in our cars,  we hate cars that honk at us when we are on our bikes.  We hate when kids haul their basketball goal out into the middle of the road. Unless they are our kids,  then we hate people who drive too fast in the neighborhood.  Any event that causes a backup in traffic is just really annoying and should be held elsewhere,  unless we are attending the event,  and then we are just mad at the other drivers going to the event because if they knew how to drive in the first place everything would be fine.

Which brings me to skateboarders here in La Grange,  but no one likes them anyway,  because they are all punk kids,  high on drugs,  and out generally to cause trouble...  Unless they are your kids.

So lets take a step back and look for a second.  I won't deny that there are some people out there who are just jerks,  but the vast majority of people who annoy us on a day to day basis are just people going about their lives.  There are truly some bad drivers out there,  but most of the stupid stuff you see is just a moment of inattention or small mistake from someone who is otherwise a good driver.  Admit it,  you have spaced out and gotten confused about who's turn it is to go at a four way stop before too.   While we are at it,  I will bet when you were a kid you did at least 6 things that you are not real proud of today.

Which again brings me to our skateboarders.  And this time lets look a little closer and see more than just punks who haven't figured out how to properly wear pants yet. 

Where do skateboarders come from?  If you go to almost every 10 year old kids house you will find an array of sports related toys.  These range from Nerf Footballs, to bikes, skateboards, baseball bats and gloves,  plastic bowling pins,   whatever.   If you take his video game away for long enough,  he will actually play with this stuff, and given enough time he will start to develop favorites.  What sports a will gravitate to is influenced by any number of things.  They are influenced by parents, peers, siblings, natural abilities, availability of equipment and probably a few other things I'm missing.  I won't break all these down for you because if you stop to think about them, you will probably be able to figure them out by yourself.

I will point out though that there are a small handful of sports that are dominated by young athletes, usually because the sport is so hard on the body that by the time you turn 20 you are pretty much done.  Skateboarding may be second only to women's gymnastics in this regard.   This means that by the time a skateboarder enters the "adult world" and has kids and a full time job,  they have left their skateboarding for behind.    I can count on one hand the number of parents that I know who skateboard with their kids.   All of them are in the skateboard industry in some manner.

Another way to say this is there is not typically a huge amount of parental support for skateboarders.   I am not implying that skateboarders are neglected by their parents,  although that may be the case in some circumstances, I am just pointing out that this is a sport that is picked up, practiced and perfected on their own time.   It is a stark contrast to team sports where parents are typically bringing the kids to a specific field/court/gym at a specific time and usually watching the competition.  There are no coaches in skateboarding.

If you put ten kids in a downtown area with no parents or adults around,  8 of them will do something stupid.

(totally made up statistic,  I admit that)

Everyone with me so far?   Here is where I am going to lose you.

I would argue that if you take those same 10 kids and involve them with a sport like skateboarding where they are trying to perfect as physical skill,  the stupid things they do will tend more towards pushing the limits of their sport, and less toward drugs and petty crime.

Providing a public place (like a skatepark)  and or simply not banishing them from every spot which lends itself to skateboarding,  keeps this group closer to where people are.   The closer they are to people the more likely they are not to do things that could get them in trouble.

What I have seen in the last few years that I have been working with our local skateboarders is that they have pockets of support for what they do,  and broad resistance to what they do.   I have had grown adults tell me they are scared because young teenagers are hanging out around their work skateboarding (seriously 13-15 year old kids who are actually quite nice if you talk to them).   I have seen police officers run kids off from skating in the street but then not be quite sure if it is legal for them to skate in the street or not.  (locally there is a debate if they are "skateboards"  which are legal in the street as long as they yield to motor vehicles, or "Toy Vehicles" which are not legal in the street except in crosswalks,  upon last check it hasn't been tested in the courts so there is no president).   And for liability reasons they are run off from most private property like parking lots. For safety reasons they are run off of public property like sidewalks and parks.

What I see for the most part is a sport which has had to insert itself into places where it is not wanted.   Only at the really high end (think X-games)  is it really accepted.   We all want to watch it on TV but we don't want them in our back yard.    It is one of the few sports where there is next to no development program but somehow the talent emerges.

Imagine what would happen if we supported these kids.

Am I suggesting that we spend millions of dollars building skate parks,  and let them skate all over our personal property and in our buildings?  No.   There are legitimate reasons that they can't skate everywhere all the time.   What I am asking is that when you see them, take a closer look.   If we treat them all like they are bad kids,   the good kids will start to drop off because they don't like being considered bad,  or worse may start to conform to the image we created for them. 

On the other hand,  I have seen a lot of positive growth when Church groups,  parents,  and even sometimes older kids, help create and steer the younger kids to places where they can skate, be welcomed and develop their skills.

So sorry for the round about way of getting there,  but if you want to ignore all the rambling,  I guess what I am saying is that seeing a young kid do a" kick-flip off a three stair" is a heck of a lot more impressive than watching him play X-box,  so we ought to encourage rather than discourage him.

And yes,  THANK YOU to the City of LaGrange for not closing the park,  I know my kids are happy to be able to skate for a while before they come to work,  and I know a lot of other kids feel the same way.