Skatepunk

Filmed by Mark Waters on iPhone.

Kabul's skateboarders get their own park
By Andra Jackson, The Age, Australia
October 29, 2009 - 10:40PM

Afghanistan's fledging skateboarders will get their own international standard skateboard park today, thanks to a couple of Australians.

After making do with pot-holed pavements and dried up concrete fountains, Afghanistan's fledging skateboarders will get their own international standard skateboard park today.

It is thanks to the vision of two Australian skateboard enthusiasts, Sharna Nolan, 32, Fitzroy and her partner, Oliver Percovich, 35, from St Andrews who two years ago saw the potential in giving Afghanistan's war disaffected youths a new direction in life through the sport. They set up the project, skateistan, which will build the world's first co-educational skateboarding school, which will also offer classes in literacy, maths and English, open its doors at the skatepark complex.

After writing all this stuff about my father (below), writing about skateboard parks seems somewhat trivial. But it's important to me, too, and so I plug on. As many of you know (you know, that avid six of you who read this) I spent a lot of time here discussing what I thought were the benefits of many types of skateparks, and spent some time arguing that certain types of parks were better for "skateboarding" than others. You can read those views below if you care, as well as my thoughts and hopes for the park I primarily designed, the etnies Skatepark of Lake Forest.

Skatepark design is a thankless job. I've had my hand deep in the Lake Forest Etnies skatepark project for more than two years now and I about had a heart attack yesterday, and for what? Is anyone going to really appreciate it?

There are a bunch of skatepark sites, but one I've been using a lot lately to get directions and reviews is SoCal Skateparks dot com. It's still growing, but it's done by lifelong skateboarder Mike Hirsch and is really good. If you want info on skateparks, especially ones in Southern California, check it!

Timothy Nickloff and I spent a couple hours last week down in the dirt at the new etnies skatepark of Lake Forest, going over some final changes with Wally and Joe of California Skateparks. There will be six main sections of the park: the Plaza, the Ledge Alley, the Park Course, the Flow Course, the Bowl, and the Skull Pool.

New skateparks are popping up all over the place. There was a time about a year ago when I'd managed to skate all of the ones in southern California, but now there are so many I'm way behind. I did just get a chance to skate the new Laguna Niguel park a few times--I think I wrote about it here a few months back. Anyway, the park is a lot of fun, good flow throughout all parts of the park. The bigger stuff is OK, not great, but certainly better than anything from a few shorts years ago, and it's worth skating for a while.

I just got an email from Justin Gold and he let me know that the Berkeley park is going to be jackhammered. Seems the land the park was built on was contaminated. I heard that it was built on top of an old paint factory, adn when we were there a few weeks ago (see below) we hopped the fence, even though there were signs that said contaminated water. We stayed out of the water for the most part, though! (But I was wondering why I'm glowing...)

I just got back from a small road trip with my nephew Taylor and a crew of his friends. We went to a whole bunch of parks, some I'd been to and some new ones. Ripon is a tranny lover's heaven; Salinas, Greenfield, and Ceres are fun, and Berkeley is good when it's open. One of the things that I've noticed recently, though, is a disparage between where cities are putting their recreational dollars and where they're being used. On New Year's night, Wednesday January first, the eight of us pulled up to Camarillo skatepark.

Skated the new Laguna Niguel bowl today. The park isn't open yet but for some strange reason there is no fence around the park and the only thing ready to shred is the bowl. It's a clover of sorts, three heights, three connected bowls, similar to Clairemont in SD and to Fontana, but this one seems more rideable to me, at least from a carving prospective. The lines are amazing and there is this cool roll-out lip section with a hip that lets everyone enjoy. And the surface? Well, Wally Hollyday did it and it's amazing. I should say his crew did it... The parks are getting better.

Well, it's already the 24th and I haven't written in this thing all month. There've been some other things added and fixed on the site, some new links, to Sessions, and to Britt Parrot's M.E.S.S. (that's Mid-Eastern Skateboard Series) site, and the Sten Guns micro-site, and we're working behind the scenes on a couple other things, too. Between that and skating, playing music, traveling, and other stuff it's been hard to make big strides, but I'm getting there!

Went to a couple of new parks yesterday. La Habra has been open about a month, and although I fear that it's doomed for helmet and full pads sessions in the future, they currently use discretion about who to let in without a helmet. All kids who are sketchy don't get let in without a helmet, but he'll let the older guys skate if they show up without one. Anyway, the park is a good sign that maybe they'll all start getting better soon. It's got a 4 foot deep square pool with four round corners, pretty evenly spaced, and a fun street/flow area.