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years’<*90, a group of skateboarders, ’tired of having nowhere In Athens to prac tice their sport, got organised. They made ‘a plan, took it to the city, pot together over a guaiter of a million dollars, and built the Skate Park of Athens at Southeast Clarke Park. More than just a place for skateboard ers of all ages to cruise the concrete, SPGA gives back to the city, from keeping kids off the street both literally and figuratively, to garnering national attention, like the young Athenian whose championship career may take her to the Olympics. This summer. SPGA's hit ting tire streets again with celebratory events that everyone, even people who wouldn't dream of jumping on a skateboard, can take part ,11 to raise money for Phase 2. "The park is seven years ! ; old. It's in need of a little love and repair/ says Tason Thrasher, a first'generation street skater, current transi tion skater and local photog rapher, who was the point person for the building of Phase 1. "Also, we lost a beloved skater, Ian Bmssack, last year to a tragic accident that was not skate-related.- We decided right away to raise money ter an addition or memorial to celebrate something he loved doing.’' The words love" and "repair" are as much of the park's vocabulary as "rad" and "gnarly/ The skaters and their friends share a sense of community and continually look out ter one other. "Skateboarding brought me back to life/ says 23-year-old Brandon t^rnett—but everyone at the park calls him B.B. "I' always wanted to skate, but, /know, growing up in the 'hood...* adds, "We had some kids here the other day who didn't have boards or anything , they just wanted to fight us. We tMd them to get out. That's not part of the family That's not part of the park if you want to do that That's not how we do things around here/ Thirteen-year-old Eteaza Rodriguez's fel low SPGA staters compare his natural skill on the board to another 5P0A stater, 13-year-old Kaden Campbell, whom many consider a young Tony Hawk. According to 8.B., Rodriguez "has only been skateboarding a year, but he's already better than me.* and he said it's amazing, but you need more street* Case in point Tyner refcbnwd to the state park one evening after being thrown off the (IGA campus for slating a ledge. "Everyone was in dass. There was no one walking around, no chance of anyone getting hurt* he says. "Then they tell us we can go down town and skate, and we get caught there, too. There's nowhere to skate in town. And our street spots are ail gone, so we have a bunch of ramps to state, but no stair sets. Because there are so many different types of staters and so many different personalities and styles, one amount of ramps can't support everybody SPGA has a ton of variety, but it's basically around tranny [transition] staters, and that opportunities that will run all the way into October, different venues in town, including Farm 255, the 40 Watt Club and the Georgia Theatre, will host a variety of shows, includ ing performances by Oead Confederate, Twin Tigers, Brothers, SheHeHe and Grass Giraffes. Currently at Cirte through duly 25 is 'Concrete Culture/ a photography exhibit by Bob Brussack, Chad Os bum, Kent Pierson, Porter McLeod, Ian McFartane and Thrasher. Those photographs will be available ter purchase. Additional items for sale at the events include t-shirts and the personalized bricks. The biggest event in September will be "The Board Room/ an auction of decorated skateboard (fecks and one of Phase fs most popular fundraisers, returning with even more entries for Phase 2. Over 50 local artiste, including lou KregeL Dan Smith, Michael Lachowski, Nina Bames and J.ames Barsness, have painted, carved and recon structed skate decks that are currently on display at Hotel Indigo until they're auc tioned off the wails on Sept. 9. See Art Notes. The Phase 1 skateboard auction raised $57,000 in a riotous evening of fun bidding. Then comes the big finale weekend beginning Oct. 5, with a rock show at Hotel Indigo, followed on Oct. 6 with a huge show at the park itself. "The city is bringing out the big AthFest stage for a rock festival at the skate park. We hope to have skate board and BMX pros in town and an all-star rock show," says Thrasher. As soon as the budget is set and the plans are approved, construc tion will begin and Phase l will be complete as soon as possible. B.B. once saw three kids walking out of a state shop and asked them about skateboarding. They told him about SPOA and taught him everything he needed to know about the sport "It kept roe staying out of trouble. I don't know where fd be right now if I didn't have skateboarding/ Now B.8.'s paying it forward to other skateboarders and their friends by making sure they have a safe place to skate; ride bikes or just hang out by hosting gatherings every weekend at the park. "We're just a family. It really is just one big family/ says 56-year-old Harrison Tyner, a student from Madison County High School who first heard about the park from his mother. He comes to the park four or five tiroes a week after a 55-roinute drive. "I come out here to skate, but these are also some of my closest friends because l know them so well It's a whole different experience. People say it's not an organized sport, but I think it's very organized. We all play as a team, pretty much. I've been com ing out here three years now. When I got my first skateboard, everyone was completely nice. Everyone helped me with everything." He And then there's 15-year-old Lindsea Lumpkin, a national snowboarder and six-time USASA National Champion—twice in slope style, twice in halfpipe, once in giant slalom and once in boardercross—who calls SPGA "a super fun park with a great teaming vibe." "I watched her start her skate career at SPOA the year it opened. That was about the time the Tony Hawk Wasteland Tour stopped here/ says her father, Tommy Lumpkin. "Since then, she's been on the podium 20 of 34 . attempts at Nationals." She is also invited to train with the U.S. Development Team in snowboarding for the fourth consecutive year this year with an eye on the 2018 Winter Olympics. As with lindsea, the skHl level of the current SPOA skaters has grown, along with its population, and the park needs to expand. "If it were up to me, I'd just build more bowls, more transitions, more pools, more stuff that they can aU skate when they get older/ says Thrasher. "But this phase needs to be more street. Tony Hawk was here, and I asked him what he thought of the park, just doesn't give aU the needs to people who want to jump down stair sets or grind rails. For Phase 2, I've heard a bunch of different ideas that just sound amazing, that would add so much to this park for all the locals here." Concerning additions, Thrasher says: "I do have a pretty dear idea of one thing we want to do that's coot [which] is a replica of the China Banks from Chinatown in San Frandsco that's a really famous bank wall with sets of benches built into it out of bricks. We're selling bricks to individuals for $50 and to businesses for $100, where well have your name put on a brick, so the bricks we sell will actually be built into the skate structure as a replica of this famous state spot So, I think that's kinda cool It aU depends on how much money we raise." SPOA Events With "The Endless Summer of SPOA/ Thrasher and the SPOA team are work ing up a series of fundraising events and "This was the first con crete skate park in the state of Georgia, id the first really good one in the South outside of Rorida/ says Thrasher. "It's twice as big as it should have been for our dollar price. The guys who built this, Grindline, got here and just loved Athens, and the dty took care of them. We treated them right, and they showed up and gave us one of the best parks in the world. We now have this great advantage with some local people who built the Atlanta park with the same Grindline crew that built SPOA. So, we have some people in Atlanta that grew up skating this park who want to come over and help us expand it" "We're looking for a new generation of skaters/ says Tyner. "We encourage every kid to come out here and skate." "Men, women, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, whatever... aU that good stuff/ adds B.B. "The more the merrier." Marilyn Estes For more info on The Endless Summer of SPOA events, check the Skate park of Athens Facebook page. FLAGPOLE.COM JUNE 27,2012