On the Beach Surf Shop owner Kelly Sorensen reveres the dialed-in mind of a skateboarder. “You’re concentrating so intensely, thinking about the trick you’re going to do,” he says. “You’re hucking yourself over a rail, and on the other side is cement.”
It serves as a metaphor for the growing skate movement across the county. For those involved in the push to expand young skaters’ opportunities, failure’s not an option.
On the forefront is Sean LaTour. The recent CSU Monterey Bay grad wants to create a scholastic skate league in Northern California middle and high schools, including one here.
“Social justice stands for the representation of any and all cultures our students come to love and identify with,” LaTour says at the beginning of a video promo for his league. “For the 13 million children [in the U.S.] that define creativity through skate culture, this push for social justice has yet to reach them.”
If LaTour has his way, schools across the state will have competing four – to eight-person skate teams with minimum GPA requirements and an emphasis on mentorship. “That’s always been the biggest part that kept me on track as a youth: having those adult figures supporting my athleticism and creativity, but being a mentor at the same time,” he says. “There are so many kids that skate, and they don’t really have a connection to their campus. It’s a major turnoff that pushes kids away from their futures.”
Even though the league is still in its infancy, other local youth skate programs have already found their stride.
The city of Marina, On the Beach and the local Kiwanis Club co-sponsor a youth skate team that won the California State Gold Medal Championships, the State Games of America and the National Junior Olympics in its first two years, 2010-11.
“WE WANTED TO GIVE THEM A PLACE WHERE WE SAY, ‘YES, PLEASE SKATEBOARD HERE.’”
Just as community interest helped lift Marina’s skate park – it used to be full of drugs, gangs and graffiti – the municipal team had a similar effect on its members. Nineteen-year-old Sean Byrne of Marina, who won state and national tournaments with the team, remembers rolling his eyes over regulations like the minimum 2.0 GPA, regular practice times and expectations of good behavior.
“As a kid, you’re like ‘Why do I have to abide by all these rules?’” he says. “But it made you grow up. They wanted you to be a role model for the city and the community.”
Skate teams are taking off across California. In Sacramento, the Sheriff’s Community Impact Program gave LaTour $3,000 to conduct a summer program that takes children out of the inner city to skate parks around Northern California. The National Scholastic Skate League, based in Southern California, now counts 30 teams.
Founded in 2010, the nonprofit shoulders liability for schools and successfully courts big-name sponsors like Volcom.
“It helps kids stay on track in terms of keeping their grades up,” founder Katrina Foley says. “This is a way they can have a sport or team to connect them to their school and community.”
As part of LaTour’s senior research project at CSUMB, he sent surveys to students in the Sacramento area asking if they’d participate in a youth skate league. Forty-two percent of respondents said they skate. Of those, 92 percent said they’d compete in a league.
With the ideas and interest in place, now LaTour needs funding and partners. Foley says the national league is interested in working with him. But LaTour still needs to meet with school boards, connect with sponsors and set up skate clubs. “It’s a beast,” he says with a chuckle. “It’s an upward climb.”
He’s not the only one trying to tap skateboarding’s potential on the Peninsula. Monterey city officials plan to spend $200,000 to improve the skate facilities at El Estero Park. The funding comes from Monterey’s Neighborhood Improvement Program, which uses tourism revenue to fund local projects.
“There are so many places where young people are told, ‘You can’t skateboard here,’” says Kim Bui-Burton, Monterey’s community services director. “We wanted to give them a place where we say, ‘Yes, please skateboard here.’”
One thing they can look forward to: On the Beach’s monthly “skate jams,” which run through August. The surf shop sponsors youth skate contests at the Marina and Monterey skate parks, where participants can win gear. The proceeds from the Marina jams benefit the Marina Teen Center.
“The parents are stoked on us having these events because it pushes the kids,” Sorensen says. “It keeps them on track to have fun and learn new tricks.”
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