Skateboarding
Skateboarding
Skatepark etiquette guide
For anyone looking to skate a skatepark for the first time and for those skaters who might need to be reminded of proper etiquette.
For skateboarders a local skatepark is a second home. It’s the first place we hit after school, where we wake up early before work to squeeze in a sesh, it’s where we meet up on the weekends to shred with friends and where we spend evenings celebrating the comradery of supporting our local skate community. For others, a skatepark is simply an enclosed cemented area where kids and adults go to ride a wooden toy in a public space. For those of us fortunate enough to fall in love with skateboarding, the latter couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Even so, skateboarders and skate hopefuls need to be aware of the etiquette required when entering a skatepark to truly be a part of the skatepark community. We all know the dreaded scooter kids, the nosey skate moms, the 40 ounce sitters and park hyjinx, but the local unsuspecting of etiquette is just as problematic. While there are a ton of factors that go into fostering a healthy skatepark community, there’s even more to be said about the natural dynamics within a public space built by city funding where anyone can go at any time. In most skateparks, skateboarders have become their own skatepark police force [sic] with their own set of governing rules. Rules that to the outsider can be ambiguous and difficult to gauge.
In order for you to become a respected member of a skatepark, you’ll have to adhere to proper skatepark etiquette. But what if you’re a beginner or just landed in a new town and don’t know proper skatepark etiquette? Well, that’s exactly why we wrote this article. Even die hard skaters can sometimes take for granted their local park and see their beloved second home gated off, filled with sand or shut down. We want as many skateparks to be built and to remain open as possible. Hopefully more skateparks continue to be built and bring forth amazing skaters with a little help from this skatepark etiquette guide.
Understanding ‘Local’s Only’ Culture
Skatepark culture is one of the most interesting aspects of skateboarding. No two skateparks are exactly the same and yet, they all share certain characteristics representative of skateboarding as a whole. While it can be difficult to recognize these aspects of culture right away, you should be excited at the prospect of joining them as the bonds between local skaters are some of the most personable and supportive forces of any community.
To understand locals only culture, it really begins with one thing: respect. Local skateboarders spend a tremendous amount of time at their local park, while every day outsiders, skateboarders, parents, kids and bystanders waltz into their home potentially jeopardizing their space and daily life. Each person who enters their domain is a potential friend or foe with the deciding factors beginning with the neutral respect you would expect of anyone entering the home of another. This does not mean locals will be naturally apprehensive to you coming into the park, even if it feels that way at first. The perceived animosity is really about locals being protective of their space and their ability to skate without worry. Just show that you are not a threat, that you are a skateboarder here to skate and be respectful while enjoying what the park has to offer. Like attracts like, so a friendly demeanor goes a long way in this respect.
Pacific skatepark at Vancouver, USA
© Cameron Markin / Red Bull Content Pool
Recognizing the “lines”
General mindfulness is always a good idea, but when you’re at a skatepark where speedy collisions can lead to serious injury or something as simple as placing a backpack in the wrong spot can literally spell disaster for everyone involved; recognizing the lines is a skill every skater needs to develop as soon as possible. With kids generally being oblivious to skatepark flow or local skaters who already know the lines, skating the park can feel like you’re playing frogger or dodgeball the way boards, people and scooter kids orbit the obstacles. Nonetheless, you will need to recognize the lines of obstacles, beginning where the other skaters are lined up to take turns hitting them. For bowl skaters, drop in culture is pretty self explanatory. It’s kind of like using a payphone back in the day; there’s a line and nobody should take too long or make a series of calls in a row. The rest of the park is a bit harder since skateboarding is literally fluid and reactionary by nature. But you can see when certain skaters are directing their attention on a particular obstacle. They ‘pick’ an obstacle, set up their starting point and try over and over again operating the same space. They are trying to learn a new trick, whereas other skaters will have their ‘lines’ of hitting the shoot-out ledge then popping over the pyramid before hitting a back disaster on the quarter. You’re just going to have to sit back and observe the lines of flow so you decrease your chances of getting in someone’s way. Eventually, you’ll be the one enjoying the lines and flow of the park. It’s really one of the best feelings in the world to string together a series of tricks you know you can land again and again.
Fan the Flames of Stoke!
There’s really no better feeling than landing a new trick and all the homies congratulating you with stoke. A new trick can take days, weeks, even years to land and a skatepark is the training facility where new tricks happen. A great way to show proper etiquette is to always fan the flames of stoke. Someone lands a trick? Smack your board on the ground or yell out the skater patented, Yeeeeewwww! You never know how long it took them but we do know how great it feels to skate. Even if you’re new to skating and are not sure what they did, don’t be afraid to let someone know you admire their skating or the way they customized their board. Certainly, don’t be afraid if someone returns the favor, even if you feel like you don’t deserve it. Also, getting close to a trick is just as important as landing it. Be encouraging and say, “you got that brother, next try for sure.” This goes for people of all ages as well. Be the person at the skatepark you wish you had growing up or first starting out. Encourage the youth, respect the newcomers, celebrate the older homies and always keep in perspective what a skatepark is all about. It’s a place where human beings meet to develop and share their passion for skateboarding. It’s a training ground of intense emotions and physical excretion where literally blood and sweat are poured into day after day. Whenever and wherever we as skateboarders have a chance to fan the flames of stoke for skateboarding; we celebrate what we love most, and that’s a beautiful thing.
Kindness Goes a Long Way
There’s enough tension in the world as it is and stepping into someone else’s skatepark or policing your own doesn’t necessarily help. That being said, the old saying rings true: kindness goes a long way. This might mean being the local who extends a heary hello or daps up a newcomer after landing a rad trick. Whatever it is that you’re doing, do it with kindness. Your energy will be the first thing noticed by everyone around you. It’s how other skaters can tell if you’re a kook or a rad ripper just looking to skate. If any tension arises, just be nice and walk away to skate another day. After all, skating is all about having fun and enjoying the good times. If a certain park or person is bumming you out it’s only because you let them or something is going on with them that really has nothing to do with you. If someone is bullying someone or being unfair, speak up when you can or console that person in private. It’s always a good move to be the bigger person and doing so can actually mean being a mentor to some of the kids at the park who look up to you. The environment of a skatepark is one that we all create; which brings us to our next point.
Your Home is an Extension of You
Skateparks depending on your amount of passion and desire to skate can really become your second home. For some of us, we actually spend more time at the skatepark than our actual homes. So why would we not show our skatepark the love and hospitality every home deserves? Stop the litter bugs, pick up your trash and keep down the vandalism. Skateparks will take on the personality of their locals, with future generations following your lead. Tired of the way your skatepark is conceived? Change the narrative. Every skatepark is a valuable focal point in their community. It’s a nucleus for breeding the next generation of talent, whether that be creative filmers, your park’s skateboarders as a whole or the activities that foster a healthy local skate community. When your skatepark is thriving, you and your community are thriving. The little things like keeping your skatepark clean and maintaining a supportive environment are factors of etiquette that really cannot be understated, even if seldom understood. There’s a reason the best skateparks have the best environments and produce the best skaters. It’s because your skatepark, your home, is an extension of you.
Proven Tips to Proper Skatepark Etiquette
Now that we’ve dropped into the deep end of the skatepark, here are some proven tips for proper skatepark etiquette skateboarders have been implementing for decades. From here, you should be more than an expert on skatepark etiquette.
- Pick up your trash: In many ways this tip rings even more true upon the die hard locals than newcomers. While you can’t always control the actions of newcomers, as a local you should definitely know better than to leave any trash in the park. Sometimes common sense isn’t all too common, but nonetheless, some of you still need to hear it.
- Ask permission to wax something: Even if no one is skating the obstacle it’s always prudent to ask before you wax something, especially a rail. At the very least it lets locals know it’s waxed so they don’t unexpectedly slip out and hurt themselves. It can even be a great spark for friendly conversation if you’re a newcomer.
- Look both ways and then some: You wouldn’t cross the street without looking both ways or drive into an intersection without observing the stop light, right? 99% of skatepark collisions happen because one or more skaters aren’t paying attention. Keep your eyes peeled and be mindful of other skaters. If you’re new to a park, save yourself some trouble and leave the headphones at home.
- Be mindful where you’re standing/filming: This one might be the most important tip of all and more so directed at the younger skaters. Standing in front of a ledge or obstacle is intensely frustrating to the other skaters around you, especially if you’re starting into a screen filming your friend. Most skaters will be nice and just ask you to please shift over a few feet, but if you’re not mindful and find yourself in this position again, you’re going to be looked at negatively.
- Ask and you shall receive: Are you gonna drop in? Do you mind if I skate this with you? Do you mind if I wax the ledge? Was the switch? Wanna play skate? All these questions are simple, yet effective ways to make friends and keep everything respectful. Ask and you shall receive.
- Have fun and always skate responsibly: often the simplest truths are the most meaningful. Having fun on a skateboard should be your top priority next to skating responsibly. If you’re not having fun or you’re bothering the people around you, you’re not doing it right.
