On a Roll

When Jacob Powell looks down the edge of an 11-foot vertical ramp at the Skate Street skateboard park in Ventura, the only thing on his mind is speed. Powell, of Laguna Niguel, has no fear, even though he is only 4 years old and 3 foot 7.

He is among the fastest-growing segment of U.S. skateboarders, according to American Sports Data Inc., which counted 8.2 million skateboarders of all ages in 1997. (Hard-core skaters 6 to 11 make up 14.9% of that figure.)

Dubbed peewees by their older brethren, these boys and girls 12 and younger are being groomed as the future of the sport. Their number is rapidly rising with the boom in public and privately owned skate parks sprouting in Southern California and the rest of the U.S.

Peewees can claim designated areas and time slots in many parks. They have their own smaller boards and designer clothes.

The tiny skaters have a king-sized enthusiasm for their favorite sport, preferring it to that other great American pastime.

“It’s better than playing Nintendo because you get out and get fresh air,” says 9-year-old Daniel Spencer of Huntington Beach, perched on his board during a break from his neighborhood half-pipe ramp.

So many kids are on a roll that California has become a skaters’ paradise. The Santa Barbara-based International Assn. of Skateboard Cos. estimates the skateboard industry employs 18,000 in the state--mostly in the Southland. And American Sports Data reports about 1.1 million skaters live in the Golden State.

A public skate park is planned in Irvine. Other public skate parks are being considered in Mission Viejo, Irvine, Laguna Niguel, Brea, San Dimas, Lynwood, Glendora, Glendale, Cerritos, La Verne and Santa Barbara.

Orange is home to the world’s largest private park--the Vans Skatepark at the Block in Orange. Since it opened five months ago, about 50,000 skateboarders have grinded, slid and rolled across the 46,000 square feet of terrain. In the fall, the sneaker maker opens the next of four more parks, planned for locations in the U.S. and Canada, at the Ontario Mills Shopping Center, 34 miles northeast of Santa Ana.

The Ontario park promises to be 20% larger than the Orange site, with an even bigger peewee area, says Vans Senior Vice President Neal Lyons.

Orange’s 5,000-square-foot peewee site, with its toned-down terrain, is about as safe as it gets for smaller kids. Skaters are supervised by professionals or amateurs who are Red Cross-certified in first aid and assist novices with free lessons. Parents can watch from a special viewing space, and that’s a comfort, though statistics show that more kids get hurt playing baseball.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s most recent studies show 80,000 visits to emergency rooms per year for skateboarding-related injuries among skaters of all ages and 162,000 for baseball injuries, including three to four deaths a year, among children 14 and younger. Wrist sprains and fractures are the most common in

juries for skaters.

At the California Skate Lab in Simi Valley, a rush of younger kids--500 a week on average, which is 50%-70% of its total skaters--is driving the expansion of the supervised kiddie area to 7,000 square feet. The adjoining skate museum and hall of fame are also undergoing renovations to service the new crop of skaters. (Construction is scheduled to end by mid-April.)

Saturday and Sunday mornings from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. have long been set aside for beginners, including a three-hour instruction session for $23 that attracts parents and children.

Two classes each weekend--enrollment is limited to eight students per class--are continually full.

Beginner lessons were introduced last weekend at the Magdalena Ecke Family YMCA Skate Park in Encinitas. The Mission Valley YMCA Skate Park in San Diego, which broke ground this week and is expected to open by summer, will also offer lessons.

In fact, aside from the private facilities, about 60 public skate parks are expected to open statewide by summer’s end--a jump from the four that existed before 1998, according to the International Assn. of Skateboard Cos.

In general, city-owned parks are free. Entry fees at private skateboard parks vary.

Extreme Politics

Getting parks built has been a decade-long grass-roots effort.

Many peewees have parents who started skateboarding at a tender age and don’t want their children to face the same battles they did with city hall. In the early days, many towns passed ordinances banning skaters from sidewalks, parks, streets and school grounds. The laws gave way to a mantra and bumper sticker, “Skateboarding Is Not a Crime,” which continues to serve as a rallying point.

City councils and the marketplace became more responsive to consumer requests for skate parks after a 1997 state law took effect early last year, defining skateboarding as a hazardous recreational activity, thereby reducing the liability for injuries that occur on public park property.

Liability claims and soaring insurance costs had doomed most skate parks, which numbered in the hundreds in suburbia through the ‘70s and early ‘80s. Without the parks, skateboarders turned to the surrounding concrete jungle of their towns, developing a more aggressive style--and attitude. But in the ‘90s, their long fight for public parks seems to be coming to an end. An older generation has paved the way for the peewees.

The Family That Skates Together

Generation Next has been raised on a steady in-your-face diet of extreme sports, high-tech and alternative fashion and music, thanks to their hip parents. Yeah, they’re pretty cool, but they’re still parents. They want safe spaces for their children to skate.

Rick and Ruthanne Powell of Laguna Niguel--no relation to the family that owns Powell Skateboards--took an active role in providing a safe skating experience for their kids from the beginning.

Rick and Ruthanne skate too. It was on their boards that their infant sons started rolling, belly down, when they could barely walk.

Ruthanne, a former emergency room nurse, serves as chauffeur, cheerleader and documenter. She keeps in the minivan a small album filled with snapshots of the boys grinding their way through skate parks from Camarillo to Encinitas.

Her boys, 4-year-old Jacob and Christian, 8, have exhibited such an affinity and daring for the sport that they joined the newly revived Vans Pee Wee Skate Team, an exhibition group of skaters ages 4 to 13. The team is sponsored and outfitted by Vans, and some of its members put on shows throughout Southern California and the U.S. An accomplished skater, Christian remains humble: “It’s not about how good you are. It’s about just fun.”

Safety First

The Vans Pee Wee team of 12 skateboarders and two in-line skaters is headed by Gale Webb, a 54-year-old from Murietta known as the “Skateboard Mom” because of her two decades of riding empty swimming pools and ramps. (She has also competed in snowboarding events and has won three world titles in motocross contests.)

Webb scouts talent at skate parks and contests and invites kids to join the team. Or kids can send a resume and photos to her attention at Vans, 15700 Shoemaker Ave., Santa Fe Springs, 90670.

Webb says you don’t have to be the world’s best skater; she takes other attributes, such as good attitude and enthusiasm, into consideration.

Webb travels with the young skaters to schools and malls, teaching audiences respect for the sport and equipment in skits stressing the importance of safety gear. She advocates helmet, pads and, if necessary, wrist guards as something as vital--and as cool--as the board and wheels.

“It’s funny that when a kid gets hit in Little League, the parent tells him to get back out there. But when a kid falls off a skateboard, the board is yanked away and banned forever. There’s a weird standard among some adults because of the stereotype associated with skateboarding as something dangerous.”

She believes that antiquated misconceptions about the sport will change as a result of the 1997 law.

“It’s the best thing that ever happened,” says Webb, who last week hosted a demonstration at Six Flags in Dallas. “It means more places, safe and supervised places, for kids to skate and hang out. Parents really need to go out and be involved with their kids more, to support them. It instills a great feeling of accomplishment when Mom and Dad are watching.”

Papa Was a Rollin’ Skateboarder

Some dads are watching, closely, too. A few skateboarder fathers want for their young sons and daughters what they only dreamed of.

Last year, world champ Tony Hawk and family launched Hawk Clothing, skate shorts, T-shirts and other apparel for sizes 4 to 17. Hawk’s not alone.

Of the more than two dozen skate-specific sneaker manufacturers on the market, an increasing number are suiting up smaller feet.

Several skateboard makers sell abbreviated models of a standard board, known as minis. And Channel One, a Huntington Beach-based board maker, went further with a model cut of smaller dimensions (7 by 30 inches, versus a standard board’s 7 3/4 inches by 31 1/2) and one ply less than the seven layers of wood for a lighter weight.

The Peewee Possee model--its name is printed on the board--is built for riders “100 lbs. and under.”

The changes are critical to a small person, says Huntington Beach’s Marty Jimenez, marketing director of Channel One. He was inspired by his son, Matt, and his young skating neighbors to create the board.

Michael Pagani, 12, of Huntington Beach signed on to the Channel One team two years ago. He rides the new board when he performs in exhibitions and competes nationally.

“Obviously, we’re doing it to provide something missing in the market,” the senior Jimenez says. “But we also want to keep replenishing our group of athletes, developing their talents and their careers. Or we’ll end up with a glut of guys who are 24 and up in the contests.”

A League of Their Own

Of course, Jimenez and his peers know that young stars are out there. Pagani went through the ranks of the California Amateur Skate League (CASL). Founded 19 years ago by Tony Hawk’s father, the late Fred Hawk, CASL hosts an annual series of contests in Northern and Southern California that culminates at year’s end with awards dinners and a statewide championship.

CASL membership--325 active members this year--has already surpassed last year’s by 30%, and their numbers will grow as contests are held throughout the year with an influx of competitors younger than 12, says director Sonja Maria Catalano. Categories vary from novice to experienced athletes who are sponsored by their local skate shops.

Catalano attributes the growth to the rise in skate parks.

“As cities provide younger kids with places other than the streets to skate, it’s helping with the population of skateboarders,” she says.

The organization, which is a division of the United Skateboard Federation, charges a $45 yearly membership and a $15 entry fee for contests. The fees, Catalano says, cover the $2-million liability insurance CASL carries and the cost of printing the group’s monthly newsletter.

(The next contest in the Southland is March 20 and 21 at Climax Distribution in Oceanside.)

Though the contests are designed for fun, participants as young as kindergarten age know the events can lead to a career. Professional skateboarders earn as much as $200,000 a year.

Other pros past their youth turn their passion into a business, such as Jimenez and Hawk have. In fact, many twenty- and thirtysomething owners and employees in the skate industry have acted as consultants, raised funds and volunteered their time to cities interested in building parks.

But for some parents and kids, just skating--free from competition or tormenting folks who don’t like skateboarding--is enough. Derek Weis, 11, and his brother Aaron, 12, of Huntington Beach, visit parks far and near nearly every weekend, thanks to their dad.

“He never got to skate when he was our age,” Aaron says, “so he loves watching us and videotaping us. It’s cool.”

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Tips for Beginners

* First-time skaters should wear wrist guards in addition to pads and helmets.

* Before visiting a skate park, beginners should practice on a driveway for a few hours. Don’t go in cold without having skated on concrete.

* Take classes to learn etiquette, safety and how to fall properly.

* Don’t start on terrain that is beyond your capabilities. Always start in the warmup areas first.

* Always be aware of what’s going on around you.

Source: Todd Huber co-owner of the California Skate Lab in Simi Valley

www.skatelab.com