Why Your Community Needs a Skatepark
Skateboarding and in-line skating are two very strenuous sports, and they both take a lot of practice to excel in. To take up either of these sports means putting in a lot of time and energy to get better and better, because as it goes with any sport, the more you practice, the better you become. Kids who participate in this activity are (whether they know it or not) fending off an unhealthy lifestyle, among many other things that kids can get into. This article is going to explain why a skate park is a good idea for the community, as well as your kids.
Unfortunately, the activity of skateboarding and skating has a terrible stigma surrounding it. People have a tendency to think that all kids who take to skateboarding are just troublemakers. I beg you to continue reading this article especially if you happen to be one of those people. First of all, yes, it is true that some kids that skateboard can be troublemakers. However, some kids that play basketball, football, baseball, soccer, among many other sports can also be troublemakers. It is quite unfair to label all skateboarders as problem kids.
Kids that take up any kind of sport are choosing to do something productive with their time. Even if they are hanging out with their friends while skateboarding, this is still much more productive than the trouble kids can get into nowadays. From vandalism, burglary, and even doing drugs, there are many other awful choices they could be making than choosing to participate in a healthy activity.
Speaking of healthy activity, obesity happens to be such a problem for young people nowadays, as well as other related diseases like diabetes. Kids that choose to skateboard are choosing an active lifestyle, which helps prevent them from becoming obese and running into all sorts of problems that surround obesity. We should be cheering them on for choosing healthy activities, not suggesting they choose something the community is more “comfortable” with.
Why not build a skate park in your community? If you own a business, and you don’t like kids skateboarding on your property, then petition to have a skate park built. These kids, they don’t need much, just ask them. What they want is a place to go to skate, meet friends and socialize, or just relax after school and hang out for awhile. If you happen to be worried about what goes on at these skate parks, or just want to make sure they aren’t getting into trouble, hire someone from the park district to hang around and monitor the situation. Paying an employee would be far less expensive than fixing vandalism, and remember, taxpayers have to pay for individuals that go to jail. You would be paying for these kids to go to juvenile hall if they chose a criminal lifestyle, instead of paying to give them a place to exercise and talk to their friends.
There really is no good reason not to build a skate park in your community. We build parks, swings, fields to play other sports in, why not spend a little bit of money and give something to those kids who chose a sport that is different than what we are used to seeing?