From now until next winter is going to be a good skate season in NYC. People can skate through the winter, but my consistency with skating halted from January up to a few weeks ago at the beginning of March. I am a skateboarder, but really I limit myself to the parks these days. Some people say true skaters always skate street. In my thirties I’m less willing to skate on private property, get ticketed, or to skate where I’m not welcomed. I just want to skate better, and not have hassles involved with it. So I’m limiting myself to parks when NYC is known as the best place on the east coast for street skating. But because of last year’s construction park skating here is on a different level than it was previously.
In May 2010 the Pier 62 park opened, in June 2010 the Flushing Meadows Park (Maloof Park) opened, in October 2010 Astoria and Tribeca opened, and at some point a new Bronx park opened that I haven’t been to yet. In 2009 Forest Park near where I live was revamped, and the L.E.S Park was redone. There is also 12th and A that is a famous skate based non-profit that I haven’t gone to yet. This year I definitely have choices of where to skate on my days off.
Last year I was glued to the facebook updates from NY Skateboarding, and other skate sites for when these parks would open. I went to the Maloof contest in June, and was psyched to see that built in Queens. In fall I was amazed with the Astoria Park and it is by far my favorite one. I skated regularly at the nearest one, Forest Park, and got to know the locals there. In fall when I skated Tribeca I wasn’t too keen on the terrain but liked the energy that fed off the other skaters as they skated a new park. Every park opening is a big deal and considered an accomplishment for skaters. This year the Flushing Meadows Park will be torn down, and then completely redone for the Maloof pro contest in June. So it’ll be a brand new park in the same place. I think a few more parks are under construction for this year or next year too.
In 2010 because of skating consistently I improved at it, and I think this will continue in 2011. I’m also excited that these parks are now here. This weekend I can session Astoria or another park instead of waiting until summer or fall for it to open. So I can start the season with a bang and always have choices of where to go. Skaters in NYC are in general nice, and most times I go to parks I can have conversations fairly easily.
I’m going to keep this entry short and conclude that I’m glad that winter is over and I’m going get good at skating this year. No more sloppy ollies and sketchy flip tricks that bounce off of the ground. As a person it does not matter if I’m a good skater or not, but it would be nice to be good at something. Skating is the one sport so to speak that I have a chance to do well, plus I really like doing it.
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