Zach Perry, a skateboarder of some local distinction, gave a mostly positive review to the newly opened Waterford Skate Park.
“It’s a good park,” said the 15-year-old, clad in a T-shirt heralding the ’80s punk band The Misfits. “It’s a little small, but that makes it easier to skate.”
The Waterford Skate Park officially opened its ramps and rails to the public last week, capping a process that took nearly 10 years to complete.
“It had to go through plenty of approvals, and there were a lot of concerns,” said First Selectman Dan Steward, who was on-hand to witness the opening.
Steward said the park, located behind the Waterford Youth Services Bureau in what was originally to be an overflow parking lot, was funded by a combination of public money and donations.
WYSB coordinated the planning and construction of the $29,382 skate park, with design ideas from local skaters such as Perry.
The town hired Jeff Paprocki, a Mystic native who has either designed or collaborated on skate parks in Westerly, Groton, and Norwich, as well as on Martha’s Vineyard.
“It’s a basic, small skate park,” he said.
The park, in its present configuration, features two quarter-pipe ramps, a ziggurat-looking ramp with both metal and concrete rails for grinding, and a Hubba Ledge—a concrete slope.
Paprocki said the apparatuses in skate parks are meant to mimic objects traditionally used by skateboarders, such as stair railings, usually to the consternation of property owners.
Also, the quarter pipe is an outgrowth of Southern California skateboarding origins, when skaters would use empty in-ground swimming pools as venues.
Skate parks were first built to try to prevent skaters from using public buildings and private property as places to perform tricks. But, according to an article written by skateboarding virtuoso Tony Hawk in skatepark.org, early public skate parks were often ill-conceived by city planners.
“I’ve watched some cities pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into skate park projects, only to be misled by inexperienced ‘low-bid’ contractors,” he wrote. “In short: a city designs a park to fulfill the demand of local skaters, then hires a company to build it; that company has no experience with skate parks, employs no skaters who understand the nuances of skate park features, and yet completes the project on time, under budget, and with self-congratulatory press.”
Many of the early skate parks, due to the lack of insight from skaters, became unpopular.
The modern skate park, with smooth concrete, rather than plywood ramps, became the norm in the early 1990s.
Mike Gallie, 16, said the town had previously set up a wooden ramp in the WYSB parking lot.
“It wasn’t very good,” he noted. “It had holes in it.”
Fortunately, Paprocki, 32, has been a skateboarder since his teens, and focused on the skate-ability of the park, noting his design centered on being, to use some jargon, “transition oriented,” meaning an emphasis on ramp skating.
“It’s small, but it’s unique,” he said. “It’s sort of like golf, you don’t want to play the same course over and over again.”
Paprocki said that many area skateboarders travel to each of the local skate parks.
According to Sue Radway, the director of WYSB, there was a local demand for a skate park.
“There are a lot of middle school [students] and teenagers who were skating in the street and in the sidewalks,” she said.
Radway said the site is readily accessible by the public and in a good spot safety-wise.
“It’s next to the police station and youth services,” she said. “That way, if anyone needs help it’s not far away.”
Radway hopes to involve some of the town’s older skaters to teach clinics on skateboard techniques and safety.
Also, Steward said the town is hoping skaters develop a sense of investment and pride in the park.
“They need to keep it clean and follow the rules,” he said. “Otherwise we’re shutting the gate.”
Radway said the park is a work in progress, and given the small space, she hopes there will be room to expand, albeit with private money.
“We are looking for between $20,000 and $30,000 in donations,” she said. “We’ll be talking about different ways to fund-raise in the coming months.”
Skateboarding Quick Facts
A 2002 report by American Sports Data reported that there are 18.5 million skateboarders in the world.
The International Olympic Committee is considering adding skateboarding as a sport for the 2012 Summer Games in London.
Male and female skateboarders competed in three different events in ESPN’s X Games 14 in Los Angeles in July.
Skateboarding’s signature trick, the “ollie,” was invented by Alan Gelfand in 1976. In 2001, Gelfand opened up a skateboard park in Hollywood, Fla., called Olliewood.