Skateboard Programs

About us

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 11:31:01 -0700

Skateboard Programs can help with every facet of skatepark management, but especially in the areas of creating community programs like skateboard lessons, camps, clinics, clubs, and fun skate trips for the older teens. Having managed skatepark and recreation department skateboard programs since 2000, Angus Morrison and Gregg Davis have years of experience in working with kids, teaching, and managing learning environments. We want your skatepark to thrive with events, participation, and self-management by its users. We've seen it happen in Summit County, and can make it work in your community.

Our Mission

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 11:56:08 -0700

Skateboard Programs helps develop skateboard programs at public skateparks that improve skateboard skills and help skaters become better people through skateboarding.

What can SkateboardPrograms.com do for you?

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 12:01:38 -0700

We can help you create a self-managing skateboard program for your public skatepark. We'll talk to you about skateboarders and what type of person makes a good teacher and skatepark spokesperson. Regarding hiring and training of your future coaches, we'll walk you through the process. You can create skateboard lessons for kids from ages 5 and up, after-school mentoring programs, and schedule skate trips for the older teens, utilizing local and not-so-local skateparks for weekly or monthly skateboard adventures. Using our framework, you can create any kind of skateboard program you like.

We're experts at: Hiring and Training Skateboard Coaches Skateboard Teaching and Coaching Skatepark Management (design, vandalism, multi-use issues) Organizing Contests and Events (planning, scheduling, promoting, and running) Skatepark Maintenance (repair and upkeep) Mentoring Programs and Fundraising Events

This is Gregg Davis and Angus Morrison here. We want to give back to the sport we love, and help the kids who want to skate too. Our goal is to help get as many beneficial skatepark and skateboard programs going as possible. We'll consult with you for free, on the phone or via email, to get you going in the direction you need. Below we have other resources, too. We've put together a pack of information and useful documents for you to use in planning your skateboard programs, and running them smoothly. Our Document Package is below. Skateboard Programs also offers scheduled and unscheduled skateboard coaches clinics, including training on safety, group handling, youth sports teaching concepts, and hands-on practice with teaching skateboard fundamentals. You can send your skateboard instructor to an inexpensive clinic designed to get them prepared to run safe, fun, and popular programs at your skatepark. We also offer The Concrete Fundamentals, a skateboard coaches manual, learning tool, and web-based, evolving skateboard-teaching resource. Document Package: This downloadable package of PDF files and Word documents includes all the documents and forms, job descriptions and skatepark safety guidelines that you need for your programs. They are downloadable and can be modified to work with your own documents that you currently use. The Package includes the Skateboard Coaches Job Descriptions and Hiring Guidelines, Skateboard Lesson Curriculum, Contest Organizer Package, and many other useful ones! You probably have a resource of good skateboard coaches and mentors using your park right now. We'll show you how to spot them and let them steward your skatepark and its programs through our coaches clinics and Skateboard Programs materials

Angus Morrison

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 12:17:15 -0700

Skating since 1984 in North Carolina, Angus moved to Colorado in 1996 to pursue his snowboard fantasy. He found Colorado blossoming with new concrete bowls and parks in 1997. Skating the first bowl in Durango, built in 1997 rekindled his love for skateboarding, and in 1999 the Breckenridge skatepark was remodeled with a combi-bowl. Angus began skating with the kids a lot and teaching, meeting Gregg in 1999 and hatching the idea of Skateboard Programs.

Gregg Davis

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 12:25:05 -0700

Gregg grew up skating Southeast Pennsylvania in the 80's, and moved to Breckenridge, Colorado in 1992, teaching snowboarding and becoming one of the top instructors in the American Association of Snowboard Instructors over the years. In 1999 the new Breckenridge Bowl allowed Gregg to skate every day and develop teaching and coaching ideas. Meeting Angus, the two teamed up to start the Breckenridge Skate Camp in 2000.

Skateboard Programs - Start Here

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 21:00:43 -0700

We can help you create a self-managing skateboard program for your public skatepark. We'll talk to you about skateboarders and what type of person makes a good teacher and skatepark spokesperson. Regarding hiring and training of your coaches and instructors, we'll walk you through the process. You can create skateboard lessons for kids from ages 5 and up, after-school mentoring programs, and schedule skate trips for the older teens, utilizing local and not-so-local skateparks for weekly or monthly skateboard adventures. There are many more possibilities for different skateboard programs too. Using our framework, you can create any kind of skateboard program you like. Please feel free to use our expertise via phone and email - for FREE !

Skateboard Coaches Training Clinics

Sun, 20 May 2007 21:01:21 -0700

Skateboard Programs offers scheduled and unscheduled skateboard coaches clinics, including training on safety, group handling, youth sports teaching concepts, and hands-on practice with teaching skateboard fundamentals. This training clinic is designed to get your coaches on the right track when it comes to teaching the fundamental skills in the skatepark environment safely. Covering skateboarding skills, teaching and communication, working with kids, and class handling skills, our curriculum develops good teachers. Skateboarding tricks are based around some concrete fundamentals. Starting with those, anyone can learn to skate in the park safely and progress easily every day. Outlined in our Concrete Fundamentals book, our program starts with these to branch into more complex skateboarding skills. Coming out of the clinic, your coaches will be ready to teach lessons, direct skateboard camps, and provide a safe, quality community service for your young skateboarders.
Price: $200 per coach. Length: 5 hours, 9am - 2pm Needs: skateboard, any necessary safety equipment Schedule: Call us if you can use a Training Clinic! [call or email for details]

The Concrete Fundamentals

Sun, 20 May 2007 21:06:01 -0700

The Concrete Fundamentals, our skateboard coaches training manual, comes complete with full curriculum, including progressions for learning all the fundamentals through the basics and into the intermediate tricks. This annually updated manual comes in searchable, PDF format with color photos and lessons outlined for easy use with lessons and skate coaching. On our website, new lessons for the manual, video updates and coaching tips will be available for your coaches to learn from online, anytime. This resource is available by itself for $100. Buy both and save $50! Price, The Concrete Fundamentals: $100 Format: Exclusive Web Access, printable PDF and Word Document Download Available: Coming Soon! Buy the Document Package and the Concrete Fundamentals together for $150!

Skateboard Programs Document Package

Sun, 20 May 2007 21:11:14 -0700

Contest Organizer Package The Document Package will equip you with skateboard coach hiring and job description information, as well as instructor criteria guidelines you can follow to create your own program.

Also included are program documents you can modify and use for your needs, such as skateboard program waivers, skateboard event and program ideas, contest organizer's guide and judges forms, among many others. A basic outline of our skateboard teaching curriculum will be offered, as well as web access to new information on our website, skateboardprograms.com.

Document Package: This downloadable package of PDF files and Word documents includes all the documents and forms, job descriptions and skatepark safety guidelines that you need for your programs. They are downloadable and can be modified to work with your own documents that you currently use. The package includes the Skateboard Coaches Job Descriptions and Hiring Guidelines, Skateboard Lesson Curriculum, Contest Organizer Package, and many other useful ones!

Also on our website will be updated information on skatepark maintenance, including prevention of grafitti, encouraging skatepark stewardship, multi-use issues, after-school mentoring programs and funding of skateboard programs.

These helpful documents are included in the downloadable pack. Click to check out the samples below!

1. How do skaters learn to skateboard?
2. Skateboard Programs and Skatepark Stewardship
3. Types of Skateboard Programs
4. 8 Hour Skateboard Curriculum (Sample Available)
5. Skatepark Guidelines for Skaters (Sample Available)
6. Letter to Skateboard Parents (Sample Available)
7. Skatepark Maintenance and Management Guidelines
8. Skateboard Coach Job Description - Instructor Standards (Sample Available)
9. Skateboard Programs Waiver
10. Skateboarder Contact Info sheet
11. Competition Guidelines and Judges Scoresheet

Price: $100
Format: PDF and Word Document Download (in .zip file format)

Contact Us at SkateboardPrograms.com

Mon, 21 May 2007 14:35:20 -0700

By Email: greggdavis [at] skateboardprograms.com angus [at] skateboardprograms.com By Phone: Gregg Davis 303-638-8138 Angus Morrison: 970-393-0550

Document Package Download

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 07:17:37 -0700

Thank you for your payment. Your transaction has been completed, and a receipt for your purchase has been emailed to you. You may log into your account at www.paypal.com/us to view details of this transaction. Within 24 hours you will receive a .zip file via email which contains The Document Package, plus four editable Word Documents from the Doc Pack. There will also be a receipt attached. Enjoy! As always, feel free to email or call with any questions or for advice in setting up your programs. Use the contact page, to the left. Gregg & Angus

How do we Learn to Skateboard?

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:07:29 -0700

It’s true, for the most part, skateboarders in the past have learned by doing, and watching their friends. Trial and error has been the method of learning for skateboarders since the invention of the first skateboard. But just like the sport of skateboarding evolves and finds new supporters and new skateparks, the communities and recreation departments are growing and changing their attitudes towards skateboarding also. They are striving to support the kids in the community with programs that benefit them.

Skateboard Programs

So what do kids who have a skatepark in their community want and need? An organized skateboard program needs to have two facets. One part of the program should use traditional lessons for the younger kids. From ages 5 or so, up to about 10 years old, skateboard kids thrive and learn in a structured environment with specific skills taught. The lessons can be one or two hours, and the focus is on safety first, then fun and learning. These lessons have the most similarity to other programs such as swimming or tennis. They can be skate camps that last for one day or more than one day in a row of one to three-hour hour sessions. But as skateboarders grow older than 10 and into their teens, they have a desire and a need to feel more independent. Their programs, in order to be successful, need to reflect this desire for independence. For example, a 13 year old skateboarder wants to “session” the skatepark with his friends, and if there’s to be learning involved, the skater doesn’t want to participate in a traditional lesson format. They would rather just watch and try a new trick. The person they look up to is the good skateboarder, the one who’s better than they are at skateboarding. The most successful skateboard programs for teens are ones whose focus is just skating together, and travelling to other local skateparks if they are available.

Community

One of the great things about skateboarding is how it brings members of the community together. On any given day at a well-functioning and supported skatepark, you can see all age groups, from the 5 year old supervised by a parent, to the group of teenagers having their own skate session, to the older skaters who love the sport as much or more than the teens. In public recreation areas where there are other amenities such as baseball and soccer fields, playground, picnic areas, tennis courts, and indoor swim and workout areas, the skatepark tends to get the most traffic and use. How can we foster responsibility and stewardship for the skatepark among all our public areas? What benefits the skatepark and the community around it the most is a few dedicated skateboarders who use the park and administer its programs. Every local area has at least one skateboarder who wants to share their love of skateboarding and cares very much for the park itself. These are the people who make the best skateboard coaches and skatepark stewards. Giving them responsibility for the kids and the skatepark is a very positive move that can bring more families and skatepark users together.

How the Skatepark Could Be

When you have scheduled programs with responsible coaches happening all summer and after school, your skatepark becomes a hub of community activity. Parents sit around and talk while they feel comfortable letting the younger kids use the park. At the same time, the park remains free of vandalism, and the negative influences that can gather there if it’s not used by the whole community. And, older kids tend to change their attitude toward the younger kids at the skatepark, respecting them and treating them as equals while at the skatepark. At other times, in school for instance, there tends to be divisions among age groups; skateboarding breaks those barriers and brings kids together in responsible ownership for a sport they love and the skatepark they use. The older skateboarders who have grown up in a positive environment through skateboarding make the best coaches. Even if they haven’t taught a sport before, those that understand the motivations of skateboarders and how we learn, do a great job of creating the programs that become successful and grow. The best skateboard coach is one who has a desire to see the kids improve and have fun at the skatepark. If you watch during a session at the skatepark, you’ll see that these are the skaters who treat the younger skaters as equals at the skatepark. The older skaters who talk to the kids and skate with them, even though they haven’t met before, are the ones that make good coaches. Find out more about the nature of a thriving skatepark community in the next in the series, “Skateboard Programs and Skatepark Stewardship.”

Skateboard Programs and Skatepark Stewardship

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:08:23 -0700

If your skatepark doesn’t have programs, then your community’s skateboarders have no obvious direction and leadership. Your community’s families might not come to the skatepark with the kids. You might be leaving some skaters out of your community. You could encourage the skate community, users of the skatepark, to grow and use the park and take care of it themselves. Use skateboard programs to do that.

An Individual Sport

While it’s true that skateboarding as a sport is for the individual, the group dynamics and interaction are a big part of the draw of the sport. The fundamental differences between skateboarding and other sports like baseball or soccer are the very reasons why kids and adults become passionate and lifelong skateboarders. What are the differences? The most obvious difference is the “team sport” aspect. Team sports have certain types of interaction between the participants: camaraderie between team members and competition between opposing teams. In team sports, with a common goal of winning among team members, participation encourages teamwork, leadership, and allows the individuals to learn about themselves and each other through the activity. And, it’s fun. Skateboarding is fun, too. But skateboarding is an individual sport. You can skateboard without other people, anytime or place that you want, and you don’t need any organization or planned event to do it. That fact alone is one of the biggest reasons why many kids gravitate towards skateboarding as an alternative to other team sports. Just because the sport doesn’t automatically require organized interaction, doesn’t mean that its participants don’t benefit and enjoy when events are organized around their beloved sport. On the contrary, events organized around skateboarding have historically been few and far between. Skateboarders have almost always had some form of competition going in skateboarding, but compared with baseball leagues and other sports, we haven’t wanted to be too organized.

Finding Balance

A high percentage of the skateboarders in any community are already having the best time they can when they’re skateboarding, precisely because there are no organizing factors limiting their creativity or their expression and search for fun on their skateboards. How can a community find the balance between freedom of expression for those who want to skate with no structure at all, and a community-supported youth and adult skateboard program that brings new participants to the skatepark, promotes family activity at the park, and lets all users enjoy the park when and how they would prefer? That’s a big question. There’s a happy middle-ground between two extremes that will make all skatepark users happy. It’s a community-used park with all age groups using it at the same time and getting along well. It’s a scene that brings together different participants in the sport who wouldn’t necessarily skate together or get to know each other. When the skatepark has offerings for all possible skateboard desires, from the “leave-me-alone-and-let-me-skate” to the “I’m 5 years old and I REALLY want to learn” the community and all the skatepark users begin to take ownership of their park and take care of it themselves. It happens automatically and without intervention from any town rules or efforts to control trash or vandalism. It just stays clean and undamaged. The stewardship of your skatepark by its users is a trait that can be fostered, made to grow, and nurtured. It takes a few caring people to make it happen. Finding the skateboarders in your community who want the role of skateboarding and skatepark leader is an important step in getting your programs off the ground. The Rec. Directors and Program Coordinators must find the local skateboarders who can at least consult with them if not work for them directly, to assure the success of their efforts. What types of skateboard programs can I organize and offer for my community? That’s the topic of the next in the series: “Types of Skateboard Programs.”

Types of Skateboard Programs

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:09:19 -0700

While skateboarding is unique from other sports in terms of how we learn and participate, it does have similarities in how programs can be run and organized for the community and the kids. Bringing the community’s skaters together for different events and activities can be a lot like other sports. You could have a multi-day skate camp, several one-day clinics, after-school programs, private lessons, contests and jams, fund-raising events, and weekly skateboard trips. You could develop a grant-funded mentorship programs for certain age groups in skateboarding. The ideas are endless. To get started, try one idea, and expand to others as one becomes successful. Hire local skateboarders that care about the skatepark and the kids skating and want to create their own programs.

“Ultimately the success belongs with those that want to see their parks thrive and become integral parts of our communities. One of the things I do with our local parks is to use skateboarding as the vehicle to drive charitable events. The park is used to benefit other groups, allowing people to see the skatepark as more than just a skatepark. They become a source of community service. We have run charitable events for Ronald McDonald House, Children’s Hospital, and many other youth based charities. [Also,] the community gets to see us skaters as something other than just skateboarders. They get to see us rally behind the community, and become contributing members of our communities.” --John Leizear, Skaters for Public Skateparks [dot org]

Getting Started with a Kids Skate Camp

So how do you execute some skate program ideas, and get things moving? Let’s start with something simple that benefits a lot of kids and families. Schedule some skate camps for kids, one or two hours long, for three or four days in a row. They sign up for the week, come to the skatepark early in the day each day, and skate with their coach in a small group of four to six. The group works on the fundamentals and basics early in the week, like learning to fall without injury. Developing fundamental skills translates to safely learning and getting better fast. By the end of the week, the kids are all skating around the park improving and working on different tricks. Many kids at the beginner to intermediate levels at younger ages can skate together at skate camp. Even the intermediate skaters, under age 10, can skate together with the beginners at a week-long skate camp. You should, of course, offer something for the more advanced skaters too. It’s only as they get older and begin to skate better that they need a different learning environment than the younger kids. From about the age of 11 or 12, the intermediate skaters should have their own group. You can schedule the skate camp for more advanced, or older skaters, to occur right after the younger skaters’ time slot each day. The older skaters can more easily deal with the traffic that builds as the day goes on, and they need a somewhat “looser” approach to instruction. We call it a “session” in skateboarding.

The Session

A "session" is a time when there’s a group of skaters skating together in a particular place in the park, or even on a certain feature. It could even be around the whole park. All the skaters are watching each other. One goes right after the next, building on the energy from the last person’s run. Everyone cheers each other on as the skating and energy build. One skater could be at a different level, or working on a trick that may be easier for another skater, but when the trick they were working on is done successfully, other skaters recognize that person with a comment or a “yeah.” It’s more like skating as a team than it is a competition. We all skate together and learn from each other. At skate camp, a coach can join the session as a peer with the kids, while at the same time maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment as a teacher and coach. The kids get a role model, a peer to skate with and learn from, and a supervised, positive, fun learning environment! The nature and freedom of skateboarding and how we participate in it makes the skate coach into a participant and a teacher at the same time. You can be creative about how you plan your camp. Try a camp that lasts two weeks instead of one. Or set up a skate club, like we did here in Colorado, where we take a van-load of kids to a new skatepark every week all summer. We can hit eight or ten different parks over the summer all within two hours drive. Read more about it below.

One-Day Skateboard Clinics

You could try some skateboard clinics that happen periodically, for certain age groups, or even demographics. A women’s clinic is a good example. In a day-long clinic everyone comes ready to skate for the day, for perhaps 4 to 6 hours. The skaters come for the day, bring lunch, and skate with some coaches in a day long “session.” In a clinic, you need a plan for the day. Depending on what the skaters want to do, you should plan some discussion about fundamentals, the roots of different tricks, safety in learning new tricks including bailing and falling, and suggestions for new things the skater’s may not have thought of. The coach should be able to watch the skaters and be able to make suggestions on improving on the tricks they know, and those they are learning. While skating in the session, the coach can give observations and tips to the skaters.

Skate Trips

As I mentioned above, after starting with a skate camp for kids, and growing into different age groups, waiting lists, and multiple camps, we wanted to have something for the older kids. We skated with them at the park as they grew older, and we could see that they had outgrown skate camp. They wanted to explore more spots, learn harder tricks, and skate with their friends. A few years after skate camps we started a skateboard team. It was ten kids, and they would get to skate with us (coaches) during the week locally and then travel to local contests as a group a few times over the summer. It was a great program that had many mentoring-type benefits, and we wanted to offer it to more kids. We decided to change the program after the second year from an “exclusive” skate team to an “inclusive” skate club, where any kid from 10 to 15 years old could sign up for the weekly skate trips to a different skatepark. We could offer the trips more often, affect more kids, and have more fun! Now we have a waiting list for the trips and plans to expand. On a side-note, we were able to fund the skate trips, coach’s wages, and programs through a grant we were awarded. The program is essentially free to the community. We found that a $5 fee to go on the trip was enough to ensure each trip was full, without any no-shows. At the end of the summer we have a big celebration at our own skatepark, with a party and a skate jam for everyone. It really is a great program for the skaters and the community and its families.

Private Skateboard Lessons

We’ve been offering private skateboard lessons alongside our skate camps since we started. There are always the few younger kids and enthusiastic beginners that really thrive with more individual attention. Working on the fundamentals, and building on those skills, students learn fast with their own instructor. Private Lessons are usually sold by the hour, at a rate similar to tennis or another rec. center sport. We’re at $45. Very small kids and those under age 5 should take Private Skate Lessons. With their smaller bodies and less fine-motor control, they benefit from a hands-on style of teaching, along with focus on the fundamentals. Kids as young as 3 years old can have a great time skating with a coach and can really learn to skate! Check out the 8 Hour Skateboard Curriculum. On the Documents page, there's four samples of some of the documents we use in our skateboard programs. Click to download and inspect! That’s what we use as a model for our skate camps for the kids. Starting with the fundamentals, many kids are working on the intermediate tricks in one or two weeks. Many kids take more than one skate camp over the summer. We always see them skating at the skatepark, even if they’re not in skate camp anymore. It builds a great community of young upcoming skaters that care about the skatepark and respect each other. They really do become better people through skateboarding.

Centennial June 9, 2008

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:30:20 -0700

The first video: Tom's Frontside Turns - a learning process Here's a compilation of clips from the day: