Skateboarders Nationwide Restless; A Problem That Needs Attention? :: essays research papers fc

Skateboarders Nationwide Restless; A Problem That Needs Attention? Skateboarding. A sport that only requires a board and four wheels. One needs only seventy to one hundred dollars to get one. It seems pretty simple, doesn't it? Well it's not, and for one important reason. On a typical day, a skateboarder usually gets up at about 10a.m., throws their board in the trunk of their car, puts a Bad Religion tape in the tape player, picks up several other skaters and sets off to find a good spot to aggressively push their bodies to doing the unthinkable. Defying gravity, stretching the laws of physics and subjecting themselves to much physical pain and discipline all in a day's work. Everyone takes turns trying new moves and cheering each other on, a sport with no pressure to do better than anyone else, there are no winners or losers. You skate until you are exhausted, and go to bed early only to wake up and repeat the process the next morning. Skateboarders are mostly straight-edge, which means that they do not use drugs, or alcohol. This is because skateboarding, and improving requires almost constant practice. This determination in only clouded by the effects of drugs. Anyway when one performs an intricate maneuver flawlessly, the rush is greater than any pot or coke. Unfortunately, this cannot happen when a skater is denied access to their sanctuaries, there favorite spot. A good example is given by Johnston foster- "Last summer, me and some friends were skating at Phi Beta Kappa Hall, the theater at the College of William and Mary. I pulled a phat 360 kickflip down the three steps out front. The session was hot, we were all on (landing most attempted tricks) and it wasn't too hot out side. We all sat down to rest and then heard sirens in the distance. We saw a blue and white William and Mary Police officers' car pull into the parking lot. We got ready to run, but then realized it was too late. The officer made generalizations and decided that we are the skateboarders that previous complaints had been made about. Not listening to our sides of the story, the officer proceeded to write me and five others, ages ranging from 11-17 trespass warnings, stating that we are not allowed to be on the William and Mary campus for a year. The thing that sucks is that we had never been asked to leave by anyone before, no one at Phi Beta warned us and no signs were posted. How could she do that?