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Grind This!08-01-03 | News



Grind This!

Rio Rancho Brings the Street Riding
Experience to their Skatepark

By Lynn Pinoniemi








hris Mandich learned to skateboard on the streets of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, not by listening to a coach or PE instructor describe the proper techniques, but by teaching himself ?EUR??,,????'??+ trying over and over and over to master the sport one trick at a time. Having accomplished a trick, he?EUR??,,????'???d move on to the next, continually challenging himself to improve and constantly striving to get better. No clock, no referees with whistles, no wigged out parents worrying about playing time?EUR??,,????'??+just Chris, his board and a few friends putting in hour after hour just to nail a simple kick flip, Ollie or 180.

In most sports that level of desire and commitment by a teenager would receive accolades from the community. But skateboarding often produces a different response, and so it was with Chris Mandich.

?EUR??,,????'??Most of the time I would practice skateboarding on the streets near my house,?EUR??,,????'?? says Mandich, a high school sophomore. ?EUR??,,????'??I built a grind box and I would drag it out there and practice either by myself or with a few friends.?EUR??,,????'??

?EUR??,,????'??Other times we?EUR??,,????'???d head over to the gazebo to practice on the stairs, or find a retailer?EUR??,,????'???s loading dock that had stairs and railings. We?EUR??,,????'???d ride there until the retailer asked us to leave or a cop came by and told us to move on. If you got enough warnings from the police, eventually you?EUR??,,????'???d get a ticket.

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This Skatewave skatepark in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, gives kids the urban riding experience in a safe, controlled environment. The re-created ?EUR??,,????'??urban obstacles?EUR??,,????'?? gives them a place to go to innovate and explore new tricks, without violating real, functioning urban structures.












?EUR??,,????'??We knew that we weren?EUR??,,????'???t supposed to be there, but we had nowhere else to go,?EUR??,,????'?? says Mandich. ?EUR??,,????'??Everyone?EUR??,,????'???s happier now, including the retailers.?EUR??,,????'??

Everyone is happier because Rio Rancho now has skateparks ?EUR??,,????'??+ two of them.

?EUR??,,????'??I haven?EUR??,,????'???t seen anyone at the loading docks since the big Skatewave skatepark opened last November at the Sports Complex,?EUR??,,????'?? says Mandich. ?EUR??,,????'??The place is always busy and even for street riders like myself, there?EUR??,,????'???s plenty to do.?EUR??,,????'??

According to PJ Perry, project manager for the parks and recreation department of Rio Rancho, designing a skatepark for all types of riders was a must for his department.

?EUR??,,????'??We knew that we had a problem several years ago,?EUR??,,????'?? says Perry. ?EUR??,,????'??We had lots of kids interested in skateboarding, but they were spending most of their time practicing anywhere there was smooth concrete and a ramp or benches. We knew that traditional skatepark obstacles such as quarter pipes and launch boxes were not going to be enough to satisfy everyone. Some of these kids grew up sailing down stairs and grinding on railings, and we had to give them a skatepark experience that mirrored their street skating interests if we were going to succeed.?EUR??,,????'??

?EUR??,,????'??Most of the time I would practice on the streets near my house.?EUR??,,????'???EUR??,,????'??+Chris Mandich

Perry addressed the issue by inviting the riders to help design the new skateparks. ?EUR??,,????'??We selected several kids who were really into street skating and a few others who had skated on other skateparks in Albuquerque and formed an advisory committee of sorts. They looked over some of our initial plans and told us the types of obstacles they liked,?EUR??,,????'?? says Perry. They even suggested ways to arrange the obstacles to create a good flow. Chris Mandich was one of eight or 10 kids who played a big role in helping us create a fun riding experience for everyone.?EUR??,,????'??

One group of products that caught Chris?EUR??,,????'??? eye was the Urban Series equipment from Skatewave, a division of Landscape Structures. The Urban Series equipment was modeled after items found on city streets and parks: picnic tables, benches, stairs and rails, highway barriers and even a fire hydrant. According to Bill Dietrick, general manager of Skatewave, the development of the Urban Series obstacles was a simple case of giving riders what they want.

?EUR??,,????'??Riders are learning new tricks and perfecting their technique on the street, turning tables, benches and stairs into skating obstacles. They are going to continue to do so if you don?EUR??,,????'???t give them an alternative,?EUR??,,????'?? says Dietrick. ?EUR??,,????'??The Urban Series is all about giving kids the street riding experience in safe, controlled environment. It lets them innovate and explore new tricks, and gets them off the streets and into a more socially acceptable environment ?EUR??,,????'??+ the skatepark.?EUR??,,????'??

According to Chris Mandich, the Urban Series obstacles have been a big hit.

?EUR??,,????'??Because I like street skating, I pretty much stick to stuff you can find on the streets like the Skate Table, the Highway Barrier and grind boxes with the square edges,?EUR??,,????'?? says Mandich. ?EUR??,,????'??We use a kicker to make it easier to get on top of the skate table, and sometimes we even lay the highway barrier down and put a grind box up to it. We like to find new ways to use this stuff.?EUR??,,????'??






Professional skateboarder Andy MacDonald tries out one of the skatepark obstacles. An advisory panel of kids told Skatewave the kind of obstacles they wanted. Park benches are favorites of skateboarders, but this weights 500 pounds, has a tubular steel frame, and 11-gauge steel support plates. Polyethylene ?EUR??,,????'??boards?EUR??,,????'?? are attached to the steel plates for ?EUR??,,????'??grinding.?EUR??,,????'??







On any given Saturday you will find a couple hundred kids at the Skatewave skatepark in Rio Rancho. You?EUR??,,????'???ll see 8-year-old kids and 35-year-old dads, and a good mix of both boys and girls. Some kids will stick to the quarter-pipes and launch boxes, which are good for building speed and catching air. Others will be performing tricks on the top of the skatetable, or grinding on the edges of its benches.

The table is built to take punishment that would trash a standard picnic table. To begin with it weighs more than 500 pounds and is constructed with a tubular steel frame topped with 11-gauge steel support plates. Attached to the steel plates are polyethylene ?EUR??,,????'??boards?EUR??,,????'?? that make for excellent grinding. These two-inch-thick grinding boards are also interchangeable, allowing park managers to rotate fresh edges into outside positions as others become worn.

Skatewave Stairs, in two- and three-sets, are also proving to be very popular among skateparks looking for a street experience. The stairs are built with heavy-gauge steel and come with or without railings.

According to Bill Dietrick, Skatewave?EUR??,,????'???s Urban Series line will continue to grow as community skateparks evolve. ?EUR??,,????'??Our job is to give the riders a diverse and exciting riding experience. We will continue to develop new street obstacles with input from our pro and amateur athletes as we expand our Urban Series line over the next year. We invite park directors and riders to let us know what they would like to see by contacting us through our website at www.skatewave.com,?EUR??,,????'?? says Dietrick.

PJ Perry knows that you can?EUR??,,????'???t take the street out of skateboarding because the sport was born on the streets. Rather, give riders a challenging street experience in a great community skatepark, then sit back and let them go with the flow.


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