Skateboard Girls

How to Skateboard for Girls

2011-01-20T19:04:00.000-08:00

During the early years of skateboarding, when the sport was young and its presence and sphere of influence small, it was rare to see girls skateboarding. Since then, and due in large part to the influence of the Internet, popular video game franchises and the X-Games, skateboarding has become a worldwide phenomenon. Amazing women like Elissa Steamer and Lauren Perkins have shown the world that girls can skate with the best. And they've become role models for a wave of young girls who want to skateboard. There are some beginner's tips to keep in mind when first starting off.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5157425_skateboard-girls.html#ixzz1BdTm2SPV

plus 1 more, “Abduction attempts were false alarms - Norwalk Hour”

2010-04-09T23:25:00.001-07:00

plus 1 more, “Abduction attempts were false alarms - Norwalk Hour”

Abduction attempts were false alarms - Norwalk Hour

Posted: 09 Apr 2010 05:37 PM PDT

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NORWALK

By STEVE KOBAK

Hour Staff Writer

Three abduction attempts reported to police in the past three weeks were false alarms, Norwalk Police announced at a news conference Friday morning.

An 11-year-old Roton Middle School student fabricated a story on Wednesday that a man exited his vehicle and offered to drive the boy to school, according to police.

As reported by The Hour on Thursday, a man in a beat-up blue car who approached a boy and girl at their bus stop and asked the boy if he wanted to recycle his skateboard shoes. He attempted to hand the student a flier, but the student declined.

The reported kidnapping attempt that occurred on March 14 at McDonald's, 726 Connecticut Ave., was found to be perpetrated by an autistic teenager, police said.

The complainants reported that a white male, in his early 20s, with black hair reached out and touched the shoulder of a 7-year-old girl. The perpetrator in question turned out to be a 15-year-old boy who was not at risk to kidnap the girl, according to Lt. Ashley Gonzalez.

"The investigation determined that there was no malice and this is part of his normal routine," he said.

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Police ease fears of parents - Norwalk Hour

Posted: 09 Apr 2010 09:48 PM PDT

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NORWALK

By STEVE KOBAK

Hour Staff Writer

Three separate reports of attempted abductions reported in the past three weeks triggered a wave of fear among parents but police calmed those fears at a news conference Friday, revealing that no malicious intent was involved in any of the incidents.

Chief Harry Rilling, Deputy Chief Thomas Kulhawik and Mayor Richard Moccia reported that investigations into two of the incidents determined that the suspect was not trying to lure children into a vehicle. The third incident was fabricated, according to police.

"We're very happy that we don't have these predators out there trying to harm our young people," Rilling said.

Moccia, Rilling and Kulhawik praised Lt. Ashley Gonzalez and Detective Laura Blakely -- both of whom are officers in the Youth Bureau -- for their vigilant investigative work in resolving the cases.

"We don't take these cases lightly," Moccia said.

The string of alleged abduction attempts began March 15 when a white male grabbed the shoulder of a 7-year-old girl inside of McDonald's, 786 Connecticut Ave. The man ran away when verbally confronted by the girl's parents.

Lt. Ashley Gonzalez said the perpetrator in this incident was a 15-year-old autistic boy who was not trying to abduct the girl. Gonzalez said the action was part of the boy's "normal routine" and the boy is under supervision from caretakers.

A man in a beat-up blue car who approached two Roton Middle School students -- a boy and girl -- at their bus stop and asked the boy about his shoes triggered panic in the city on Tuesday. The man attempted to hand the student a flier, but the student declined.

As reported by The Hour on Thursday, the mysterious man was just a local entrepreneur who recycles skateboard shoes. Police found a flier posted to a city telephone pole with information about recycling shoes, including a contact number.

Gonzalez said police contacted the man and they believe that he did not intend to lure children into his vehicle. The man was cautioned about his methods of promoting his sneaker recycling business, according to police.

On Wednesday, a 11-year-old Roton Middle School student told school staff that a man in a white work van with no side windows accosted him while he was waiting for the bus at the intersection of Scribner Avenue and Spicewood Road, police said. The boy told police that the man exited the vehicle and asked him to get into the van for a ride to school. The student told police that he ran away, hid in bushes and later boarded the school bus.

This story was found to be a fabrication, Gonzalez said.

Moccia said that the city would "rather err on the side of safety" than discourage people from reporting suspicious occurrence. He cautioned the public against overreacting but noted: "When we do get a call, the police department reacts."

Staff writer Danielle Capalbo contributed to this story.

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plus 1 more, “Crash for MTV's Milly Gattegno - Gold Coast Bulletin News”

2010-04-08T23:12:00.001-07:00

plus 1 more, “Crash for MTV's Milly Gattegno - Gold Coast Bulletin News”

Crash for MTV's Milly Gattegno - Gold Coast Bulletin News

Posted: 08 Apr 2010 07:40 PM PDT

FORMER Gold Coast girl Milly Gattegno is taking a break -- on crutches.

The MTV PR princess and one half of The Faders DJ duo broke her leg severely after she 'bombed a hill' on her skateboard.

A Facebook post yesterday, titled 'is this actually happening', revealed gruesome photos of Gattegno's Frankenstein-like scar and her on crutches with a thigh-high leg brace.

She wrote: "16 pins, 2 metal plates, a fractured bone, a broken bone, a splintered bone into leg and ligaments bouncing everywhere.

"I can't believe I actually broke my leg at 26 and what's funnier, I broke the same leg when I was six on the first day of Grade 1.

"I've come so far in my life."

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Mesa skateboard school's 3 Rs include 'ripping' - YourWestValley.com

Posted: 04 Apr 2010 01:18 PM PDT

Geoff Eaton started the skateboarding program at his family-owned Desert Devils Gymnastics facility in Mesa for his two sons and skateboarding aficionados, Jett, 11, and Jagger, 9. Both boys have been featured on the Disney Channel and have three skateboarding company sponsors.

Wooden vertical ramps, bowls and various other street-style skating obstacles were built among the trampolines, parallel bars and mats at the 51,000-square-foot facility. One room of the center is basically an indoor skateboard park with pyramids, rails, ledges, stairs, ramps and flat ground for skaters of all ages to learn how to skate.

Eaton wanted to start an after-school skating program as a safe, positive, drug-free place for kids to skate without the cursing and fighting found at most public, outdoor skateboard parks. The idea turned into an actual daylong skateboard school called Kids That Rip, with math and science taught alongside ollies, McTwists and kickflips.

Within a month of putting in ramps initially for Jett and Jagger at the gymnastics center, parents began asking if this was a new program their kids could enroll in.

The idea grew in popularity as the center added an eight-foot tall wooden bowl in one corner of the facility, and a 13 1/2 foot vertical ramp in another corner.

Both are built by the same company that builds ramps for the X Games, Eaton said.

Eaton hired a certified teacher and local skateboarders who were good with kids, to start teaching, and the school took off on the concrete wave.

Jett and Jagger were moved from Fountain Hills Charter School to start as the first two students in Kids That Rip two years ago.

This school year, the two Eaton boys are joined by Augie Lerma, 10, Aaron Goure, 14, and the lone skater girl, Alana Smith, 9.

The children are in school from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. upstairs at the Mesa center, and then from 2:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. the skaters learn the proper progressions and repetitions to be the best skateboarder they can be.

"There's nothing like it in the whole world," said Eaton, of Fountain Hills, a former gymnast who also skates, snowboards and wakeboards.

"We decided to develop top-notch training programs to be one of the best."

Next year, Eaton expects to hire another teacher and will expand to 15 kids in third to ninth grade. Skaters have to apply and be chosen for the selective program, which costs $1,000 a month, Eaton said.

"It's fun, and it makes me happy," said Jagger, whose goal is to be a professional skateboarder. "Before, I only got in two hours of skating (a day). Now, I skate (an average) of six hours a day."

Jeff Jewett of Mesa, who's been skating since he was 13, coaches the young skaters in the various forms of skating, including vert, bowl, mega ramp and mini ramp.

"It's awesome," said Jewett, 39, the school's skateboarding director. "Skateboarding has changed a lot. When I was a kid, it wasn't looked at as a real sport."

As skateboarding becomes more mainstream, with the popularity of the X Games, video games and Tony Hawk, more parents are seeing skateboarding as a potential career for their children.

Skaters can get lucrative sponsors, travel the world competing, and could even try to become an Olympic medalist, as skateboarding is rumored to becomes an Olympic sport like snowboarding.

For skaters like Alana, it's a dream come true. She saw skateboarding on TV and begged her parents for a board two years ago. Like most kids, she started skating on the street, until she heard about the Mesa skateboard facility. She begged her parents to enroll her.

"I love getting to skate with my friends," said Alana, who also enjoys snowboarding and wakeboarding.

"It's really fun, and I get to skate more."

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plus 1 more, “Principal alerts parents Strangers lurking at bus stops - Norwalk Hour”

2010-04-07T23:20:00.001-07:00

plus 1 more, “Principal alerts parents Strangers lurking at bus stops - Norwalk Hour”

Principal alerts parents Strangers lurking at bus stops - Norwalk Hour

Posted: 07 Apr 2010 03:52 PM PDT

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NORWALK

By DANIELLE CAPALBO

Hour Staff Writer

Three Roton Middle School students were approached at their bus stops on separate occasions this week by men in vehicles, one of whom tried to lure a student into his van, according to a letter sent to parents Wednesday by Principal Joseph M. Vellucci.

The first incident took place Tuesday morning while a boy and a girl waited for their bus at Rowayton Avenue and Evergreen Terrace. A man in a beat-up blue car approached the pair and asked the boy if he wanted to recycle his skateboard shoes. He attempted to hand the student a flyer, but the student declined.

The student described the man as having "brown hair and scary red, swollen eyes," the letter stated.

"Quite frankly, it's likely benign," said Norwalk Police Lt. Paul L. Resnick, "though you never really know without a full investigation."

That driver did not make any other overtures to the students, Resnick said. He said police found a flyer posted to a city telephone pole with information about recycling shoes, including a contact number. The Youth Bureau will use that information in its continued investigation.

Wednesday morning, a third student was approached while walking to catch the bus at Scribner Avenue and Spicewood Road at 7:40 a.m., Resnick stated in a news release. A man exited a white van and asked the student to get into the van for a ride to school, but the student ran away, hid in bushes and later boarded the school bus, notifying school staff upon arrival at Roton Middle School.

The vehicle was described as a white work van with no windows on the rear doors. The driver was described as a white male in his 20s, tall and slim, wearing all black clothing and sporting a Mohawk haircut. He also had numerous piercings including his nose, eyebrow, tongue, lip, chin and the entire length of an ear, according to Resnick.

Patrol officers responded and checked the area for the van. A radio broadcast was also issued. Extra patrols have been assigned to ensure student safety as they travel to and from school. Youth Bureau Detectives are continuing the investigation, Resnick said.

According to Vellucci's letter, the school will provide additional surveillance in light of this week's events. Vellucci urged parents, guardians, students and staff to contact the police with any information.

"The problem is, there's a lot of nutcases out there, and there's nothing you can do about that," said Roton PTC President Lisa Thomson, who received an e-mail about the encounters around 1:30 p.m. "Communication nowadays is a lot quicker and more comprehensive, and kids are smart. You're not going to eradicate weirdos."

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Skate Haven Brings Community Together - Myfoxmemphis.com

Posted: 07 Apr 2010 06:51 PM PDT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Children from inner city communities all over Memphis are coming together in an Uptown rec center to hit a skateboarding half pipe, and it's only been open for less than six weeks.

Kids from all over Memphis have already made it one of the most popular after school attractions in the city. The little skaters are already so skilled, it's hard to believe none of them had been on a skateboard before March when the half pipe opened.

Martezhun Reddick, at only six years old, is the youngest of the 75 kids who skate here every day.

"I like to be skateboarding," says Martezhun.

Martezhun joins kids from all over Memphis: from North Memphis to Orange Mound to Collierville to Germantown. They're kids who may not ordinarily meet, but are now friends. Diversity is a goal of Memphis Athletic Ministries, who runs this program.

"A lot of kids in urban communities are territorial, so to have kids be able to play in a safe haven, to build relationships to be able to do it in a skate community, only helps us to better the community," says Kelvin Bowen, Executive Vice President of Memphis Athletic Ministries.

Mark Jannetta is the counselor who works with the kids day to day. He's taught them the basics and now some kids are learning tricks. In making the half pipe such a popular after school activity he says these kids are breaking skater stereotypes.

"It doesn't matter whether a kid is black or white or yellow or green or blue or anything else," says Jannetta. "A kid is a kid and if it's fun, they're going to do it."

Jannetta says the half pipe is a way to get to the kids. After they play, they are mentored. And he says its working; the kids are growing as more than just athletes. They're learning perseverance. Falling down teaches the kids to get back up. Skating is building their confidence.

"I know how to do lots of things," says 10-year old skater Cedric Sesley. "Like jumping, do a fake, and lots of stuff."

"It's great, you meet new people and do new things," says 10-year old skater John Colbert.

About one third of the skaters are girls.

"People think it's a boy sport but it's not," says Bobbie Graves. "It could be a girl or boy sport. Girls can do anything boys can do."

For some of the kids, the introduction to the half pipe could be a life long activity. Martezhun says he wants to be a pro skater when he grows up.

"It's just the best thing," says Martezhun.

The half pipe is possible because of grants and donations. And now, there's a movement to try and get a new quarter of a million dollar skate park in Binghampton, but the project needs votes to win a grant from Pepsi.

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The “Circle F Dude Ranch Camp Adds a New Skateboard Park in ... - PR-USA.net”

2010-04-06T23:07:00.001-07:00

The “Circle F Dude Ranch Camp Adds a New Skateboard Park in ... - PR-USA.net”

Circle F Dude Ranch Camp Adds a New Skateboard Park in ... - PR-USA.net

Posted: 31 Mar 2010 12:18 PM PDT

Circle F is proud to announce that Florida's Premier Summer Camp has recently completed construction of an advanced skate park just in time for summer camp. This new state-of-the-art skate park has been designed to accommodate beginners and also to challenge experienced and advanced skateboarders. Circle F staff will teach all ranges of skateboarding techniques including important and proper safety tips. Campers are encouraged to bring their own skateboards from home but the camp has equipment available for beginners.

Circle F Dude Ranch Camp balances some of today's most popular activities like paintball, zip lining, rock wall climbing , blobbing and a banana boat, with great outdoors fun such as a selection of wilderness programs, kayaking on the lake, sailing, canoeing, fishing, swimming, hay rides, camp fires and more. Circle F Dude Ranch Camp offers a host of sports activities, including tennis, archery, soccer and the summit slide.

Campers can also learn to horseback ride at the extensive stables the ranch offers with over 65 horses available to meet every equestrian level from beginners to experienced riders. Both Western and English Riding are available.

This 500-acre ranch is located in Lake Wales, Florida and was established in 1952. Summer Camp features a co-ed program with a girl's camp section and a boy's camp section. The ranch also features a 42-acre spring-fed lake which is one of the most popular spots for campers. Safety is always emphasized and life jackets are mandatory.

Summer sessions begin June 13 - August 17, 2010. Cabins are assigned to campers according to their ages and grade levels. The cabins sleep ten campers and two counselors per cabin. Well-balanced meals are served family style at the lodge overlooking the lake with beautiful sunsets. The Camp serves only trans fat-free meals and the daily salad bar is extremely popular.

For more information please visit CircleFDudeRanchCamp.com.

Source: Circle F Dude Ranch Camp

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plus 1 more, “Beaver Dam Police Beat - Portage Daily Register”

2010-04-05T23:26:00.001-07:00

plus 1 more, “Beaver Dam Police Beat - Portage Daily Register”

Beaver Dam Police Beat - Portage Daily Register

Posted: 01 Apr 2010 07:05 PM PDT

Posted: Thursday, April 1, 2010 9:06 pm

Theft - A man reported that on Tuesday at 9:40 a.m. that a skateboard was stolen from a residence in the 200 block of West Third Street and there was graffiti on the sidewalk.

Theft - A girl reported on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. that $118, two purses and some clothes were taken from a vehicle that was parked in the 100 block of West Water Street.

Disorderly conduct - A woman contacted police on Tuesday at 4 p.m. and reported that her 10-year-old daughter and another 10-year-old boy had been beaten with a stick after school in the 300 block of Brook Street. Two 10-year-old boys are suspected in the incident. The case is still under investigation.

Disorderly conduct - Police received an anonymous report on Tuesday at 4:15 p.m. of three boys, around the age of 10, who were using obscenities while they were in the 600 block of Grove Street. The caller was concerned about other children hearing them. No one was at the playground when officers arrived.

Harassment - An 18-year-old girl reported on Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. that she had been harassed by a man in a beat up car while she was in the 600 block of North Spring Street. The woman said that the man almost hit her vehicle head-on.

Vandalism - A man reported on Tuesday at 9 p.m. that his car was damaged with keys after a woman threatened to vandalize his vehicle while it was parked in the 100 block of Frances Lane.

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Mesa skateboard school’s 3 Rs include ’ripping’ - Boston Herald

Posted: 01 Apr 2010 09:43 PM PDT

MESA, Ariz. — Reading, writing and ripping: These three subjects are part of the everyday curriculum for five East Valley children as they learn in a unique Mesa private school where skateboarding training is given as much time as typical school subjects. (Ripping is a term for someone who is skating really well.)