Sterling Skater Is Man on a Mission
Loudoun County's Only Skate Park Is in Leesburg. Not Cool, Some Say.

By Arianne Aryanpur
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 15, 2007

With rap music thumping in the background, 18-year-old Joe Adams jumped on his skateboard and made a beeline for the highest half-pipe.

The setting was on the sterile side -- an indoor basketball court at the Sterling Community Center, outfitted with portable ramps, rails and ledges. But for the 50 or so skateboarders who showed up for the competition Saturday afternoon, it was a rare chance to enjoy their sport somewhere that was close to home and completely legal.

"You don't have to worry about being caught here. There's no limits," said Adams, a Potomac Falls High School senior.

The competition included sessions for skaters of various ages and skill levels, as well as awards for the highest and farthest ollie. But the event was also about giving voice to the needs of an underserved community.

Steve Jefferson, 18, who organized Saturday's affair, is trying to draw attention to the lack of legal skateboarding spots in Eastern Loudoun. Jefferson, a Park View High School graduate studying Web design at Northern Virginia Community College, took up the sport when he was 11 and is now a sponsored skateboarder.

He said he and many other teenagers in Eastern Loudoun often must resort to skating on curbs, on park benches and in parking lots, irritating local business owners and public safety officials. The county's only skate park is in Leesburg.

"I usually street-skate around business buildings, and I always get kicked out," said Jefferson, who lives in Sterling. "I felt like something should be done, and nobody had done anything besides in Leesburg. So I decided to step it up."

Jefferson's campaign began last year with a petition circulated at local schools and businesses. The document drew more than 1,000 signatures from adults and youths supporting the construction of a skate plaza. In recent months, he has met with Loudoun County parks and recreation officials to promote the idea.

There is precedent for what he is trying to accomplish. The construction of Catoctin Skate Park in Leesburg started with a group of Leesburg teenagers who built community support and worked with local officials.

Jefferson wants not only to bring legal skateboarding to another section of the county but also to create a different kind of facility. He said that unlike Leesburg's skate park, which has ramps and boxes specially designed for the sport, the skate plaza would consist of stairs, benches and other elements found in a typical urban environment.

Loudoun County's chief parks planner, Mark Novak, is among the officials who has met with Jefferson. Novak said he recognizes the need for legal skating spots in Eastern Loudoun and has told Jefferson he is willing to explore possible sites that are county-owned. One advantage of skate plazas is that they can be converted at night into venues for concerts and trade shows, he said.

Novak said the problem with the project, as with any such undertaking, is the cost.

"We've always had interest in skate parks and plazas, but we don't have funding," he said, noting that the county's capital improvements budget already is planned through 2014.

Another option, possibly less expensive, would be to build several smaller skate parks throughout the county, Jefferson said.

Saturday's competition in Sterling was the third indoor skating event that Jefferson has organized in the past four months. The wooden ramps and rails have been donated by the Elite Board Shop in Fairfax and, between events, are stored under a tarp outside his parents' home. He is hoping to use proceeds from the events to find a permanent storage space for the equipment.

Jefferson launched a Web site last week, Loudouncountyskateproject.com, and is in the process of creating a nonprofit organization. In the coming months, he plans to present his idea for a skate plaza at a meeting of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.

Support has been building in the local skating community through word of mouth and the Internet.

Bill Bold, a freshman at Oakton High School in Vienna, learned of Saturday's event through MySpace. Like many teenagers, he was excited about the effort to expand the number of legal skating spots in the area.

"Ever since Vans [Skate Park in Potomac Mills] closed, we don't have anywhere to skate except dumb parks," Bold said. "If he builds a place, we'll have a substitute and we won't get in trouble with police."

Debbie Adams of Sterling, who came out to watch her son Joe compete in one of the skating contests, was also enthusiastic about the idea.

Joe "has wasted a lot of gas going to and from Arlington" to skate, she said. "I'd be thrilled if they had something for the kids in Sterling."

Kara Muller of Ashburn learned about the event on the Internet and decided to watch it. Muller, 33, is a member of DC Rollergirls, an all-female roller derby league in the District. She said that young skaters are often stereotyped as troublemakers, but that those perceptions can dissolve when the community is presented with someone like Jefferson.

"People seem to think that skating is an element they don't want in their community, but they don't get to know the individuals who are doing it," Muller said. "These kids have an outlet. These aren't the kids with nothing to do after school."