Board Certified By James R. Riordon Special to The Washington Post Friday, November 10, 2000

Aaron Llanso goes off a ramp at a skate park. (Photo by James A. Parcell for The Post) Click here to see a list of area skate parks.

Over the next few weeks we progressed from practicing on the grass to tooling around in parking lots to cruising down neighborhood hills. When at last he'd mastered a few of the fundamentals – turning, stopping and the crucial art of tumbling rather than belly-flopping when he fell – I knew it was time to take Patrick on the traditional crusade familiar to all skaters since the sport was invented: the quest for skate spots.

In my youth, during the late '70s and early '80s, my skater buddies and I spent much of our time haunting drainage ditches, searching for empty swimming pools with sympathetic or absentee owners and scouting for private ramps tucked away in a few back yards in the Washington suburbs. On occasion, we visited one of the handful of commercial skateboard parks scattered across the East Coast. In 1983, the year I left for college and gave up all but the most casual skating, it was clear that our sport was on the decline. It was the eve of a dark period when skateboard parks and shops were closing down and watch groups seemed perpetually more intolerant of skaters prowling their neighborhoods for smooth concrete.

Shortly after we began our recent search, Patrick and I discovered that skateboarding has since experienced something of a renaissance. Although one of my favorite local parks from the old days, as best I can tell, has been plowed under and turned into a parking lot in Crofton, skate parks have become suburban commodities. With the notable exception of D.C. proper, which boasts numerous restrictions hostile to skaters, more than a dozen communities within the Baltimore-Washington metro area now sport skating facilities. Of those, about half are free to the public. They range in sophistication from the smattering of ramps at the public park in Bowie to the expansive but sterile concrete and plywood Disneyland-of-skating at the Vans skate park in Virginia's Potomac Mills Mall.

Each park has a unique flavor. Lansdowne's free park on the outskirts of Baltimore features winding snake runs – contoured paths with smoothly banked walls – which are ideal for the fluid skating styles favored by the landlocked surfers who pioneered skateboarding decades ago. Bethlehem Baptist Church in Fairfax, on the other hand, hosts indoor Sunday-night sessions that cater to the newest skating generation; street skaters who prefer technically complex moves developed to take advantage of urban structures such as stair rails and park benches. Most local parks include a combination of classic plywood ramps as well as rails and elevated platforms known as fun boxes.

Modern skate parks are populated by three distinct cultures: old-school skateboarders, who generally range in age from their late 20s to their 40s and ride wide boards on big ramps; new-school skaters, who are typically under 20 years old and prefer small, Popsicle stick-shaped skateboards ideal for street skating and small ramps; and in-line skaters.

While old schoolers and new schoolers usually have a mutual respect for each other's style, there is often an air of mild tension between skateboarders in general and in-line skaters. In the minds of many older skateboarders, in-line skates conjure images of a number of ill-conceived, '70s-era methods to bind boards to skaters' feet. (Fortunately, gimmicky rubber hooks and the hazardous, barefoot, gorilla grip technique that involved grasping the board with the toes were short-lived innovations.) The popularity of in-line skates has, no doubt, fueled the resurgence of skate parks by adding a new and growing population to park crowds, to the benefit of all skaters regardless of their ilk. Still, by skateboarders' standards, in-line skates are as inelegant a solution to staying in contact with their wheels as Velcro on a board. Other than the occasional culture clash, however, old schoolers, new schoolers and in-line skaters peacefully coexist in their respective cliques at skate parks.

It was, nevertheless, to my boundless delight that Patrick opted to skateboard rather than take up the in-line skates that were a well-intended though misguided gift from his mother. Here was my chance to introduce him to the joy of a rattling ride along the tile at the top of an empty swimming pool or the thrill of sailing off a ramp in a graceful aerial. "Would you like me to teach you how to do a hand plant?" I asked while attempting to contain my enthusiasm for inducting him to the old-school camp during a recent outing to a skate park in Columbia. "Um, sure," answered Patrick, eyeing the nearby street portion of the park, "but first I want to try a pop shove-it off the box." The nearly unintelligible, new-school jargon in his reply rang in my ears as Patrick skated away. Oh well – new school, old school – at least he's skateboarding.

SKATEBOARD PARKS

Operating hours vary throughout the year at most outdoor skate parks. Some parks have time set aside specifically for bicycles. Whenever possible, call ahead for the latest schedules and pricing information.

Maryland

BOWIE SKATEPARK – Gallant Fox Drive near the intersection of Routes 197 and 450, Bowie. 301/262-6200, Ext. 3076. Free.

CHARM CITY SKATEBOARD SHOP – 3908 Eastern Ave., Baltimore. 410/342-0708. $1.

COLUMBIA SPORTSPARK – 5677 Harpers Farm Rd., Columbia. 410/715-3054. $2 to $4.

ELKTON SKATEPARK – Barksdale Park, Bel Air Avenue, Elkton. 410/398-8144 (ask for Clyde Van Dyke). Free.

GAITHERSBURG SKATE PARK – 506 S. Frederick Ave., Gaithersburg. 301/258-6350. $3 to $6.

LANSDOWNE SKATEPARK – Lansdowne. Take 695 to the Hollins Ferry Road exit to Lansdowne. Turn right on Bero Road. After first left (Freeway Road) look for a paved path on the left. Park and follow the path to the park. Open during daylight hours year-round. No contact information. Free.

MOUNT AIRY MUNICIPAL SKATEPARK – Watkins Park, Mount Airy. 301/829-8373. $2.

SKATERS' CORNER PROJECT – Todd Field Park, 100 Seneca Ave., Havre de Grace. Information from the city of Havre de Grace at 410/939-1800.

SPICY SKATEPARK – 5811 Allender Rd., White Marsh. 410/335-4347. $6 to $8, plus a one-time initiation fee of $10.

Virginia

CATOCTIN SKATEPARK – Catoctin Circle, Leesburg. 703/777-1368. Web site: http://parksandrec.leesburgva.org/ skateparks.cfm. $4 to $6.

CURTIS MEMORIAL SKATE PARK – 56 Jesse Curtis Lane, Fredericksburg. 540/752-5660. Free.

SCOTT D. EAGLES MEMORIAL SKATEPARK – Veterans Memorial Regional Park, 14300 Featherstone Rd., Woodbridge. 703/792-7275. $1.50 to $3.50.

SKATE NIGHT – Bethlehem Baptist Church, 4601 West Ox Rd., Fairfax. 703/631-1112, Josh Hackworth. Sunday nights only, 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Free.

VANS SKATEPARK – 2700 Potomac Mills Circle, No. 149, Potomac Mills Mall, Woodbridge. 703/492-6303. $14. On Nov. 18 is Vintage Board Day. Bring a skateboard from the '60s, '70s or '80s and skate for only $5. (Don't worry, you only have to show them the vintage skateboard, you can ride your new board.)

Web sites

A source of well-illustrated skateboard maneuvers for both old- and new-school skaters: www.bobstricktips.com.

This site features one of the most extensive, worldwide lists of skate parks, as well as trick tips, links to equipment vendors and other useful information: www.skateboard.com.

Are you working to get a skate park built in your community? Skatepark.org has all the information you need, from ramp plans to legal letters to suggestions for charming your city council: www.skatepark.org.

Other Maryland Parks
Other Virginia parks