| Issue #50, March 23, 2007 |
Which Team is Best?
Montauk, East Hampton, Southampton, Hampton Bays or Greenport?
By David Lion Rattiner
Southampton Town is building a skateboarding park in North Sea. The park is going to be approximately 14,000 square feet and have ramps, rails, benches and half pipes for the youth of Southampton to fly on their skateboards during non-beach days.
Chris Nuzzi, the Southampton Town board member that has spearheaded this project, thinks that work will begin in the coming weeks and the cost of the project is expected to be around $75,000.
This is very good news for Southampton Hospital, which will most likely be in charge of mending the various injuries that will happen from skateboarding. It is also good news for the youth of Southampton, because it will get them off of their X-boxes and into the outdoors.
Southampton is one of the last Hamptons to build a skate park. Montauk already has one off of Essex Street, which includes a drained swimming pool that skaters can ride around in.
East Hampton also has a skate park that was recently created on the Amagansett/East Hampton border. The park is located across the street from the softball field and indoor roller hockey rink. The park here has two pyramid ledges, three quarter pipes and an eight-foot half pipe that was all recently upgraded.
Greenport on the North Fork boasts the original Hamptons skate park. In fact, ten years ago, skaters from Southampton to Montauk, used to gather at Main Beach Surf Shop in Wainscott during the winter months in order to take a bus all the way to Greenport just to hit the rails at this particular park.
Hampton Bays also has a skate park located off of Old Riverhead Road in Red Creek Park. The park there is heavily used, and riders from as far as Westhampton gather there to show off their skills.
Oh, how things have changed.
So what does all of this mean? Well, it means one thing and one thing only. That the Hamptons needs to create skating leagues so that these kids can compete against each other for prize money and bragging rights. It would draw hundreds of people to the skating events and probably draw big name band acts as well.
These little skaters guys, who don signature baggy clothes, skating shoes, and caps have a powerful culture out here now. There is a big opportunity to create an organized league of road warriors.
They could even include other events too, such as trick inline skating and trick bicycling. If you have ever seen these guys do this on television, you can appreciate their skills as athletes, doing stunts that are difficult to even imagine, let alone actually perform.
Think about it. A league of skaters would be great for the kids. You could have the Montauk Maniacs, the East Hampton Boarders, the Hampton Bays Lip-hitters and the Greenport Gippers.
The kids would go nuts for this.
ESPN 2 would show up to cover the events and skate vendors could sell their goods at the park along with restaurant tables who could serve food. Prize money could come from local surf shops that would offer prizes such as new skateboard equipment or money. Maybe a big name sponsor like Quicksilver or Mountain Dew would be interested in something like this. After all, we have the skate parks all over the place now. We might as well use them to compete and see what happens.
It would be great.
 |
