Pro skateboarder’s appearance gives sport local fuel

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Ollies were all over, nosegrinding was a good thing and every so often a kid got hurt.

Welcome to another day at the Chesley Skateboarding Park.

Except it wasn’t just another day at the skate park. Saturday was special. How special? Fuel TV special. The network — an affiliate of FOX Television that specializes in extreme sports — brought a legitimate skateboarding pro to town, Clint Peterson, and put together a skateboarding competition that drew kids from all over. Peterson judged all the Ollies, 360s, McTwistys and other tricks of the trade.

There were about 30-40 kids who showed up for the event, who went through their paces with a steady stream of high-volume rock ’n’ roll playing in the background.

One hard-to-miss skater was Dakota White of Wisconsin, who with his dazzling moves and butt-length hair looked like a Tazmanian devil on wheels. White launched himself so high at one point that his back nearly hit the skate park ceiling. By the end of his scored runs, he’d tried tricks that prompted plenty of “oh!”s and “woa!”s from the youthful onlookers.

There were skaters of all levels. All were met with applause and support from a group that feels it doesn’t get taken quite as seriously as the football team.

“It’s disappointing that they took it off ESPN,” White lamented.

Kabe Foster of North Mankato competed with 12-year-olds. He said that, while he plays other sports (his football team pummeled its opponent Saturday morning, he says), his first love is skateboarding.

“Everybody that can skateboard should try it,” he said.

Foster said his parents got him started with skateboarding at a very young age. He said his dad taught him the basics, and he’s been coming to the Chesley Skateboarding Park regularly for several years.

That’s how it works for a lot of kids, said Colin Ruff, head guy in charge at the skate park. A skater himself, Ruff said Saturday’s event was good to get the word out about skateboarding and to let people know, in the words of that old bumper sticker, skateboarding is not a crime, and neither are most of its practitioners.

“We’re not all bad guys,” he joked. ”I just hope this helps us build more of a sense of community here.”

Jean Edhlund, account executive in affiliate sales and marketing for FOX Sports, said the event went down just as planned.

Looking around at the kids laughing and demonstrating tricks inside and outside the building, she said the outcome was what event planners had hoped for.

“This is great,” she said. “The kids are loving it and having a good time.”

Bringing in a pro such as Peterson didn’t hurt, either. Between runs, Peterson took a few minutes to horse around with some kids out in the parking lot. He showed them a few tricks, answered their questions, handed out some advice and autographs.

“I was once a kid,” he said, “and the older guys were cool to me so I have no problem being here.”

Incidentally it wasn’t the first time at Chesley for Peterson, a Stillwater native. He came to the park in the late 1990s for a promotional event. Soon thereafter he moved to California, became a star and the rest is history.