Learning how to use a jigsaw and sander while having some fun. We are in the process of shaping a cruiser board out of a worn out popsicle deck for one of the members. The kids have been working up some designs and we will soon get those designs ready for printing.Ī few kids are starting to get into shaping after seeing some of the boards I have reclaimed on Instagram. LA: We are slowly working on getting a screen printing system up to make our own art, shirts, and possibly our own skate decks as well. TCB: That’s fantastic! What other stuff has the club done outside skateboarding?
Sunnyside Riders Club at Melody Skate Park This year the students, through a donation from Tim Cohee and some fundraising, earned enough to help pay for a bus and took a trip to China Peak to go snowboarding. These trips have rejuvenated me as a skateboarder and I ride with them a little, too. We have taken field trips to local skateparks, like Rotary Park in Clovis and Melody Park in Fresno. We are always looking for service projects to do to help our school and community. We also entered a team in the first ever Fresno Unified Skateboard Competition last year at Lion’s Skate Park and plan to do it again this coming spring. If you don’t know about skate camp check it out. LA: Some members of the club had the opportunity to attend the Element Skate Camp last summer in Lake Sequoia. TCB: Wow, yeah, hopefully so! What cool things has the club done? I am very hopeful that this policy will change in the future, and we can really get this thing rolling. It would give me more time to build relationships and mentor the students while doing something positive in a safe place. To really reach these kids I would like this to happen. It really makes the kids feel like they are not valued or respected yet. This seems like such a inequity compared to other sports. The district is beginning to recognize the sport end of skateboarding and held the very first skate competition between schools last year, but at the same time did not allow the kids to practice at school. Are they going to get hurt? Maybe, but football players do, too. To make this club really take off we need to be able to have an area where the kids can skate before school, during lunch, or after school with me in a supervised area and have some fun. We are still young as a club/team and want to grow, but there is one thing that holds us up and that is that Fresno Unified does not yet allow us to skate on campus. The students wrote a constitution and presented it to the Inter-Club Council to become official. It is an official student ran school club and also a team. TCB: And this is an official school activity? LA: There are about 20 members in the club and still growing. How many kids are involved with your club? TCB: It’s great to see that kind of support for something that used to be thought of as something only the hooligans took part in. I would love to see clubs at every middle and high school and more teams being put together for the competition as well. There are clubs like ours at other Fresno Unified middle and high schools. It’s awesome for the kids to see some acceptance. He even installed skateboard lockers for the kids who want to skate to school. Our principal, Tim Liles, is very supportive in what we are doing and the kids see that. The amount of support I have at my school is great. For my whole life I have always had a skateboard to roll around on from time to time. Of course I said yes, as I would have loved to have a skateboarding club when I was in school. She came to me and asked if I would sponsor the club. LA: The current co-presidents of the club-two students-found out about a skateboard competition Fresno Unified was going to have and went to the Activities Director, who also knew that this was going to happen. TCB: When and how did the skateboarding club get started at Sunnyside HS? Are there others like it at other schools? Now for the interview with Lance Anderson