Today's Mission
Today we will be working to bring awareness of World Skate skate park certifications to the design team that will ultimately be responsible for the design and construction of the new 8th Street Gateway Central Yard Skate Park. The goal of this effort is to place our newest, and hopefully best, regional skatepark on the world stage.
The goal of this effort is to bring world-class competition and the effect is two-fold:
Engaging the World Skate facilities department in the design and overall process as a monitoring entity will allow for a third-party check against the common pitfalls in skate park design that have become an issue at other regional skate parks.
Having a world-class competition facility will mean that we can bring major competitions to our doorstep. As a result, skilled skaters in our area will have a path to compete at the professional level and get the recognition and launching platform they deserve. When the park is not in use for a competition, it will be an ideal place to practice for competitions that are held in similarly graded facilities in other regions and countries.
Some common pitfalls that we could avoid by engaging World Skate as a certifying entity include, but are not limited to:
Lighting
Access to Facilities (Restrooms, Water, etc)
Permanent and Temporary Support Facility Planning
Drainage
Flow Lines
Surface Qualifications (Friction, Drainage, Regularity, Color, Materials, etc)
If you find yourself in a scenario where you can commit effort towards any skatepark builds in the region, please use this information to your advantage. If you're anything like me and you want to see Northwest Arkansas become a top destination for skating of all kinds, this is one thing that could help us stand-out amongst the crowd.
World Skate Resources for Skate Parks
If you need resources or would simply like to learn more about World Skate, please check out their website at https://www.worldskate.org. If you are involved in any sort of skate park design and need materials about the process, check out the World Skate Facilities department page for resources or contact the organization directly by e-mailing facilities@worldskate.org.
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