Did you know that one of the most famous skateboarders in the world is Brazilian? Bob Burnquist is internationally renowned for his skateboarding maneuvers and extreme flips in the air. He has one of the biggest and wildest megaramps in his backyard. Can you believe that he has even gone for a base jump in the Grand Canyon?
In Brasilia, my hometown, there were skateboarders scattered throughout the city, trying to find the perfect places to keep practicing their jumps, flips, twists. However, they seem to have found the ideal spot to gather, fall, stand, try again and never give up. These skaters, ranging from almost-left-the-diapers kids to white-bearded guys, never get tired of testing limits, of finding the perfect moves with a precise ending to them. But, now, they swarm on Sundays on the greatest Avenue in Brasilia, which remains closed on Sundays for cars. Where there were in the near past only people running, walking with kids, biking, now we have a different scenario with all that skateboarding action full of cool guys in trendy, colorful, sporty outfits.
Just by being there, you can have a fun Sunday morning, appreciating the eagerness of those boys and girls to reach perfection at the sound of loud upbeat music. And we wonder, “Who’s going to be the next Bob Burnquist?”
Another famous place skaters assemble for some radical skateboarding is near Dom Bosco chapel. There, the adrenaline rush is even higher when skateboarders go downhill in the ecological park surroundings in full speed.
How about in your city, your country? Is there a culture of skateboarding with cool, trendy skateboarders? Where do they gather to practice?
We have a definite skateboarder group here in Canada. It’s typically, but not limited to, a teenage sport. Our cities build small cement ‘skate parks’ with various ramps and 1/4 pipes and bars. Skateboarders gather here to practice all their tricks.