Kicked off your hill recently? Me too. A solution...

[John Gilmour]

I've been setting slalom courses for years. We did get kicked in the beginning, yet persistance paid off.

I want a conclusive arguement that permanent slalom courses are a good idea. I want to submit it to the Parks department.

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The History* skip if you like.

As an 11 year old kid in NYC I knew no one would take me seriously so I just set up cones and let the police think that one of the skating adults was running the course. At the end of the day I would pick up the cones when the regular parks patrols had moved on. Two seasons later the NYC police came to think that this was a regular thing that was allowed.

From 1975-2000 the NYC course ran with no injuries to pedestrians. In fact it could be said that the participants skating in the course took more care entering the course and avoiding people than if they were free skating around. The vast majority of skaters were inliners with the occassional slalom skateboarder. It was self policed by skaters.

In 2000 Nick, aBoston Inline skater,came to slalom at the NYC Tavern on the Green course.

A Mom, Dad and 3 year old daughter were watching alongside the course. The Mom was talking to the Dad and the 3 year old daughter was standing behind her stroller using the handles to support her. Nick entered the course with great speed.

The 3 year old decided to be "funny" and shoved the stroller in front of Nick when he was about 2 cones away. Nick, not realizing that the stroller was empty, vaulted over the stroller, yet clipped the rear handle spinning the stroller around, yet not overturning it. He ended up crashing and skinning his knees badly- and was bleeding.

The 3 year old realizing what she had done ran the 30 feet over to Nick and slid to her knees by Nick and started crying. She also skinned her knees- and now was crying over her own skinned knees. The peripheral crowd heard a scream and a crash, a crying child and saw a spun around stroller in the course and a skater and child with skinned knees.

So Nick was trying to tell the girl that it was "alright" and he was "alright" not wanting to put a guilt trip on the kid.

A bystander called 911. and an Ambulance was called. The Parents walked off with the kid before teh ambulance arrived and the report that was filed was that a skater collided with a 3 year old Child.

The slalom course was dismantled the next day- baracades removed. In 2001 I tried to set cones and was told to "pick it up". Found out about this accident from another skater and later ran into Nick who told me what had happened. Nick had no idea that the NYC course was shut down as he was a Boston resident only visiting NYC for the weekend.

The Point? Well that the course ran safely for years. The surface was pretty good so there were not many accidents to the Inliners or skateboarders eithter. A few skinned knees - but that was about it. Compare that to the random collisions (many involving hospitalization) in NYC Central park and the slalom course seems more like an "Safety Oasis".

The Boston course? Running since 1989. No injuries. One ambulance call- directed to the slalom course in 1994 for a woman who sprained her ankle on rollerblades for trying to skate through a gravel filled parking lot adjacent to the slalom course- not related to the course.

End of History
________________________________________


Yesterday a Boston park ranger rolled up on me in his Suburban in the Boston Commons. Told me to take down a course. He said "Those are obstacles, and you can't put obstacles in a public pathway".

I picked it up. "Parks Department would be liable if there was an accident" he said.

I tried to relate that Skateboarding was recently classified as a a hazardous sport and that most frivilous lawsuits were on the decline- yet his complaint resided with "The Obstacles".

My question to you readers?

What are good reasons for having a slalom course? How do we get around the "obstacle issue"?

I'm going to put together a list-Off the top of my head.

1. A defined Area for slalom skating is safer than whizzing down a hill skating in and out of people.
2. A defined area enhances cooperative learning and safety ettiquette to newer skaters.
3. Newer skaters can safely develop their skills in a controlled area as opposed to in the streets with cars.
4. A slalom course can serve a large number of Skateboarders, Inliners, scooters etc. within a small area.
5. Skateboarding is the 3rd largest participant sport in America for America's youth under the age of 18. Not having a place for slalom skaters forces more of them into the streets greatly increasing the chances for fatalities from collisions with motor vehicles. If you add in Inline skaters and Scooter users we likely exceed the numbers of runners in the Cities.
6. Skateboarding does not go away if you ban it- instead it develops into a skate and destroy mentality and friction between law enforcement and skaters.
7. Learning good turning skills and foot dragging (stopping)skills in a defined area leads to quicker learning and a reduction of accidents for skaters that still continue to use the streets.
8. The slalom courses become good places for social and business networking amongst participants.
9. The slalom courses also become destination spots for walkers and other exercisers who just want to come and watch. We are the show. We also get great exercise- which for a nation with rampant obesity is a good thing. It also helps to improve community networking as it gives spectators a reason to converse with one another. A triple win situation.
10. What if tennis players played without courts? People would get beaned by tennis balls all the time. Kids that play baseball in the streets end up with baseballs crashing through windows. (At least in my day that happened- nowadays you almost never see kids playing street hockey, stickball, soccer in the neighborhood streets- because the Police kick them out...yet politicans wonder why obesity has skyrocketed.)
11. Restricting slalom skateboarders to a Skatepark does not work as the terrain available (flat) is not well suited for this activity. Instead they will skate in the streets

Of course in an act of determination/civil disobedience I suppose I could continue to set a course until it gets established- but I thought perhaps it is time to come up with a more formalized approach first.

Speaking for the East Coast Looking at the accident rate/ injury rate for traditional slalom on the East coast amongst East coast skaters I think we have been limited to abrasions- with Wesley and UR13 sustaining some temporary soft tissue damage. And no need for ambulances. Please post corrections to this as I would like to know as I am only certain about the North East.

Please add to the reasons for allowing the setting of slalom courses. Even if they seem smaller than the above reasons. A course doesn't have to be set everyday- and are just temporary for a few hours. One day a week is enough per location.

GBJ/Parsons your input is needed.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: John Gilmour on 2003-09-13 09:36 ]</font>

[Terry Kirby]

JG, finding good hills is like discovering new surf spots. New developements are the best bet but they don't meet your "is there spectators" criteria.I doubt we'll ever have slalom specific sites or hills, not here in the east anyhow. There are like 3 of us here. I say poach, be stealth, be creative and move on. If its a neighborhood, make friends with the volvo moms and kids. Wear your pads. TK

[Terry Kirby]

PS, I'll be at my new find today with the family and sandys brothers . No hassels . T

[Wes Eastridge]

“These cones are made of plastic, are lightweight, and don’t hurt anyone. I occationally hit them while going around them and it doesn’t cause trouble to anyone.” “I’ve been doing this here for the past six (or 8, 10, 12, etc) months and none of the other rangers have told me not to.”

And TK is very right about wearing pads (also a helmet). Even if you don't think you need them. It gives an impression of responsibility. <b>The Man</b> is more likely to let you skate even if it's "not allowed here". This is what allows me to slalom at a local college. I have a <i>special exception</i> They always tell me that I'm not allowed to do it there, but never tell me that I can't.

[Terry Kirby]

JG, back in the day we used to play all sorts of shit IN THE STREET. Football, wiffleball, whatever. Full on games too. When the cars came we just moved. No one ever said anything. ever. It was our neighborhood but this went on everywhere(new haven,ct is the city I'm from). Now, people are uptight about everything, they spend 400,00 on a house and they don't want anything in the street but SUV's and minivans. Pitiful. TK

[Troy Smart]

Pitiful indeed.
Check this out. I'm skating at my,usual spot (nice place, no traffic, cool residents). When my worst nightmare comes along.
Cranky old guy behind the wheel of a huge older Cadillac.
He watched me take a run then as I was walking up the hill he drives up, turns around, runs over half the cones and then runs over a mailbox and stops. Then he says "Do you live here?".
I thought he was senile and lost, so I offered to give him directions and also to help pry the mailbox from under his car.
He called me just about every derogative name I've ever heard in both english and Yiddish and yelled about how dangerous what I was doing is to the neighborhood and also, that he had already called the cops.
Then he pulled away, dragging the mailbox under his car, and ran over the remaining cones.
He stopped at the bottom to try and get the mailbox loose by going back and forth.
I skated down and pulled the mailbox from under his car.
He called me a schmuck and then pulled away.
I was as nice as could be to this guy.
I went back to skating and then after about 15 minutes the cops showed.
Death of a good spot.
The moral of the story is: It only takes one cranky person and 15 minutes to ruin what you've had for 2 years.
Places to slalom around here are scarce. The new place is full of neighbors, so far everyone's been cool and even supportive but in this day and age it's only a matter of time before the next asshole shows.

[Mike Cividino]

Ok, this is kinda unrelated but i was bombin hills today, lots of traffic but you have to skate sometimes. Anyway, Im flying downhill and a truck comes and gets pretty close and the guys start yelling at me, I cant hear what they are saying and Im trying to concentrate on not falling. At the bottom the catch up to me and Im ready to verbally defend myself and I realize that thses guys are totally loving it. The told m my speed, 70 kph, smiled and drove off. Coolest strangers ever. I love it when people are supportive of our sport, oh and I love slalom.

[John Gilmour]

Troy- did you get his license plate. Sounds like the guy who drove through the fruit market killing a bunch of people.


You didn't lose the great spot did you? Full moons bring out the loonies.

[Andy Bittner]

I'd imagine my input was solicited, as much as anything, because John knows that I've been resistant to "permanent" courses before. However, it's very important to not confuse that resistance with a resistance to permanent, legitimate, legal slalom spots.

I am absolutely, 100%, fully supportive of any efforts to establish permanent, accepted, acceptable, legal slalom venues. What I was resisting previously is the marking of one course on the pavement of an established, accepted slalom location, so that this one course becomes the course that is always being run at that spot.

As a regular slalom skater over more than three decades, I've long-since become bored with straight lines of evenly-spaced cones (for anything more than the most basic of training and practice routines...), and most "established" slalom venues I've been aware of feature straight lines of evenly-spaced cones, with little or no additional challenge. I resist this situation for two reasons, I find it boring and I believe it presents newcomers to slalom skateboarding with a very narrow view of what slalom skateboarding can be.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Andy Bittner on 2003-09-14 11:53 ]</font>

[John Gilmour]

GBJ In regards to the straight lines- you are right. I would say that if there are a large amount of Rollerskaters and Inliners present- the tendancy is for straight courses so that the Inliners can practice freestyle slalom routines.

The permanent courses aren't to be run permanently- but only are run on occassion to measure ones improvement or to measure your prowess against old pros and the like. Even so as conditions are never the same and equipment changes...it is only a estimate.
I do want to see more secured slalom spots.

Why I want GBJ to comment is that he like myself has fostered a slalom spot that runs on a semi regular basis at the Park and Ride lot in Gaithersburg MD.

Look at what this semi regular running has done for the DC scene. GBJ and Brian- if only there were a thousand of you.

Tired of driving hours and hours to race with others? Set a regular slalom spot in an area where longboarders or other exercisers pass by. Homegrown competition is where it is at.

Almost all great slalomers were bred in pairs . And practiced together regularly.

Chances are- if you want to get really fast you have to you teach someone to be your best competition.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: John Gilmour on 2003-09-14 23:13 ]</font>

[Terry Kirby]

JG, Surfed this morning and trained this afernoon. Tested wheels w/ the timer. I have some interesting news. Get yo ass up here this week. T

[Pierre Gravel]

Hi TK, what color were those wheels you tested?