The one person in my community that has made a difference is Steve Davenport. he runs YEAH! board shop, a local skate shop around my house. he has always been a positive influence to the kids in the community showing that skateboarding is a positive sport and should be more acknowledged. he started the skate shop a few years ago out of his own pocket to help make it more convenient to everyone to get the stuff they need to skate. he has really made an impact by having pro teams come from California to our local skate park and do a demo for all the kids who haven't seen a pro in there life. he also teaches skateboard lessons for younger kids and is always a friendly motivational person. he made a huge impact when he got a hold of someone from red bull and gave them the idea to open a skate park indoor during the winter. people came from all over Illinois to come skate the red bull park and it was a huge success. he is kinda like a mentor to me because he knows what kids that skateboard are going through and has been through it all before. he knows how to control situations and keep a cool head when dealing with cops and getting kicked out. we skate together a lot and he is just a chill dude to hang with. he doesn't bother with who's "homies" and who's not, if you skate then your cool. running the shop day in and day out is a lot of hard work and to pay for it all by yourself is a massive amount of stress and determination. Luckily with alot of kids showing support by buying things the shop made it through its first winter (the slowest time in skateboard sales) without YEAH! and Steve skateboarding around my community probably wouldn't be the same. there would be a lot more kids with chipped or broken boards, more bikers, and no where to hangout.
No comments:
Post a Comment