Students form second collegiate skateboard team
By: Tiara Jefferson
Issue date: 10/9/08 Section: News
Mike Wilson, Old Stone Guard Skate Team president and Houston sophomore, finally received the Recreation Center's approval for a skateboard team. SFA's skateboard team will be the second collegiate team in the country. There are already seven official members.
The team is open to everyone. It doesn't matter whether a student is an actual skater or just one who likes to watch.
Students who have never skated before can also join the team. Wilson said there are plenty of capable skateboarders who are willing to teach them.
The team is coed, so females are welcome to join as well.
'There's one girl on the team now," Wilson said. "I know that there are more around campus. We'll find them."
The team recruits new members every semester, and a $30 fee is required.
Padding and other equipment isn't really required, but Wilson suggests that a student should at least have a helmet. They are working toward supplying students with skateboards until they are able to get their own.
The team is split into two branches. The short boarders, who freestyle skate, and the long boarders, who use skateboarding as a form of transportation to move around the campus or the community. The long boarders usually practice at Colonial Hills, and the other group practices in ditches around campus. Wilson said thy are the rebels of the team.
It took two weeks for the team to receive approval. "We came to the C every day so that they wouldn't forget about us," Wilson said.
In November the team is going to Austin along with three other high school skateboard teams for a skate-off. The team is also looking forward to competing with UNC, the first University to have a skateboard team, in the spring.
Two other universities, Olympic University and New Hampshire State, are currently working to form skateboarding teams. There isn't an official skateboarding league yet.
Wilson said the goal is to keep a permanent skateboarding team at SFA. He wants to change the public's perception about skateboarders, and the team is planning to raffle off helmets and to go to schools and teach kids how to skate.
Bobby King's, a team member, dad built the mega ramp for the X-Games. He has offered to build a ramp in SFA or in Nacogdoches at reduced cost. "We know it's a distant goal, but we're working on it." Wilson said, "Hopefully there will be one by the time I graduate."
Further recruiting efforts will begin a week from now next to the fountain on campus. It will be an all-week process that will last from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day. If students want more information about the team, they can contact Wilson through his e-mail address, wilsonmr@titan.sfasu.edu.
tjefferson@thepinelog.com
The team is open to everyone. It doesn't matter whether a student is an actual skater or just one who likes to watch.
Students who have never skated before can also join the team. Wilson said there are plenty of capable skateboarders who are willing to teach them.
The team is coed, so females are welcome to join as well.
'There's one girl on the team now," Wilson said. "I know that there are more around campus. We'll find them."
The team recruits new members every semester, and a $30 fee is required.
Padding and other equipment isn't really required, but Wilson suggests that a student should at least have a helmet. They are working toward supplying students with skateboards until they are able to get their own.
The team is split into two branches. The short boarders, who freestyle skate, and the long boarders, who use skateboarding as a form of transportation to move around the campus or the community. The long boarders usually practice at Colonial Hills, and the other group practices in ditches around campus. Wilson said thy are the rebels of the team.
It took two weeks for the team to receive approval. "We came to the C every day so that they wouldn't forget about us," Wilson said.
In November the team is going to Austin along with three other high school skateboard teams for a skate-off. The team is also looking forward to competing with UNC, the first University to have a skateboard team, in the spring.
Two other universities, Olympic University and New Hampshire State, are currently working to form skateboarding teams. There isn't an official skateboarding league yet.
Wilson said the goal is to keep a permanent skateboarding team at SFA. He wants to change the public's perception about skateboarders, and the team is planning to raffle off helmets and to go to schools and teach kids how to skate.
Bobby King's, a team member, dad built the mega ramp for the X-Games. He has offered to build a ramp in SFA or in Nacogdoches at reduced cost. "We know it's a distant goal, but we're working on it." Wilson said, "Hopefully there will be one by the time I graduate."
Further recruiting efforts will begin a week from now next to the fountain on campus. It will be an all-week process that will last from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day. If students want more information about the team, they can contact Wilson through his e-mail address, wilsonmr@titan.sfasu.edu.
tjefferson@thepinelog.com
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