{"id":1591,"date":"2011-11-30T14:22:47","date_gmt":"2011-11-30T22:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=1591"},"modified":"2011-11-30T14:22:47","modified_gmt":"2011-11-30T22:22:47","slug":"skateboarding-a-year-round-sport-in-victoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2011\/11\/30\/skateboarding-a-year-round-sport-in-victoria\/","title":{"rendered":"Skateboarding a year-round sport in Victoria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winter. Rain. Cold. Skateboarding?<\/p>\n

Not four words normally associated with each other. For skateboarders in the Greater Victoria area, winter usually means more videogames and less skateboarding.<\/p>\n

Or at least it used to.<\/p>\n

With a little creativity, some good friends, and help from some local businesses, skateboarders might be able to skate every day of the week, all winter long.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A skater shreds at One Six (photo by Carol-Lynne Michaels).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To start, November 26 will see \u201cone of the greatest in-store skateboarding events this city has ever seen,\u201d says Alex Eddy of Sanction Boardshop on Herald Street. \u201cWe\u2019re clearing out everything in the lower level of the store for a game of S.K.A.T.E. and a video premiere. It\u2019s going to be nuts!\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Simeoni also has a dry spot at his disposal to skateboard during the winter months. The 20-year veteran skateboarder owns One Six Boardshop on Quadra Street.<\/p>\n

Contained within the walls of the shop is a \u201crepair and test facility\u201d that consists of a 25-foot wide, 65-foot long mini ramp. \u201cKids as young as seven years old and guys in their early \u201840s skate it,\u201d says Simeoni.<\/p>\n

Simeoni also explains that there are dry places to skate in the city that require a bit more stealth. \u201cUndergrounds [parking lots] have always been a staple for us,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s Victoria; it\u2019s all we\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave Opperman, head of Skatelife Victoria, a non-profit, non-denominational Christian organization that runs drop-in skateboard sessions, knows all about skateboarding underground.<\/p>\n

Three nights a week Opperman can be found shredding in the basement of Glad Tidings Pentecostal Church. A four-foot-high mini-ramp, a fun-box, two grind rails, and a good attitude might be all some skaters will need to keep their skateboarding skills honed through the winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy spot\u2019s probably the best,\u201d quips Opperman, when prodded for other winter options. \u201cThere\u2019s a couple really rad parkades for a quick bomb, but there\u2019s usually water rushing down the whole thing if it\u2019s rainy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, skateboarding in a parkade could land skateboarders in some hot water as the \u201cno-skateboard zone\u201d spans the downtown core.<\/p>\n

One way of avoiding that issue might be to head out of town. What was once a secret, do-it-yourself spot has become widely known as Sixside. Located under a bridge near the Six Mile Pub, this spot is designed for the skilled transition lover.<\/p>\n

\u201cSixside is gnarly,\u201d says Opperman, \u201cbut it\u2019s a legendary spot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winter. Rain. Cold. Skateboarding? Not four words normally associated with each other. For skateboarders in the Greater Victoria area, winter usually means more videogames and less skateboarding. Or at least it used to. With a little creativity, some good friends, and help from some local businesses, skateboarders might be able to skate every day of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-november-30-2011"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1591"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1665,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591\/revisions\/1665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}