Kinnaird Youth Indoor Skatepark
Sunday, February 12th, 2012The Kootenay crew are getting their skate on at KYIS. Here Andrew Falle kick flips the rail.
Posts Tagged ‘youth’
Kinnaird Youth Indoor Skatepark
Friday, January 27th, 2012Things are moving forward quickly with Castlegar’s First Indoor Skatepark, KYIS, inside the Kinnaird Park Community Church.
Smart Phone & Tablet: tiny.cc/KYIS_mobile Website: tiny.cc/KYIS
There is now a regular schedule thanks to volunteers from Nelson and Castlegar.
Monday 6 to 9pm
Wednesday 5 to 9pm
Saturday 10am to 2pm
Wednesday night volunteer from Castlegar, Dave Morrison sliding free. Photo Ty Smith
Skateparks, a Healthy Alternative for “At-Risk” Youth
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012Nashoba Youth Foundation Open Skateparks for a Healthy Indian Country
Mitchell Moya spends most of his time skateboarding at home on his front porch because there are no legal places for him to skateboard in his hometown of Heavener, Oklahoma. But the Nashoba Youth Foundation is going to change that.
The Nashoba Youth Foundation is bringing skate parks to youth in rural southeast Native Oklahoma. The Foundation has been the driving force behind the construction of two skate parks. One is in Poteau, Oklahoma, called Skatepark off Broadway, which is about 13 miles from Heavener. And Heavener will be expecting a skate park as well called Nashoba Skatepark that will be built early next year.
“I remember countless times I was told I couldn’t skateboard somewhere because it was against the law,” said Moya, 18, who is Choctaw, Cherokee and Apache. “It is nice to now have a place to go where I can skateboard.”
The Nashoba Youth Foundation was started by Lisa Fabian who is Choctaw, Cherokee and Osage. She is a bilingual director for Heavener Public Schools and has been teaching for 15 years.
“I got so tired of seeing my kids who didn’t fit in walk around with their heads hanging,” she said. “I got tired of them not having a place to go since all of them don’t play basketball or baseball.”
Fabian wanted to make a difference and began doing research. In her research she found that the rates of obesity, diabetes, substance abuse, teen pregnancies, teen suicides and teen violence were shocking in Oklahoma.
According to the Oklahoma Department of Health, in Leflore County suicide was the second ranked cause of death among young people from ages 15-24 in 2002-2006. In 2005, there were 6,795 babies born to females under the age of 20. In 2007, 15 percent of children between the ages of 10-17 were overweight with an additional 13 percent who were “at risk” according to the Oklahoma State of the State’s Health Report.
“These kids have little to do and their self-esteem is almost nonexistent,” said Fabian. “I could not sit by and do nothing. If I go out of this world having made a difference in the life of one child then it was all worth it.”
She discovered different towns that offered a variety of outdoor recreational activities and safe places for their youth to go. The one activity that most of the towns had in common was skate parks. Fabian thought to herself that she needed to see one and drove 150 miles to Sand Spring, Oklahoma.
When she arrived she met Ryan Rodschwit who works with his father-in-law Greg Mize building skate parks. Fabian said Mize and Rodschwit’s goal is to bring professional concrete skate parks to all of Indian Country in Oklahoma and other places to help at-risk Native American youth.
“I thought to myself more must to be done in these areas to protect the future of our Native youth and youth in general,” Fabian said. After Fabian spoke with Mize for a while the two teamed up to make a difference.
Fabian then gathered her research and presented the information to the City of Heavener Commission who quickly approved both skate parks in Poteau and Heavener.
Soon after Fabian and Renee Farmer started working on an application for a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization. On March 7 of this year Nashoba Youth Foundation (Nashoba means “wolf” in Choctaw), became a non-profit organization designed to develop and enhance education, health and safety among at-risk Native American youth.
Fabian wrote grants for both skate parks and sent them to the Tony Hawk Foundation who awarded the Nashoba Youth Foundation ,000 for each skate park. They also donated Fabian helmets, stickers and other freebies.
Todd Harder who is co-owner of Red Paint Printing and Natives Skates has donated skateboard decks with Native American designs to give away to the youth.
The donations will be given away at the grand opening celebration of Skatepark off Broadway on Saturday, December 10. The event will include an appearance from professional skate boarders, contests, deejay, food and drinks, and guest speaker Marion Fry.
Fry is a Choctaw Tribal judge, an assistant district attorney and one of the nine Nashoba Youth Foundation board members. He is excited about the skate parks even though he was unsure of the idea when he first heard about it.
“I was real skeptical about having a skate park,” said Fry. “I really didn’t think skateboarding or rollerblading in this area would be a big hit with the kids but I was definitely wrong.”
Fry lives in Poteau and drives by the skate park every day. He is amazed to see how many youth are taking full advantage of the park and staying out of trouble.
“Not only are they doing something healthy, they are making friendships, helping one another out and it makes for a better support group,” said Fry. “I hope the skate parks will help change the statistics.”
Airwalk Celebrates 25 Years Of Independent Expression As Industry Leading Youth Lifestyle Brand
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011(Englewood, CO) June 15, 2011 – Airwalk, the iconic and global youth lifestyle brand, is celebrating 25 years this summer. To commemorate this landmark event, Airwalk has planned a season-long celebration filled with signature shoe reissues, events and digital initiatives that will give consumers access to Airwalk’s rich brand history.
Enigma-Fossil-Re-Issued-April-2011
Founded in 1986 at the request of a skateboarder and named for a trick invented by one of brand’s first pro athletes, Tony Hawk, Airwalk was one of the first board sports brands, inspired by and made for skaters. Airwalk brought a skater’s perspective to the design and development of the shoes, creating innovative solutions that offered comfort, durability and protection features to solve common issues skaters had at the time using regular sneakers. Twenty-five years later as the skateboarding market has grown into a huge and established business, Airwalk maintains a significant share of consumer loyalists with distribution in more than 100 countries across the globe.
Enigma-Re-Issue-Re-Issued-March-2011
“This year marks a tremendous milestone for Airwalk. Few brands in existence today are as intrinsically tied to the beginning of the board sports movement,” said Bruce Pettet, president and CEO of Collective Licensing International, parent company for Airwalk. “Airwalk is a globally recognized brand that has maintained an international reach for a quarter century – it is truly something to celebrate. We’re excited to share our storied past with fans across the world.”
Enigma-Mike-V-Re-Issue-July-2011
Over the years, the brand has introduced some of the most cutting edge and identifiable designs in the board sports market. Styles including the Enigma, the Reflex, the One, the Jim, the Prototype 540 and the Outland collection quickly became ubiquitous in the marketplace. Airwalk pushed the envelope in footwear design, engaging its athletes’ point of view and consistently pushing boundaries in color, texture, technology and brand marketing. The brand took risks, balancing its spirit of irreverence with athlete input and highly functional product at a time when other brands played it safe. Today, it is these risks that have given the brand an unparalleled authenticity and established its place in youth culture history.
JIM-Plastic-Re-Issued-November-2010
As Airwalk grew and evolved it expanded its reach into other disciplines outside skateboarding, developing products tailor-made for BMX and snowboarding. In fact, Airwalk was the first board sports company to introduce a snowboard-specific boot and BMX-specific shoe to the market. Airwalk continued to grow its product offering to include active and casual footwear, apparel, outerwear, hardgoods (including snowboards and bindings) and accessories. And as a result, by the mid-1990s, Airwalk was considered the sixth most influential brand worldwide and the third hottest shoe brand on the market, behind only Nike and Reebok.
JIM-Tennis-Re-Issued-November-2010
In addition to product design, some of the biggest names and most influential athletes have been sponsored by Airwalk over the years, including skateboarders Jason Lee, Christian Hosoi, Eric Koston, Bucky Lasek, Andy Macdonald, Steve Berra, Andrew Reynolds, Geoff Rowley and Mike Vallely; snowboarders Jamie Lynn, Tina Basich, Shaun Palmer, Todd Richards, Romain DeMarchi, Shannon Dunn, and Devun Walsh; BMXers Dave Mirra, Matt Hoffman, Van Homan and the Foster brothers; and pro surfers Rob Machado and Tom Curren. From the beginning, Airwalk firmly believed in the value and importance of supporting the board sports community and its athletes. The brand attracted not only the top pros, but recruited the up-and-coming competitors and sponsored countless board sports contests across the world.
Mike-V-Sadplant-Reflex-Re-Issue-Mid-August-2011
Traditionally, Airwalk’s advertising has always highlighted its professional team, a crew that today includes big hitters like pro skaters Macdonald, Tulio de Oliveira and Vallely, pro surfers Anastasia Ashley and Warren Metcalfe and FMX rider Ronnie Renner. The brand’s latest campaign is no exception to Airwalk’s athlete-steeped tradition, paying homage to Airwalk’s roots by documenting a journey down the West coast of North America. Shot in locations ranging from British Columbia, down the California coastline and on to Mexico, the campaign highlights Airwalk’s spirit of adventure and music. The new campaign communicates the multiple dimensions of the brand in an integrated and robust way; the authenticity is illustrated in the imagery, showcasing athletes in a visual, multi-image story. Vintage-looking film grains will be used to add texture to each shot and further demonstrate the nostalgia of the brand’s anniversary message. All new ads will feature Airwalk’s 25th anniversary tagline “25 years of Independent Expression” along with a newly designed 25th anniversary logo.
Reflex-Formula-1-Re-Issue-August-2011
Beyond footwear and action sports, Airwalk has made significant contributions to the music industry. The brand has been tied to some of the most recognizable talent of the past quarter century, including the Beastie Boys, Bad Religion and NOFX. Airwalk has also focused support on the up-and-comers in the industry by creating the Unsigned Hero (USH) contest. For the past three years, Airwalk’s Unsigned Hero has staged an online viral competition between 10 unsigned bands where music fans determine the winner. Past winners The Monthlies (2008) and Audible Mainframe (2009) have performed at Austin’s famed SXSW music festival. In addition, for the second year in a row, Airwalk is the presenting sponsor for one of the biggest youth music tours in the country, the Fall 2011 AP Tour.
Prototype-540-Black-Reissued-August-2010
To celebrate the year’s milestone, Airwalk is reintroducing a staple of special products throughout the year, all available exclusively at www.Airwalk.com/shop. Look for limited edition re-issues of the Airwalk Enigma, the Reflex and the JIM including design collaborations with Vallely. Additionally, a special issue 25th anniversary skate deck will be released in July. The brand will also host a 25th anniversary themed giveaway contest on its social media channels later this summer and it has built a significant collection of seminal photographs, advertisements and athlete imagery from its history, all accessible via www.Airwalk.com. The celebration will culminate with a silver anniversary party in September in the brand’s birthplace, Southern California.
Prototype-540-White-Reissued-August-2010
About Collective Licensing International, LLCCollective Licensing International, LLC, a subsidiary of Collective Brands, Inc. (NYSE:PSS), was formed in January 2004 and is the owner and/or license operator of Airwalk®, Above the Rim®, Vision Street Wear®, Clinch Gear®, STRIKEFORCE ™, Sims®, Lamar® and LTD®, World Snowboarding Championships™, genetic®, Dukes™, Rage®, Ultra-Wheels, and Hind®. Collective Licensing International is based in Englewood, Colorado. www.collectiveintl.com
Prototype-600-Bruiser-Re-Issued-August-2010
Prototype-600-Hi-Temp-Re-Issued-August-2010
Prototype-600-Torch-Re-Issued-August-2010
About Collective Brands, Inc.Collective Brands, Inc. (NYSE: PSS) is a leader in bringing compelling lifestyle, fashion and performance brands for footwear and related accessories to consumers worldwide. The company operates three strategic units covering a powerful brand portfolio, as well as multiple price points and selling channels including retail, wholesale, ecommerce and licensing. Collective Brands, Inc. includes Payless ShoeSource, focused on democratizing fashion and design in footwear and accessories through its nearly 4,500-store retail chain, with its brands Airwalk®, Dexter®, Champion® and designer collections Lela Rose for Payless, Christian Siriano for Payless and Isabel Toledo for Payless, among others; Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle Group, focused on lifestyle and performance branded footwear sold primarily through wholesale and retail, with brands including Stride Rite®, Keds®, Sperry Top-Sider®, and Saucony®; and Collective Licensing International, the brand development, management and global licensing unit, with such youth lifestyle brands as Airwalk®, Vision Street Wear®, Sims®, Lamar® and LTD®. Information about, and links for shopping on, each of the Collective Brand’s units can be found at www.collectivebrands.com.
Nelson’s elite continue to disregard youth
Sunday, March 8th, 2009More of the same in Nelson, BC as the decision makers continue to put skateboarding at the bottom of their “to do” list….CLICK HERE
