Historically, Canberra has been known as a pioneering skateboarding city – even ahead of Melbourne and Sydney – but there’s fears the Capital is in jeopardy of losing its strong skateboarding reputation.    

Canberra hasn’t received a new skate park since the Belconnen upgrade in 2011 and much of the remaining parks are deteriorating, along with the scene and culture.

Vice president and volunteer skateboarding coach with the Canberra Skateboarding Association (CSA), Brenden Woody, 32, wants to see Canberra’s skate parks thrive and the scene kept alive for all young Canberran skaters.

“The main things we do is run free learn to skate sessions at Canberra skate parks because we want to foster the scene around the parks and keep them thriving,” says Mr Woody.

“We advocate for better maintenance, upkeep, and new facilities built. Canberra has a strong skate scene but we’re at risk of losing that because there’s been a bit of complacency.

“Anytime there’s community consults, we try and get involved, and advocate for the young boarders to give them a voice. One of the big things we pushed for in the last election was to create a skateboarding strategy.”

CSA has been advocating for the strategy for around 10 to 15 years, asking the ACT Government to use best practices when it comes to skate parks, ensuring they are maintained properly and well looked after.

“It’s common-sense things. Like, the graffiti removal in Weston and Belconnen was done with methods that damages the surface, reducing the long-term life of the park, and vandals come and melt the plastic wheely bins, causing irreversible damage,” says Mr Woody.

“Contractors don’t have skate park expertise, so we want to work with the ACT Government to introduce a strategy because we know what’s best for the parks. We’re still waiting to hear on that.”

In addition to damaged facilities, Mr Woody says skate parks tend to be neglected, which is detrimental to the Canberra community.

He says it took almost a year for lighting at the Tuggeranong skate park to be fixed, so, after sunset, there was no where for skateboarders to go.

ACT Greens Member for Brindabella, Johnathan Davis, has been an advocate for the Canberra skateboarding community. Last month he asked Chief Minister Andrew Barr in the Legislative Assembly if the government will consider upgrades for the skate park behind Lakeside Leisure Centre.

In response, the Chief Minister said, “I am always partial to a good skate park upgrade … I will raise the matter with Minister Steele when I next get the opportunity to discuss this project with him.”

Mr Woody says he watched the exchange and knows both Mr Davis and ACT Greens Member for Murrumbidgee Emma Davidson are “big supporters of skateparks”, so he’s keen to see some government action on the issue.

He also said ACT Minister Yvette Berry ventured to the CSA’s Learn to Skate session in late 2020 for ACT Labor’s election commitment to add a new half pipe to the Belconnen Skate Park.

“On a grassroots community level, the general public are pretty supportive of more skateparks, and a number of local politicians are really supportive of the idea, but we haven’t seen new facilities and we haven’t seen skate elements,” says Mr Woody.

“In Belconnen, Labor came through and committed to a competition-standard half pipe if they won the election. Since then, there’s been some progress and the half pipe is in the late stages of planning, but we haven’t heard about the strategy, which is a little disappointing.

“There’s some sort of disconnect there, but we just want to keep the pressure on everyone, keep this issue in mind, and hopefully get some new facilities.”

Mr Woody is proud of the CSA’s learn to skate sessions and says they’re instrumental in keeping the skateboarding scene in Canberra booming, but more importantly they provide a critical outlet for kids like him.

“It’s important for a variety of reasons. Skateboarding tends to cater to some kids who might not be very interested in conventional sports and are attracted to the freedom, low pressure, and fun atmosphere of it,” he says.

“I feel like I was one of those kids. Physically staying fit is important and skateboarding was accessible to me – I could do it the way I wanted.

“Going to public skate parks can be intimidating. People there are advanced and it’s a pretty fast-paced environment, so we try and a create a welcoming and encouraging space. We want to pay it forward, because growing up for us it was really important and played a big part in our development.”

Also pushing to diversify the skateboarding scene, Mr Woody is keen to see more young girls learn to skateboard, and he says in most of the sessions he runs, there’s a 50/50 gender ratio.

“If anyone is curious about the experience of skateboarding or wants to give it a go, I strongly encourage you to come down. All ages, all experience levels are welcome, and we’ve got pads and boards you can use that are completely free,” he says.

The public benefits for inclusive skate parks in cities are proven, Mr Woody says.

For young people who need an outlet, it provides them with something constructive to focus on, and prevents them from slipping through the cracks.

He also says building skate parks in city spaces makes the streets safer, like in Belconnen.

“It both provides and receives surveillance – Belconnen skate park is built along the footpath, it’s lit up at night, and there are always eyes on the street and people walking past..

“So, there’s people around keeping an eye on the park, but then also people using the park keeping an eye on the street.

“One mistake in the past with parks in Canberra, sometimes they’re placed out of sight or pushed away into a back corner, which encourages antisocial behaviour. Rarely will people go to a skate park to cause trouble if it’s right in the middle of town.

“We should have robust architecture to cater for boarding and activate city spaces. We’re just trying our best to preach the benefits of embracing skate parks in Canberra,” Mr Woody says.

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