Bikers, skateboarders showcased at local event

Kimberley McGee

Friday, Sept. 7, 2001 | 9:26 a.m.

Those scruffy-looking teens sporting oversized, calf-length shorts aren't just wasting their time at the skate park.

They are at the forefront of an entirely new sports culture that is elbowing for room among traditionally accepted sports such as baseball, football and soccer.

Extreme games, such as skateboarding, in-line skating and freestyle (or BMX) bike riding, are becoming one of the major sports accepted on playgrounds and ball fields in the country, said Brian Saliba, a program administrator for special events for the Clark County Parks and Recreation Department.

The county will host the sixth annual eXtreme Thing-Amateur Skateboard, Inline and BMX Competition Saturday at Desert Breeze Skate Park.

Local demand as well as the annual event has prompted the building of eight skate parks in the county to be completed by 2002.

"Last year there were 300 competitors and one thousand people came out to watch them, listen to the music," Saliba said of the event. "This year we think it's going to be twice that. It's a popular sport."

Sport is the operative word. Extreme, or action, sports have taken a backseat to traditional sports such as baseball or football, but are gaining legitimacy with competitions such as the county's annual event.

The eXtreme Thing will feature some of the best local bike riders and skateboarders. World-class break dancers and seven local bands including Home Grown, Neverready and Five Foot Thick will perform. Local professional skaters and BMX bikers such as TJ Lavin and Reuel Erickson will be on hand to sign autographs.

Erickson, who has lived in Henderson since 1992, is an award-winning BMX biker who returned this month from winning the High Air bike competition sponsored by Panasonic in New York.

Traditional sports continue to hold the attention of most parents and sports-minded children, Erickson said, but he hopes to legitimize extreme sports through example.

He rides his BMX bike through obstacle courses and performs flips in the air five days a week at a local dirt-bike park. He said he takes time to stop and talk to curious onlookers.

"More and more parents are coming up to me and talking to me about riding," Erickson said. "People think of the lifestyle as different, but it's about discipline. The skills that go into (extreme sports) are outrageous."

Teens are taking notice of emerging extreme sports stars such as skateboarder Tony Hawk, who was chosen as the Favorite Male Sports Star at Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in April.

Voters bypassed Tiger Woods, Shaquille O'Neal and other favorites to choose Hawk, the skateboarding champ with a best-selling autobiography, "Hawk: Occupation: Skateboarder." Hawk also has his own video game and clothing line.

"It's more accepted now," Erickson said. "It should be, too, because we aren't just out there riding. We are working."

There's a concrete wave spreading over the nation as more skate parks with steel railings, curved wall structures and obstacle courses for skaters are nudging into existing parks around the country.

"The parks are an acknowledgement of the sport's legitimacy," Erickson said. "It's building."

The popularity of action sports can't be ignored, Josh Krulewitz, manager of communications for ESPN, said.

"I think there's been something like 600 skate parks pop up in the last few years," Krulewitz said. "I wouldn't doubt it."

Krulewitz said the extreme games were first televised on ESPN (Cox cable channel 19) in 1995 and have become a staple of the network's programming.

They are also part of the company's portfolio.

Earlier this year the cable sports network company entered into a licensing agreement with national retail real-estate developer the Mills Corp. to open its first state-of-the-art skate park Nov. 2 in Atlanta. There are six more planned to open by the end of 2002 in cities across the country.

The parks will feature memorabilia from extreme sports players as well as host televised events.

"It can be the training ground for future (action) game champions," Krulewitz said.

ESPN's Vice President of Programing and Managing Director Ron Semiao is fond of saying that skate parks are the ball fields of the 21st century.

"Clearly they have emerged in popularity and participation rates and continue to evolve," Krulewitz said from ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Conn.

One local man who saw the trend coming was Sean McInerney, recreation specialist for Clark County Parks and Recreation.

In 1995 McInerney was asked to create a friendly competition among teens who visit Whitney Community Center in southeastern Las Vegas. The idea of a bike rodeo, where teens perform tricks and race through hurdles and obstacle courses, was tossed around.

But McInerney thought the idea was passe. Skateboarders were circling the parking lot and cruising down the sidewalk near the center, and it occurred to McInerney that there was no place for the teens on wheels to gather.

"There was nothing, nowhere to go out here (in the valley) then," McInerney said. "I had no idea it would get this big."

The first eXtreme Thing in '95 featured a handful of skateboarders who impressed the audience made up of a few hundred teens with some tricks.

The next year there were more children performing and less helping McInerney secure tables and unfold chairs.

"These are good kids," McInerney said. "There are definitely more this year (who are competing). There's a lot of talent right here" in Las Vegas.

Those teens wheeling around local strip malls are not slackers as they have sometimes been portrayed, he said.

"Skateboarders worked hard to make the sport legitimate and they work hard at the skills it takes to be better at (the sport)," McInerney said. "Hey, anything the kids are doing that keeps them off the streets is good, as far as I'm concerned."

As action sports gain acceptance, McInerney said he sees the parks growing to include different skill levels and competitions.

"As long as there's a need there will be an eXtreme Thing," McInerney said.