What's Wrong With This Picture?

It's not every day you see an overweight kid on a skateboard. The TIME magazine cover from June 23, 2008 illustrates this perfectly with their special report on youth obesity. While the article doesn't address the health aspects of skateboarding specifically, it surveys the overall health of American youth. The bottom line is that one-third of American kids are overweight. It's a problem we need to address today.

Skateboarding remains one of the nation's most popular activities among kids and young adults. Parks Departments across the nation know it. According to Recreation Management magazine, Parks Districts put "new skatepark" at number 6 among their planned amenities nation-wide.

It should come as no surprise. Skateparks require no active programming, on-site staff, and almost no operational maintenance. With increasing expectations to do more stuff with less money, Parks are seeing skateparks as an excellent option. A properly design and constructed concrete skatepark will typically be one of the single most-used park amenities within a district and yet carry some of the lowest maintenance costs. Even the initial costs of acquisition are low when compared to the expense of other active-use areas.

The paramount concern is our own health. Finally, we're seeing people take a physical activity that is already popular "in the wild" and supporting it with facilities that build on that interest.