skateboarding022109

On the homepage

Scanners

Full-body scanners headed for MSP

Out There

Gas lines

10 years later, same fire, anger

Club Outdoors

Behind closed doors

Home | Local + Metro | North Metro

Skateboarding rocks at Fridley school

Bruce Bisping, Star Tribune

Hayes Elementary third- and fourth-grade students glided on the hardwood during Craig Coleman’s gym class at the Fridley school. The students were learning the basics of skateboarding. To quell parents’ fears, safety is the first lesson for the novice skateboarding enthusiasts.

Hayes Elementary is the first in Minnnesota to make skateboarding part of physical education classes.

By ALEX ROBINSON, Star Tribune

Last update: February 20, 2009 - 11:06 PM

Print this story

Follow local news on Twitter

More from North Metro

While most elementary schools forbid skateboarding on their premises, the faculty at Hayes Elementary in Fridley not only encourages students to skateboard -- they have made it part of the curriculum.

In the Hayes gymnasium this week, physical education teacher Craig Coleman instructed fully padded third- and fourth-graders on how to ride back and forth across the gym's hardwood floor, making Hayes the first school in Minnesota to teach skateboarding.

Coleman, who was a skateboarder as a kid, said he decided to incorporate the sport into physical education classes because he wanted his students to get excited about coming to class. So far, his plan has worked.

"It's the big talk of the school," Coleman said. "The kids just love it."

Coleman started the skateboarding program with instructional videos and equipment from Skate Pass, a national company designed to outfit gym teachers with the necessary equipment and knowledge to teach skateboarding in their classes.

Coleman and Hayes Principal John Piotraschke had been working to get a skateboarding program going in the school for more than a year. They were finally able to fund the $5,000 program with help from a donation by a community health council non-profit group tied to Unity and Mercy hospitals in Anoka County.

"Craig is an idea guy," Piotraschke said. "We probably have one of the coolest phy. ed. programs in the state."

Equipped with 30 skateboards and helmets, kneepads, wrist pads and elbow pads to match, Coleman plans to teach about three weeks of skateboarding each year. This year, the program is limited to third- and fourth-graders. If things go well, they might let the younger grades in on the fun next year.

Although the idea of skateboarding during class was popular with the kids, Coleman said he got "mixed reviews" from parents, some of whom were worried that it could be dangerous.

But safety is the program's top priority, and Coleman spent the first few classes teaching the kids how to put on their safety equipment and how to fall without getting hurt.

"I think the parents are starting to trust me," he said.

Coleman got the idea to teach skateboarding after watching a DVD from Skate Pass -- a Boulder, Colo.-based national program that provides teachers with the equipment and know-how needed to instruct their students on how to board.

Since Skate Pass was launched in 2006, schools in 19 states have started teaching skateboarding, said Skate Pass co-founder and former professional snowboarder Eric Klassen.

"There is a need in physical education curriculum for an activity that kids really love to do and is not competitive," Klassen said.

Skateboarding can be incorporated in the "new PE wave" that introduces kids to a wide variety of sports that aren't taught in traditional physical education classes, Klassen said.

"At the end of class, the kids will be sweating profusely without even knowing they exercised," Klassen said.

Although most of Coleman's students have never skateboarded before and are a far cry from X Games material, he said as they improve, he plans to start teaching them how to make turns and ollie -- jumping the skateboard off the ground.

Fourth-grader Markus Goff has skateboarded for two years and said it was fun to shred in the gym.

"It's really cool because we're the only school in the state that has skateboarding," he said.

Alex Robinson is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.

Recent North Metro stories

Champlin man was Minneapolis' first 2010 homicide victim - February 20, 2009

Champlin man was Minneapolis' first 2010 homicide victim - Authorities identified the victim of Minneapolis' first homicide of 2010 as Dontae D. Johnson of Champlin. More