A while back I wrote an piece about a Californian school that introduced skateboarding into their PE curriculum (read that post). I’ve since heard that a school in Cornwall have done the same or similar and today I came across this article about a guy and his mum who have set up a street sports campaign and have got the attention of the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe. We are definitely in favour of schemes like this and as Mr Vasdev said in the article…

“I think it’s important to recognise that society is changing and so is the interest of the younger generation.”

Closer to home, I hear that Bishopston School in Swansea is planning on launching a surfing programme. It’s so nice to see that ‘the system’ is starting to branch out into a broader range of sport. So what would you choose to do in PE? Rugby, football, or extreme sports?

Now this is interesting. I’ve recently read about a Californian school, Fillmore Middle School, that has introduced skateboarding to their P.E. curriculum. In an attempt to stem the increase in obesity amongst it’s pupils the school claims that the programme has been a roaring success.

They are not the only ones to introduce classes in skateboarding, according to officials (not mentioned in the press release) there are schools in 10 other states that have done the same. And, this isn’t just an American trend - Barnstable school, in Devon, right here in the UK has done it too, you can read more about it here.

Personally, I think this is a great innovation and a change that I would have been frothing over when I was in school (I was obsessed with skating in those days). Football and rugby were never my thing and the whole of the skater fraternity that I was involved with remember those days as being outcasts when it came to ‘mainstream’ sports - skating appears to be mainstream now, and accepted.

I fully support anyone who is promoting this idea for our schools in the UK, what’s your take on it? The way the damn health and safety squad are going this must be sending shivers up and down their spines. Pupils who already skate are going to skate either in school or out of school, which do you think would be the safer environment?

I would love to hear your opinion on this. Post your comments below.

It seems to me that every once in a while a good number of my friends, completely independent of each-other, end up doing something stupid. At the moment this stupid activity is skateboarding. I’m now 29 and after a moment of madness last year I snagged a deal on a long-board skateboard because I thought it would be cool to get back into skating again. It lasted about a week before I hurt myself.

It’s this pattern that seems to be repeating itself with greater an greater frequency; my brother did the same and broke his arm. One of the guys at JP Surfboards has recently broken his shoulder. And a handful of other friends with various scrapes an bruises have announced their final retirement from skateboarding. The common phrase being “I’m too old to skate anymore - it’s for kids”.

But it clearly isn’t “just for the kids”. There are plenty of old timers still active in the sport, just think of Tony Hawk, and some of them are still pushing boundaries over and over again. So it can’t simply be that we get to old to skate. Perhaps it’s just that we’ve forgotten what it’s like to learn how to skate in the first place, which is effectively what we have to do after a 10 years off. Is it that broken limbs just aren’t that cool once you leave school to get a job, or worse - responsibility (in any of its guises).

Needless to say that I still look on with envy, at the kids in skate parks, as I pass by wondering weather I’ve still got it - well I know I don’t still have it and the pain in my shoulder reminds me (a re-aggravated dislocation). It’s been so long now that I can’t even remember the events that left those scars on my elbows and knees - you know, the ones that were once so fondly recounted at every opportunity.

Anyway, this is a thanks to all of you how still can and still skate regularly, with all the amplitude of any young’un. It proves that we still can just so long as we stuck with it. Any of you reading this with a thought on this topic are invited to comment below - Are you too old to skate?