The skies are getting cloudy, the temperature is starting to ease downwards and the children are going back to school. For some that means the end of outdoor sports and the start of hockey season, but for David “Hallywood” Hallstead and the Sunshine Coast BC Sk8 Club, it means finding a way to move indoors so they can continue to mentor the students and the students can continue to skate.
“I feel like my job right now is to really invest in the team,” Hallywood said. “To build the relationship with the team so that next summer – the plan is 100 per cent to still do Sk8 Skool in the summer. But we want to set apart the fact that this really goes beyond just skateboarding. We want to really focus on the life lessons aspect of it.”
Sk8 Skool ran from July 6 to Aug. 25 at Brothers Skate Park outside the Gibsons and Area Community Centre. The Sk8 Club is made up of both the Gibsons Sk8 Team and the Sk8 Skool. Now Hallywood is looking for ways to keep the club going through the rainy season so they can continue to foster mentorship and support for the students.
“What we want to do is continue to set a time where the kids who built a relationship with us this summer can still come hang out with us,” Hallywood said. “That’s the biggest thing, at the end of the day. What these kids want more than skateboarding is the relationship, not the skateboarding. Many of our students were kids from single mom families.
“We’ve had a number of the moms say, ‘I don’t have much, but how do I support you?’ I say, just keep telling the story,” Hallywood said. “These kids found dads, they found uncles, they found big brothers this summer.”
Sk8 Skool ended with a field trip to Gleneagles Skate Park in Horseshoe Bay with 26 parents, teachers and students.
“We skated for about an hour in the blazing sun and then walked back down the hill to Trolls and had about 24 of us at dinner,” Hallywood said. “It was amazing, it was such an incredible feeling. We had a table of 12 kids aged five to 13, all having dinner and they were so perfectly behaved.
“One of our skate teachers moved to Vancouver and left his board behind to donate, so we gave it to the son of a single mom who moved up here from San Diego. She was in tears when he came home with a new skateboard,” Hallywood said.
“I was on the phone with her talking about how much we want to keep up a relationship with him and she was in tears again just thanking us for how much it’s meant to him. It really changed his summer and his relationship to this town. We’re about so much more than just skateboarding, it’s really about that mentorship.”
Michelle Lee was overwhelmed with the difference that Sk8 Skool has made for her son Kaiden, or “Kage” as he’s known to the other skaters. Kage is nine now, having moved to the Coast from San Diego about four years ago.
“It’s been tough for him finding where to fit in,” Lee said. “The Coast is a very close-knit community. I mean, even with Kage starting out in kindergarten, all these kids were in diapers together. It was really weird how hard it was to break in to the group.”
Lee said she’s noticed a change in Kage’s demeanour since he started going to Sk8 Skool this summer.
“He’s been more independent, I noticed,” she said. “He loves it and he loves the guys who are running it. Just having these positive male role models and a place where he can go every day, it makes a huge difference.
“Kage has always based his self worth on his performance,” she said. “He’s always been very competitive. Hallywood and Uncle Jack [Jackson Creelman] have taught him to just chill out a little bit. Just enjoy being there. In doing so it’s taken a lot of pressure off Kage. He doesn’t feel like he has to be the best or be able to do all of these tricks. He just likes to show up, he just likes to be there.”
Kage started hockey this week and one of the coaches has already remarked to Lee that her son seemed more confident.
“I hope they just keep it going, I really do,” Lee said. “It’s made such a difference.”
Keep it going is exactly what Hallywood is now trying to do, but to do that they need to secure funding. The Gibsons Rotary Club recently made a donation for equipment and prizes, but Hallywood said he intends to bring their message to other groups on the Coast so they can find a space to turn into an indoor skate park.
“My next step is I want to get it on the Town [of Gibsons] council meeting agenda,” Hallywood said. “I’m going to invite every skater, every scooter rider, every BMXer, every skate parent, every skate friend and just absolutely, completely flood Town Hall with support saying that we need an indoor space.
“If we have an indoor space that’s flat and dry, we can start skating,” he said. “There are a number of skaters here on the Coast who have ramps that they’ve built in their back yards. I think if we get the space it will be like, if you build it they will come.
”For now, younger children can drop in to skate from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays at Brothers Skate Park, as long as it’s not raining. Team skate will follow at 8 p.m. For more information, you can find Sk8 Skool: SCBC on Facebook.
