Skaters Ramp it Up at Skate Jam
Skaters competed at noon on Saturday, April 12, in Prevention and Recovery’s second annual Ramp it Up Skate Jam for the Community Opioid Int
Skaters competed at noon on Saturday, April 12, in Prevention and Recovery’s second annual Ramp it Up Skate Jam for the Community Opioid Intervention Pilot Project (COIPP) at Lawton Skate Park.
Youths aged 5 to 17 and adults ages 18 and older could participate in the event.
Project Director of COIPP Anthony Monoessy said they came up with the event to reach out to children, kids and teenagers, as well as adults, to promote opiate prevention within the community.
“We came up with this idea, we feel like the skateboard community has been left out,” he said. “You have the softball, football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, different sports that you promote every year. Different entities, different communities seem to have focused on those athletics for a long time and we feel like the skateboard community with the youth have been left out totally. It's like nobody pays attention to them, they're their own group, they do their own thing and there is a lot of temptation, peer pressure within this community.”
Monoessy said people sometimes come up during events, such as Skate Jam, looking for help.
“When you reach out to the skate community, any community, any type of athletic community, youth community that you reach out to, you have some kids that will confide in you, know that you're there for a good purpose and then they try to come and tell you things, talk to you, kind of give you a message, try to deliver their message,” he said. “Like within the skate community, a lot of the youth within the skate community, they tend to skate because of a mental illness, they try to focus on something else or maybe things [aren’t] quite right at home, so they come to the skate park and skating is their vent. When they skate, they seem to be at peace, they seem to be at one with their skateboard, and skating just gives them a free feeling, it frees them from all the, maybe the tension they deal with at home. Maybe the bullying they might deal with at school, maybe there's drugs, alcohol within the home, they feel like they can't say [anything] to anybody so they come to the skate park, and by skating, it relieves them of all that.”
Monoessy said hobbies and sports relieve stress and can help with outside factors.
“It relieved different things that were going on at home, kids from broken homes to grandparents raising them to their parents being incarcerated, so a lot of them pick up athletic sports or skating or some type of extracurricular activity, a hobby to get their mind focused on something other than thinking about what's actually going on,” he said. “And so we started this skate jam to reach out to a community that really nobody knows about, nobody pays attention to them, you know, and so these children, these kids within the skate community, they have a lot of stress on them. And when you come to the skate park and you tend to…visit with them and engage, interact with them, then they tend to start telling you things, they start telling you and pretty soon the more you show up, the more you show you care, the more they're involved with you.”
Monoessy said they promote Prevention and Recovery through brochures and social media for anyone who needs information.
One of the judges and MC of the event, Zachary Smith, said this is the first Skate Jam attending. He said he heard about it last year through Arok Nevaquaya, who helps Smith host Oklahoma Showdown.
“Him just basically introducing me and he called me out and he knows that I love emceeing, that I've skateboarded for 20 years, that they didn't really have a whole lot of support for judges and so he asked me if I'd come out and emcee the event for him,” he said.
Smith said he enjoyed being at Skate Jam and helping to promote healthy lifestyles.
“I had such a good time. It was a lot of fun meeting everybody involved,” he said. “I didn't actually know that it was like an opioid preventative program, that they were almost in the exact same mind frame as what I'm doing, which is really cool today and that's why I was really actually more excited to be there today was because that's the point of this, right, is most of us that are my age or older in their mid-30s or 40s, we got into skating, whether it be rollerblading, scootering, BMX skating, right, we got into that because most of us don't come from the standard household, right?”
Smith said there was much talent, despite weather conditions.
“I mean, we had some actually really good talent out there, you know, shredding down on those parks and it was hot,” he said.
Smith said having the skaters show up was impressive.
“They were out there skating diligently, you know, for two and a half hours in that heat, direct heat,” he said. “I mean, those ramps are probably 150 degrees today, I mean, it's hot. The concrete is probably 130. So hats off to them.”
Smith said he eventually wants to help get rollerblading and skateboarding next year.
“Where we can spread that same message that he's trying to spread, you know, where we're trying to get kids to understand that these are good sports, they're Olympic sports, right? You can go to the Olympics now on a skateboard,” he said. “So, I think it's important, especially with impoverished communities and, you know, developing communities is that, you know, we send the message that these things are supported and that there is a better way. And that every time you go to the skate park and you see that individual who's smoking weed or drinking alcohol or doing any of those things, that that's not necessarily the culture or the vibe, right? You want to give them a different perspective. And so, putting a positive light on skating is definitely something that we want to do.”
Smith said not all families can support someone who plays soccer or football, but individual sports, such as skating, teach kids perseverance. He said the sport helped him through hard times, especially with music.
Smith said Prevention and Recovery will be contributing to Oklahoma Showdown on September 16. Oklahoma Showdown is working with area outreaches and will give away skates to kids.
Pizza, skateboards and other items were given to those at Skate Jam. Winners also received checks for first through third place.
Those interested in more information about Prevention and Recovery can reach them on the Comanche Nation website or by calling 580-492-3614.
ervention Pilot Project (COIPP) at Lawton Skate Park.
Youths aged 5 to 17 and adults ages 18 and older could participate in the event.
Project Director of COIPP Anthony Monoessy said they came up with the event to reach out to children, kids and teenagers, as well as adults, to promote opiate prevention within the community.
“We came up with this idea, we feel like the skateboard community has been left out,” he said. “You have the softball, football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, different sports that you promote every year. Different entities, different communities seem to have focused on those athletics for a long time and we feel like the skateboard community with the youth have been left out totally. It's like nobody pays attention to them, they're their own group, they do their own thing and there is a lot of temptation, peer pressure within this community.”
Monoessy said people sometimes come up during events, such as Skate Jam, looking for help.
“When you reach out to the skate community, any community, any type of athletic community, youth community that you reach out to, you have some kids that will confide in you, know that you're there for a good purpose and then they try to come and tell you things, talk to you, kind of give you a message, try to deliver their message,” he said. “Like within the skate community, a lot of the youth within the skate community, they tend to skate because of a mental illness, they try to focus on something else or maybe things [aren’t] quite right at home, so they come to the skate park and skating is their vent. When they skate, they seem to be at peace, they seem to be at one with their skateboard, and skating just gives them a free feeling, it frees them from all the, maybe the tension they deal with at home. Maybe the bullying they might deal with at school, maybe there's drugs, alcohol within the home, they feel like they can't say [anything] to anybody so they come to the skate park, and by skating, it relieves them of all that.”
Monoessy said hobbies and sports relieve stress and can help with outside factors.
“It relieved different things that were going on at home, kids from broken homes to grandparents raising them to their parents being incarcerated, so a lot of them pick up athletic sports or skating or some type of extracurricular activity, a hobby to get their mind focused on something other than thinking about what's actually going on,” he said. “And so we started this skate jam to reach out to a community that really nobody knows about, nobody pays attention to them, you know, and so these children, these kids within the skate community, they have a lot of stress on them. And when you come to the skate park and you tend to…visit with them and engage, interact with them, then they tend to start telling you things, they start telling you and pretty soon the more you show up, the more you show you care, the more they're involved with you.”
Monoessy said they promote Prevention and Recovery through brochures and social media for anyone who needs information.
One of the judges and MC of the event, Zachary Smith, said this is the first Skate Jam attending. He said he heard about it last year through Arok Nevaquaya, who helps Smith host Oklahoma Showdown.
“Him just basically introducing me and he called me out and he knows that I love emceeing, that I've skateboarded for 20 years, that they didn't really have a whole lot of support for judges and so he asked me if I'd come out and emcee the event for him,” he said.
Smith said he enjoyed being at Skate Jam and helping to promote healthy lifestyles.
“I had such a good time. It was a lot of fun meeting everybody involved,” he said. “I didn't actually know that it was like an opioid preventative program, that they were almost in the exact same mind frame as what I'm doing, which is really cool today and that's why I was really actually more excited to be there today was because that's the point of this, right, is most of us that are my age or older in their mid-30s or 40s, we got into skating, whether it be rollerblading, scootering, BMX skating, right, we got into that because most of us don't come from the standard household, right?”
Smith said there was much talent, despite weather conditions.
“I mean, we had some actually really good talent out there, you know, shredding down on those parks and it was hot,” he said.
Smith said having the skaters show up was impressive.
“They were out there skating diligently, you know, for two and a half hours in that heat, direct heat,” he said. “I mean, those ramps are probably 150 degrees today, I mean, it's hot. The concrete is probably 130. So hats off to them.”
Smith said he eventually wants to help get rollerblading and skateboarding next year.
“Where we can spread that same message that he's trying to spread, you know, where we're trying to get kids to understand that these are good sports, they're Olympic sports, right? You can go to the Olympics now on a skateboard,” he said. “So, I think it's important, especially with impoverished communities and, you know, developing communities is that, you know, we send the message that these things are supported and that there is a better way. And that every time you go to the skate park and you see that individual who's smoking weed or drinking alcohol or doing any of those things, that that's not necessarily the culture or the vibe, right? You want to give them a different perspective. And so, putting a positive light on skating is definitely something that we want to do.”
Smith said not all families can support someone who plays soccer or football, but individual sports, such as skating, teach kids perseverance. He said the sport helped him through hard times, especially with music.
Smith said Prevention and Recovery will be contributing to Oklahoma Showdown on September 16. Oklahoma Showdown is working with area outreaches and will give away skates to kids.
Pizza, skateboards and other items were given to those at Skate Jam. Winners also received checks for first through third place.
Those interested in more information about Prevention and Recovery can reach them on the Comanche Nation website or by calling 580-492-3614.
