Cinema 5 Skatepark has built one of the first adaptive skateboard trainers in Canada in Thunder Bay.
The project is made possible by a new partnership between the skatepark, Junior Inclusion Thunder Bay, Autism Northwest and Confederation College Developmental Service Work Program, and funding from the Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities program.
Vanessa Bowles, the skatepark’s executive director, said skateboarding should be for everyone, and this project will help ensure that.
“It represents a significant step in making skateboarding more inclusive while creating a pathway for youth with disabilities, aged five to 16, to engage in a sport they may not have had access to before,” she said.
Program instructors will deliver one-hour lessons on skateboarding skills and confidence building for six weeks. All adaptive equipment will be provided to ensure that youths with varying abilities can fully participate.
Bowles called the adaptable trainer and program a “game changer” that will allow people with mobility issues to be able to skateboard.
“It can be used either within our park or they can take it out of the park to use it with their child,” she said.
The system was constructed at the Cinema 5 Skatepark this week by Rob Ferguson of Rob Skateboard Academy from the San Francisco Bay area. Bowles discovered Rob Skateboard Academy while she was travelling through California researching indoor skate parks.
Ferguson, who is visiting Thunder Bay to build the system, is the developer of the trainer apparatus that secures the skateboarder safely while they navigate a skateboard underfoot.
“Since I started back in 2007, I’ve had a lot of people ask me to do more things within the adaptive realm,” Ferguson said. “I’ve had some colleagues light the fire under me to start doing some research and development (on my prototype) and to start developing something.”
U.S. studies and analysis have been done on different types of adaptive equipment — Ferguson’s design included — and it was determined how well and beneficial his design is.
“I have seven different prototypes, and this one is actually the very first, more streamlined one that we feel is ready to get out there,” he added.
Ferguson says his other “beta” prototypes are in the early development stages back home in San Francisco.
Glenn McLean, the relationship manager for the Northwestern Ontario Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities, said the funding organization is proud to support Cinema 5 Skatepark.
“At Jumpstart, we are committed to working hand-in-hand with community organizers to improve inclusive and accessible programming to ensure that kids of all abilities can participate in the sports and activities they love,” McLean told The Chronicle-Journal.
An open house will take place today, beginning at 11 a.m. at Cinema 5 Skatepark to view the first-in-Canada skateboard trainer and to meet Ferguson.
