| As the first purpose-built venue of its kind in the UK, the eyes of the sports’ fans have been on the £1.3m project since building got under way, and in the week since it opened it has already played host to groups from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
Speaking from the “hectic” venue, operations director Derek Marshall said the skatepark was operating at around capacity, with literally hundreds of boarders, bladers and BMX riders walking through the doors of the Balunie Drive building each day to take part in the six two-hour sessions.
Explaining that the sports it caters for are just beginning to be taken seriously on an international scale, he added, “We are really at the cutting edge of that in Dundee.”
Though the skatepark’s facilities can offer challenges to the most experienced skaters and riders, and it seems set to become the national venue for the sports, it also offers fun for complete beginners.
“We have kids who got presents for Christmas and just want to try them out, as well as the guys who live their sport and have the whole lifestyle package, including the music and the dress,” explained Derek. “We can cater for them all.”
He estimated that up to 97% of the skatepark’s customers are male, and mostly in the 14-19 age group.
“This can be quite a hard group to reach and to get a message across to so we hope to take the opportunity to work with agencies to offer advice on health, debt counselling, alcohol and drug awareness, a homework support club and an IT suite,” he said
“However, nothing will be forced on anyone. These services will be available and if people are interested they can come along and if not they can just use the other facilities that the skatepark has to offer.” |
