May 7, 2022
With more in-person classes, comes more people hanging out and interacting on campus. The recreational sport of skateboarding is commonly spotted everywhere on campus. Skateboarding has been a growing community and is projected to grow as Zane Gottlieb, a 20-year-old Business Administration major, said in an interview. Golden Gate Xpress asked students their experiences with skateboarding and how they would feel if SF State had its own skating structure.
00:03 – 00:49
Nickolas Klein: What got me into skateboarding was it was like sixth grade.
Zaki Willis: I was in middle school.
Karina Saekow: I started skating maybe a few, like two years ago.
Cody Crowell: I started skating when, like right before kindergarten
Zane Gottleib: I learned to skate when I was like 12.
Cody Crowell: My mom would always tell me that even when I was three years old, I was reaching for the skateboards at Target and Walmart, and she wouldn’t let me until I was big enough.
0:49 – 01:04
Zane Gottlieb: And then when I graduated high school, I wasn’t playing any like team sports anymore. And I wanted something that athletic to do with my time, so I picked up skateboarding and then I moved out here and it was like every day I was skateboarding. There’s no, there’s no other choice.
01:09 – 01:33
Zaki Willis: There’s a lot of different reasons, uh, for me making time for skateboarding.
Zane Gottlieb: I make time for skateboarding specifically because, I mean, it brings me a lot of joy.
Zaki Willis: It allows you to see your friends.
Karina Saekow: The community has a lot to do with why I skate.
Cody Crowell: Sometimes it’s because I need something to feel productive. Sometimes it’s because it’s sunny outside, and I want to go explore the city. Sometimes it’s because my friends are doing it.
Zaki Willis: I’d have to say that it’s freeing and it allows me to feel like I’m being myself.
01:45 – 02:15
Cody Crowell: I could not overstate the gratitude that I would feel if an institution like a university came and built skateboard ramps
Nickolas Klein: If they were to build something for us, my views would, like, just be like, it’s more welcoming.
Zen Gottlieb: I feel like skaters make up a decent chunk of the on-campus or just campus population and, like, student body.
Cody Crowell: A lot of young skaters who are growing up in San Francisco would think, oh, ‘San Francisco State has a designated skate area?’ like ‘I want to go there!’
Probably would inspire them to potentially inspire kids to go to college for that sole purpose. And then they find that they like Biology or science or whatever it may be.
Zane Gottlieb: We’d have something to do on campus, just like anyone who wants to play soccer can or basketball or any other sport, there’s no opportunity for skating, but all the other sports are included.
02:38 – 02:56
Karina Saekow: We’re skating here. People are always like bringing their own sort of obstacles to skate. So I think to have one here in general would be like when it would really be used and taken advantage of.
Zaki Willis: YO! If SF STATE HAD A SKATE PARK, WOULD YOU GO HERE?
Unknown person off-camera: Yeah.
Zaki Willis: Exactly. Exactly. Thank you.
