Just in time for the school holidays, there’s a new attraction at a Tauranga skate park.
This year has been big for Sam's Skate School, a free social enterprise that gets young children skateboarding safely.
Class sizes more than doubled, so to give back to supporters school founder Sam Roberston partnered with Tauranga City Council to donate a skate ramp to Memorial Park.
"It's a big concrete plaza with little rails, ramps and ledges but it doesn't have any transition," Roberston said.
"There was a real need for that in this park in particular.
"I did some research and approached the council saying I wanted to donate one and would they like to come in on that and they were happy to do so."
For anyone looking to skate large "vert" ramps, having a good mini-ramp to start on is essential.
Roberston said a mini-ramp was a "small halfpipe".
"It used to be called a halfpipe back in the day, but they're technically called vert ramps and we have two of those in Tauranga," Robertson said.
"You've got a smaller, more mellow transition, the ability to learn lip tricks and to drop in and all those things you need to learn before you approach bigger transitions.
"In terms of a stepping stone for your skateboarding progression – it's an essential one."
Gifting a ramp to the community just in time for Christmas and the school holiday tops off a productive year for the skate coach, who gives up his free time to get kids skateboarding.
"We started off with the grant from Sport Bay of Plenty - the Tū Manawa Fast Fund - and we got a second dose of that in our second year," Roberston said.
"That led to more media coverage and we ended up being nominated for the Local Legends grant from Tauranga Crossing and we won that, which was $5000, so it's been brilliant."
Pedersen says skateboarding's popularity is on the rise and not just because it is now an Olympic sport.
"The whole Covid situation has put a pump into skateboarding," he said.
"Everyone's looking for things to do in New Zealand rather than spending their money on holidays overseas. That's been a help for the skateboarding community."
For anyone lucky enough to get a new board for Christmas, Sam plans to run his free classes throughout the school holidays.
"I'm planning four sessions a week through the school holidays, in the mornings between 10am and 12pm.
"I'll split those sessions into 10 and under and 11 and over so we've got enough space to keep it safe.
"We'll be running sessions here at Memorial Park, Pāpāmoa, 17th Ave and all the other parks we've been at over the year."
