Name: Jacob Denis

Age: 12

Background knowledge Information: Writing a little article on On my skateboard I can ollie, ollie drops, backside boardslide, 50-50 small things, pop shove-it, ollie sets up to 5 stairs and under. I can manual, backside ollie 180, ollie on 1/4 of pipes, tail and nose stalls and rightnow I am currently working on kickflips, nollies, heelflips and my wall plants. The reason I joined the youth committee is because I have the dieing love for skateboarding and I want to try and help out my best to get this park up and running for not only myself but my friends and other skateboarders who need a second home.

Describing who you are? What you do for a living?
My name is Jacob Denis and I am 12 years old. I have been skateboarding for about 8 months now and snowboarding for 3 seasons. I am a skateboarder, snowboarder and I also do snowskating. I play guitar and piano. I have set my goals with Scott Duncan and Kirk Ruston and they are helping me out by achieving them. I have many hobbies such as basket ball, soccer and other fine sports.

Thanks to Jacob Denis age of 12 for supporting the S.C.I.P.P dreams by writing this letter and presenting it in front of his school.

In the news; the Consumer Protection Safety Council have banned hockey for players under sixteen due to the severity and high number of injuries. The Consumer Protection Safety Council is till discussing the possibility for a ban against basket-ball, baseball and soccer.

Doesn't make much sense does it?

Now you know how skateboarders feel.

The Society has used injuries as an excuse to ban skateboarding. The CPSC Consumer Protection Safety Council's injury statistics for 1998 show that out of ten hundred thousand injuries, basket-ball has 223 injuries, baseball has 115 and soccer had 62 injuries, where skateboarding had only 20. Skateboarding injuries are half from irregular riding surfaces. Journal of trauma Oct, 2002 states that 33% of the injuries happen during the first 2 and 3 weeks of skateboarding and first are sprains, cuts and scrapes, but very rarely a severe injury such as neck or head. In comparison, the most common sprains followed by knee ligaments and ankle fractures.

Dr. Micheal Yorganson is an orthopaedic surgeon and he stated about skateboarding that 'the overall risk is less than playing basket-ball and is probably similar to riding a bike or snowboarding.'

The sport of skateboarding was invented by southern California surfers that thought of a way to surf without water as they invented the sport of skateboarding in the 1950's. Almost universally outlawed in the 1960's because it was perceived as dangerous. Skateboarding is growing more than mountain biking, golf and statistics show more than 50 other sports.

If you think that skateboarding is still a bit sketchy just look at skateboarding as a business. There are over 200 different companies in the U.S. that produce skateboarding items, such as decks, trucks, wheels, bearings, hardware to shirts, hats, shoes and any other clothing. Over one hundred thousand skateboards are made a month and twenty five thousand wheels every day. Not including posters, stickers, magazines and videos. Skateboarding is an eight hundred million dollar a year business.

What would the towns do if 9.2 million adults in America participated in tennis? You would probably build them some tennis courts. Well the number of skateboarders between 12-18 years of age will reach 9.3 Million this year. That is a lot of athletes without a place to play.