Urban Skate Plaza in Ampang Park, the latest skatepark in Klang Valley, draws skaters of all ages.
The thrill of gliding over a metal bar. The deep satisfaction that comes from landing a stunt trick. The feel of wind through one’s hair. These are the sum of all joys for skateboarders and other roller sports enthusiasts.
For full-time skateboarding coach Alfian Fariady Bashir Ahmad, 45, the driving force behind this popular activity –apart from the adrenaline rush – is the camaraderie that comes with it.
“Now that I am in my 40s, I can’t perform as easily the tricks that I used to be able to do in my teens.
The Shah Alam Extreme Park was professionally designed but lacks lighting and cover to shield users against the elements. — Photos: GRACE CHEN, SHAARI CHEMAT and GLENN GUAN/The Star
“But one reason why I still skate is because of my friends. The friends you make in skateboarding will remain your friends for life,” said Alfian who has been skating since his tweens.
Having come from Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, at age 19 to work as a barista in Sunway, Subang Jaya, Alfian remembers how skateboarding helped him to make friends.
Since perseverance and fitness make up the core elements of this extreme sport, international skateboarding judge Mariss Khan, 45, said it was not surprising that parents were encouraging their children to take up the sport.
“As a skater, I know how this activity can build character. It tests your endurance because when you fall, you are expected to get up again.
Alfian: The camaraderie among the skater community is for life.
“It teaches you not to give up easily and makes you a tougher person who is ready for any challenge,” said Mariss.
This father of four is now supporting his eldest son, Muhammad Mer Nullah Khan, 13, in skateboarding competitions.
For Putrajaya Challenge Park (PPC) manager Mohd Bazly Mohammad Najib, 39, skateboarding has always been a way for him to de-stress.
“When I’m in the rink, it’s all about having fun. I get to step out of reality for a while.
“At PPC, we receive up to 1,000 to 2,000 riders a month. During school holidays, that number doubles,” said Bazly.
Alfian: The camaraderie among the skater community is for life.
Riding into history
If you’re wondering how popular roller sports are with locals, Malaysia Skate Federation (MySkate) has listed 130 skateparks.
Selangor and Kuala Lumpur have the most, with 40 locations.
The latest location is the Urban Skate Plaza beside Ampang Park MRT station in Kuala Lumpur.
Public skateparks in the Klang Valley can be found in Shah Alam, Subang Jaya and Kajang.
In Sepang, the public skatepark is in Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi.
The skater community is a passionate lot.
Mariss (right) with Muhammad Mer Nullah, who is representing the country at international skateboarding competitions.
“Some skateparks are identified as ‘DIYs’, meaning they are not custom built but are spaces that have been repurposed or outfitted by a community of riders, using salvaged plywood or metal and fashioned into ramps,” said Bazly.
An example is the Kampung Sungai Kantan Youth Park in Kajang.
Mariss, who operates a skateboard shop beside this park, recalls how the traditional Malay village with a population of 5,000, came to be the site of an extreme sport facility.
“The skatepark was once an abandoned street hockey rink, buried metres deep in mud.
“Around the mid-1990s, riders who had once skated on the streets in Kajang town ended up congregating here. They cleaned up the mud and built their own ramps,” said Mariss.
In 2015, a collaboration between the international footwear brand Converse and Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) resulted in the design and construction of the skatepark.
Taken over by nature
One skatepark that has become a draw for thrill-seekers is an abandoned site, overgrown with vegetation and hidden from public view.
Known as “The Lost Skate Park”, it is located in Bukit Cerakah, now known as Shah Alam National Botanic Gardens.
Oral history has it that it was completed in the early 1990s but was less frequented due to the remote location as well as the lack of public transport.
Cracks, loose concrete and ponding at the Sungai Kantan Youth Park in Kajang raise safety concerns among skateboarders.
Roller sports enthusiasts are known to go the extra mile of taking hours to clear the unkempt growth before shooting action videos and photography sessions at this location although there is another skatepark beside a block of PKNS flats in Section 6, just 10 minutes away.
Among those who have done so were BMX rider Shahrul Reezwan in 2017 and professional skateboarder Arina Rahman in 2014 and 2018.
“I forgot how long it took but we had to do a lot of cleaning. Dried leaves, stones and dirt. There was a large crack on one side of the ramp. A part of it had also sunk due to soil erosion,” said Arina, 32.
Shahrul, 31, said he and a group of motorcross bicycle riders, who call themselves “Kayuh BMX”, were paid RM200 each by an energy drink brand to clear the place for the shoot.
They received special permission from the park and were able to drive their cars in.
Those who have been there said the effort was worth it as the place had special appeal.
Though the place is currently unusable due to its current condition, skaters like Alfian said tourists who were also skating enthusiasts had made it a point to visit the place.
The Shah Alam National Botanic Gardens skatepark has been overrun by vegetation.
Maintaining skateparks
Riders estimate the skating community here to be close to 40 years old. Hence, the wear-and-tear of skateparks can be expected.
Bazly said maintenance crews must focus most on the flooring.
“After 10 years or so, the concrete will get crusty, producing small stones which can impede wheel movement.
“If the wheels come to a sudden stop, it is dangerous for riders. So, a short-term measure to address this safety issue is to have the whole park swept or blown before the riders arrive,” he said.
Drainage, said Bazly, was another crucial aspect, given how the country experiences rain year-round.
Bazly doing a tailside on a bank at the Urban Skate Plaza, beside the Ampang Park MRT station. — Photo courtesy of ALIFF Budiman Abd Halim
“To prevent flooding, the surface drain traps and underground drainage must not be blocked.
“Once water gets under the concrete, it will chip and come apart.
“This will then become a major problem as skatepark flooring cannot be patched up. It has to be replaced entirely,” he added.
Another common problem with skateparks is in the technical specifications of the obstacles, said Mohd Fakhrul Rozi, 30, a BMX rider who has been riding for 14 years.
“When the consultants hired to design a skatepark have no clue about the correct specifications, the taxpayers’ money is wasted.
Quah (right) and Kimi say most facilities don’t have a roof to shelter from rain except the one at Mont Kiara.
“There is a skatepark located in Pahang where its rails have been built too high and the gaps in between make it impossible to grind.
“The ramps were also built too close to each other. On social media, netizens have queried if the place is actually meant for Ninja Warriors,” said Mohd Fakhrul.
In order for skateparks to be built properly, the relevant authorities must engage with the right parties, he added.
Putrajaya Challenge Park and Shah Alam Extreme Park were designed by “king of roller skating” Tim Altic in collaboration with Stretchmarks Asia, a company that specialises in building vertical sports and urban adventure spaces.
Top on the wishlist of the roller sport community, which also includes roller and inline skaters, is for open-air skateparks to have a roof so that riders can train under all weather conditions.
Skateparks also need proper lighting so riders can continue to train after the sun has gone down.
Fariq says research is critical to ensuring obstacles adhere to technical specifications.
Kiki Quah, 49, whose 13-year-old daughter Kimi Lim has been taking skate lessons since she was five, said the facility at Mont Kiara was the only place with a roof.
“In other places, when it rains, we can’t skate,” said Quah.
Shazwan Hisam, 26, a journalist who has been skateboarding since he was 12, said layouts should also be upgraded.
“At many of the skateparks, the layout has remained the same since the 2000s,” he noted.
Selangor Sports Council (MSNS) chief executive officer Mohamed Nizam Marjugi, 48, said most of the skateparks were under the purview of the local authorities or village community management committees who oversee the maintenance and repairs of such facilities.
“In essence, the building of an actual skatepark is based on the needs of a community, which will be identified by the respective local authorities,” said Mohamed Nizam.
But unlike swimming pools and football fields which have set specifications, the building of skateparks can be complicated as the type of features that are needed may vary according to users’ skill level, he elaborated.
“The requirements of the community in an area have to be surveyed before deciding what elements are needed for a particular skatepark,” he pointed out.
Stressing that the initial research will pay off in the long run, is skatepark builder Fariq Mohamed Esa, 40.
“Constructing a skatepark is not cheap. Depending on the type of obstacles, the construction for one can start from RM200,000, without taking the land (cost) into account,” he said.
MySkate president Ahmad Idroose Tambarin said skateparks were necessary in order for young talents to emerge in the sport.
“Without them, there will cease to be continuity in the number of riders,” he said.
To create a better way to match a rider’s skill level to a particular skatepark, Ahmad Idroose said MySkate had devised a grading system to identify recreational and competition-level parks based on their design flow and facilities.
“We have done our first pilot grading with the Gurney Bay Skate Park in Penang.
“We hope to be able to work with other local authorities to carry out grading in skateparks around the country,” he added.
