Edmonton skateboarders push for new indoor facility to ride year round

Here in Edmonton, it's all too common to find skaters ripping up and down the slopes of a skate park just like this one, with riders of all ages practicing their tricks and perfecting their craft. The problem is, come wintertime, most of the skaters in the city have to hang up their boards. But one non-profit is aiming to change that. Absolutely, it's a financial concern to maintain an indoor skate park. The private funding for it might simply not be enough. That's why we need to go a different route than we have in the past. Despite the city being home to a dozen skateparks, not a single one of them is inside. Just over two years ago, one of the city's last remaining indoor parks closed, leaving riders left with nowhere to turn to. Edmonton Skateboarding Association says they're fighting to bring these indoor facilities back permanently. The problem with skateboarding is it naturally inherits needing a bigger space than most facilities. So we need like 5,000 to 10,000 square feet in order to have a sustainable indoor skatepark. According to Bernstein, by taking away the ability to practice during these winter months, riders have to get comfortable on a board all over again come spring. He says that's especially true with younger riders. Yeah, it's really, really hard to just keep skating after the winter, keep the motivation up. My son is not really a team sport kind of guy. We've tried soccer. He just didn't really... Hockey isn't really his thing, so he really, the skateboarding, he just thrives at the skateboarding and with our short season in the summer of Edmonton, he gets intensive practice then and then when winter hits, it's just like totally dead, nothing to do. He was sick back in October for a week, getting back on the board after that. It was a little tricky, you know. I can't imagine losing the entire winter. While there's no concrete plan so far, the non-profits say they're hoping to start the conversation by raising the awareness for what they're calling a desperate need for indoor skate parks here in Edmonton. Tristan Watershed, CBC News, Edmonton.