COLORADO SPRINGS — Skateboarding is among the newest sport at the Tokyo Olympic games this year. It's also considered to be one of the most diverse competitions with competitors ranging in age from 12 to 46 years old.
Now that the sport is in the big games, it's also having an impact on some local skaters. A handful of skaters that News5 spoke to said skateboarding in the Olympics will bring more popularity to the sport, and they're excited to watch skaters on the big screen. However, not everyone is on board with skateboarding making its Olympic debut.
"There's some people in the skate community that don't really think it should be in the Olympics. They think its more of an individualistic sport," said Troutwine. "You don't have to be doing crazy tricks all the time. Really as long as you're able to kind of push around on your board, and have fun."
Troutwine has been skating for about six years and explained why some people are hesitant about skateboarding making its Olympic debut. Many skaters believe skateboarding isn't a competitive sport like the Olympics show. Instead, it's a sport where skaters can go to spots like Memorial Skate Park and learn a new trick or hangout with friends.
However Troutwine believes it's a positive step in growing the skateboarding community.
"It's definitely fun to watch and it's cool to see how many countries have both men and women involved in an activity that's going to continuously grow," said Troutwine. "It's also pretty exciting to see how big the skill level is for the pros."
Corin Thompson is an 11-year-old skater and he was also found skating at Memorial Skate Park on Tuesday morning.
"I just like having to ride around and not play too aggressively in a team sport, I just get to kind of freestyle all day," said Thompson.
Thompson has been skateboarding for about a year and says he's excited that skateboarding has been added to the Olympics.
"I like the idea. I like that it's happening, and I think this will help more people to really look forward to this and like push themselves to do more if they're really into this," said Thompson.
As more skateboarding events are taking place in the next couple days, these local skaters are also getting inspired.
"It does inspire me to work a little bit harder towards doing some cool stuff on my skateboard," said Thompson.
"It makes me want to become a better skater... You can always shoot for the stars and have fun but its really all about the people you meet and the community is really cool and everybody is pretty welcoming," said Troutwine.
KOAA News5 also spoke to Garrett Bockstanz, the manager at G&P Skate Park. In a statement he said, "I think there's both positives and negatives to it. The reason I got into skateboarding was because I wasn't a very competitive person and didn't have to be better than anyone else to enjoy it. However, the Olympics will bring a lot of new kids into skateboarding all over the world which is great. It also puts skateboarding in a more positive light for people who view skaters just as punks, criminals, trouble makers. If it leads to more public skate parks, access to skateboarding for kids around the world, and more acceptance from other people then I'm all for it."
