- April 24, 2024
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Kids from around Palm Coast and members of the Maui Nix skate team pose for a photo at Ralph Carter Park. Photo by Ray Boone
Devin Filter, 8, slides down a ramp. Filter has been skateboarding for about a year. Photo by Ray Boone
Aaron McCombs grinds across a rail at Ralph Carter Park. McCombs is a member of the Maui Nix skate team. Photo by Ray Boone
Maui Nix skater Aaron McCombs patiently waits his turn to drop in on a ramp. Photo by Ray Boone
Maui Nix skate team member Dylan O'Keefe (left) instructs 5-year-old Rylan Rookstool (middle) on how to go down a ramp. Photo by Ray Boone
Maui Nix skater Dylan O'Keefe grinds across a rail at Ralph Carter Park. Photo by Ray Boone
Maui Nix skater Jackie Harris jumping off a ramp at Ralph Carter Park. Photo by Ray Boone
Maui Nix Digital Media Manager Brian Heck helps Julian LeFort, 9, with his skating technique. Photo by Ray Boone
Maui Nix skater Jackie Harris jumps after sliding across a rail. Photo by Ray Boone
Rylan Rookstool, 5, learns how to balance on his board from Maui Nix skater Kadi O'Keefe. Photo by Ray Boone
Maui Nix skater Jackie Harris grinds on a rail at Ralph Carter Park. Photo by Ray Boone
Maui Nix skater Kadi O'Keefe (left) helps 10-year-old Jacey Meier balance on her board. Photo by Ray Boone
Maui Nix skater Jackie Harris grinds on a rail at Ralph Carter Park. Photo by Ray Boone
Rylan Rookstool, 5, goes down a ramp with the aid of Maui Nix skater Justin Collins. Photo by Ray Boone
Maui Nix skater Kadi O'Keefe helps 10-year-old Jacey Meier with her balance. Photo by Ray Boone
A Maui Nix skater drops in on a half pipe at Ralph Carter Park. Photo by Ray Boone
Rylan Rookstool, 5, works on his balance with Maui Nix skater Justin Collins. Photo by Ray Boone
Instead of sleeping in to watch cartoons, Jacey Meier headed out to the skate park early Saturday morning.
Rearing to go, she quickly slapped on her knee and elbow pads and tucked her curly brown hair beneath her helmet.
There was just one problem.
Meier could barely stand on her skateboard.
That didn’t deter her, however.
By the end of that morning’s session, the 10-year-old Palm Coast resident was already speeding down ramps.
“I saw people skating on T.V. shows and all around our house,” said Meier, who has been skateboarding for a full two weeks now. “I really wanted to try it.”
As part of the final event of the city of Palm Coast’s Parks and Recreation Month, local kids gathered to learn proper skateboarding technique and safety from the Maui Nix skate team at Ralph Carter Park, located at 1385 Rymfire Dr., on July 29.
For almost two hours, members of the team taught the kids how to balance, move and change direction while on their boards.
By the end of the clinic, some of the kids were able to glide down the park's smaller ramps.
Brian Hek, the store manager of the Maui Nix Surf Shop in Daytona Beach as well as the team’s digital media coordinator, said opportunities like this didn’t exist when he was a kid.
“If you had a skateboard, you were a criminal, pretty much,” he said. “It’s just cool to see so many people supporting it and to see the city of Palm Coast supporting it.
“It’s awesome.”
Hek said he and his team always try to embrace opportunities to encourage the next generation of skaters.
“You never know. One of these kids could be the next big skater,” he said. “But if they never had that push, they would have never made it.”
