Learning to Skateboard / Which local skateparks are good for beginners? / Derby Nottingham Skate

As I posted about previously,  I'm currently learning to skateboard!  It's been about a month now since I first ventured into the land of wheels on a bit of wood, and along with my other half we've discovered there's a fair few parks round this way.  So, here's the good the bad and the ugly of my local parks...

(Please forgive me that I don't know the right terms for things yet! I'm still learning)

I learnt pretty early on that I like concrete ones.  Smoother, and brighter so just look nicer! Unfortunately Belper's is bottom of the list.  Not only is the park itself just a small and naff metal one, it's also generally in a bit of a state so not a nice environment to skate in.  As a beginner, there's nothing there for me really. the thought of slipping on the metal seems scary and slippy so I've not got interest in attempting to go up or down anything there. The ground is tarmac I think, not the smoothest, and it only covers a small area compared to all the other parks so that gets boring pretty fast.  It's also rare to not have bits of broken glass etc... Unfortunately the location leads to it being left with such things on the ground, empty bottles and cans etc. It's hidden behind a supermarket on the edge of the town centre with just a field behind, I didn't even know it was there until recently despite living here for a few years.  So yeah, not recommended at all, from a beginners point of view or Dan's, who is much more advanced than I!  There's supposedly plans to get a concrete one built in Belper at some point, but who knows if or when that will happen...

We have found some nice ones round here though. 

Eastwood was the first we went to, a big concrete park towards Nottingham and about 20 minutes from Belper.  It has different types of fairly gradual ramps that I can practice on, and also a fair bit of an open flat area for me to just practice skating up and down on.  So it's a pretty good one for me as a learner.  The area it's in seems quite nice too. It can get busy but the areas I use are sort of separate from the main central bit that the more advanced skaters use anyway so that works quite well for learners wanting an area to go at their own pace without the pros constantly riding through.

A bit further afield there's Long Eaton skate park. This seems to always be fairly busy but is in the setting of an actual park so it's in nice surroundings.  Although it's a good size I didn't think this was as good for me as the other Nottingham way one. Maybe because of how busy it's been when we've been there, I felt like going at a slower pace made me feel like I was just in the way of people due to the layout.  I couldn't really practice rolling back and forth up and ramps or pipes as there was just a constant flow of people coming through.  I tended to just stick at the edges as a result, but if it was a quiet day with only a few people maybe it'd be better.

I think my favourite locally so far may have been Kirk Hallam. It was the quietest one we found (we got there at 9am though) so that probably affects how I feel about it. There was big open flat space to just practice skating around on the ground and my leans to slowly turn the corners and also some low ramps for me to practice on.  I did fall on my butt trying to go down a very little hill at the top but I'll conquer it eventually.

Derby had a decent skate park on the way into the city. Another concrete one, with some cool graffitti (a tiki head, a box made to look like a giant box of jaffa cakes). This was pretty good for me as there was a fair flat length I could practice skating up and down on and also some ramps too. It was fairly quiet when we were there and it seemed quite looked after with being near a main road and overlooked (ie the opposite of Belper's). The only issue was parking, it's been the only one we've been to with very minimal free parking next to it. This was the first park we went to that exclusively had skateboarders on it while we were there, Dan thinks it's because it's been designed more with skateboarders in mind than the others we go to.  It's not uncommon for us to be the only ones with skateboards at some of the others. Young kids on scooters are the regulars, some older guys on bikes, every now and then other skateboarders or people on roller skates.

We ended up at one in Chesterfield once too on the way back from somewhere up North and I liked that one. Lots of open space for me and again ramps I felt comfortable enough practicing rolling up and back down on a bit as a beginner.

Trying to think what others we've been to... there's been some other random little ones on the same sort o scale as Belper's tiny one...nothing really of note or worth recommending. 

I think it definitely helps to get down to a proper skatepark while you're learning though.  I remember when I first went to one after previously only practicing on our patio and noticing such a huge difference.  The variety of the space is good to have too to practice on different gradients, getting used to the feel of going down slight slopes and having enough of an area to practice turning by leaning. There's also the obvious of it simply being a designated safe space to get some practice time in.

How far along are you in your skating journey? Or is it something you're considering giving a go? Do leave me a comment if you've dropped by!

Becky