“Why DIY?” I ask Johannes Whal as we catch our breath between runs in his new indoor spot named “The Cellar”.
“Because Vienna has 48 skate parks and 45 of them are garbage, they just build them without asking the skaters, prefabricated concrete, hundreds of thousands of Euros wasted.”
Johannes and his friends started to build their first spot under a bridge by a river a short walk away from the biggest skate park in Vienna named Neuer in Huttledorf. The motivation to build was to fill the lack of tight transition away from the scooters and bikes which are responsible for the standard of mellow transition throughout Austria.
Their first spot is named “The Sandbox” which is not made with sand at all, just river stones, strained mud, and cement. Three quarters of the way through the build, police who were on patrol under the bridge, a common area for the homeless and drug abusers, questioned the crew. Without a proper explanation they were asked to stop. They continued building, and a short time later their names were taken by the authorities, which brought building to a final halt.
Determined, with lessons learned, they searched for a new spot that was found beside a new highway under construction. The old road that had run parallel to the new one was cut off, with jersey barriers at the end. The barriers quickly became quarter pipes and word spread. Other crews with similar pasts of halted projects came to build and competition grew between them on the build quality of the features. Over time, the individual features started to come together and so did the crews.
Large discussions were held, friendships made and the park began to amalgamate. After over four years of building, the highway company Asfinag who owned the land confronted the group. Asfinag asked them if they were some kind of club and if they had a name. As the crew scrambled for a name Roland Zolle answered, “We are the Spoff Club”. Impressed by what had become of the derelict land, the company offered to lease it to them, as they did not want to be held responsible for injuries. The lease is for one Euro a year for the next ten years.
If you live in northern Austria outside of the capitol city Vienna, then chances are if your town can afford a skate park, it is prefabricated. If you live in Steyr however, most social spending goes towards rehabilitating the most prominent demographic, the at risk youth. Florian Kitzmüller is a social worker working in photography and cinematography, and is a passionate skateboarder that uses those passions to influence his community in a positive way. Flo was able to inspire the skaters of Steyr to build a one hundred percent DIY skateboard park called DIY Skateplaza Resthof. By teaching the youth of his community the benefits of finding a passion in life, he has shown them that their lives have purpose.
The STP Skate Association was created to be the voice of the skaters for the city of Sankt Pölten. The city could not afford to pay a professional company to build them a skateboard park, instead the Skate Association was given some land and funds for materials to build it them selves. This is how Lakeside Skatepark was created which played a major role in building a passionate skateboard scene in Sankt Pölten. Now they are working with the Youth Center and The National Workers Union to build a brand new facility for an indoor skateboard park.
The creative control for the skate park is left up to the skaters, though they are headed by the main builder and designer, Kicki, who is a carpenter by trade. Markus Fanninger and Steven Kuback run the STP Skate Association skateboard forum website, and work together with their cashier, Hogi, to acquire more funds from the city for building material as well as trying to pay Kicki and his crew who are now nearly done building their third skateboard park for their community, without pay. The STP Skate Association is partnered with The Socialist Youth of Sankt Pölten who work together running community events to bring awareness and funds toward their causes. These dedicated skaters demonstrate the kind of collaboration needed to influence your community.
…THE answer is found within the passion of the groups of individuals that band together in a common goal. From the drive of a few grows a climate that renders all possibilities. Their initiative builds a force that cannot be halted, only a redirection opening new paths to do it yourself.