Ramona Skatepark Champions expands its action sports offerings
Ramona Skatepark Champions has expanded its pop-up skateboarding park with scooter functions and has options to eventually add BMX bike using amenities.
Tracy Engel, Skatepark Champions president, explained she aims to present local youths with possibilities for a assortment of motion sports.
“We want to interact children with a local location to study much more about their action and compete with each other,” claimed Engel, who launched Skatepark Champions in 2014 and opened the initial pop-up skatepark in fall 2018. “I’m really fired up to get other action sports activities involved and to get a greater, more powerful products.”
The expansion options are in the nonprofit’s mission statement.
Because scooter driving was included to the mix this thirty day period, Engel stated, skate boarders have been trying out the scooters and vice versa.
Engel has extensive-array programs to make a BMX race keep track of in Ramona and place a long term skateboard and scooter park subsequent to it. Preferably, it would involve a extensive, meandering, paved trail around the park for roller-bladers, walkers, runners and families who want to stroll or operate while their young children bicycle or scoot future to them, she reported.
Just one solution is to build a BMX monitor in conjunction with a proposed Ramona Intergenerational Community Campus (RICC). That task, remaining produced by the county, involves a senior center, outside arena, Reside Properly center and skatepark adjacent to Ramona Library at 1275 Main St.
But just after some 20 decades of setting up for the RICC with no tangible outcomes, Skatepark Champions is looking for alternate web sites for the motion sporting activities facility. Engel mentioned she has not provided up on the concept of putting a sports activities park at the RICC, but is pursuing a backup plan.
Due to the fact June, the team has been on the lookout for land to lease for a multipurpose skate, scooter and BMX park, Engel mentioned.

Aiden Zappias performs a midair ramp changeover at the Skatepark Champions’ pop-up skatepark at 424 Letton St.
(Zach Hinton)
On Sept. 9, Skatepark Champions board member Matt Rains, who is also a Ramona Community Organizing Team member, explained he designs to check with Ramona Unified University District trustees to consider leasing district land for the undertaking at a single of two undisclosed web pages and to support with the youth sports activities plan.
Rains reported he joined Skatepark Champions’ board earlier this year since he sees the positive aspects of the plan, as very well as the enthusiasm of the skateboarders who are taught by an newbie avenue skateboarder from Ramona and a qualified vert skateboarder.
“I’m in support of it simply because I was a skateboarder as a kid,” he mentioned. “Ultimately, it teaches you points that you imagined you can’t do, but with time and follow, you can do just about anything at all. It makes you see plans, and that you can obtain plans, and helps you have an understanding of that observe is significant.”
When a site for a sports park is lined up, Rains mentioned the board may consider presenting their strategies to county Supervisor Joel Anderson.
“It’s a thing we have discussed but not anything we’ve agreed upon,” claimed Rains, including that conference could get various months to set up. “As lengthy as some of the group is beginning to hear and notice what we’re hoping to do, it’ll arrive around. Any motion in a optimistic route is improved than no motion.”

An SDSF Professional Store in Escondido scooter is being raffled at Skatepark Champions this month. Entries recognized at the skatepark.
(Katia Perhach-Owens)
In the meantime, Skatepark Champions is web hosting scooters at the pop-up skatepark in the parking good deal of New Everyday living Assembly of God at 424 Letton St. Skateboarding is from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, and scootering from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and again 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
Volunteer Katia Perhach, a Ramona resident and mother to scooter coach Sergei Perhach, mentioned the timing was proper for incorporating scooters. Sergei, 15, has been scooter using for the past 10 years and has connections with Matt Morrison of the San Diego Scooter and Frisbees shop at Kit Carson Park in Escondido, which supplies scooter equipment for a lower price to the Ramona pop-up park.
Ramona Skatepark Champions park gives small children and younger grown ups a risk-free location to go right after university and on Saturday mornings wherever they can study a skill in a supervised natural environment, Katia Perhach claimed. She explained a everlasting skatepark would be an financial commitment in the group and help families that can not afford to go down the hill to a skatepark.
“A pop-up park indicates there’s a place appropriate now for individuals to go and it is a start off, it’s a good start off, but a lasting park sends the concept that we’re investing in people and youth,” she claimed. “It will take absent the excuse that youngsters have nowhere to go (for recreation.)”
The park also promotes gender equality by welcoming women teaches confidence, concentration and social abilities and delivers actual physical conditioning options for the intellect, soul and physique, she claimed.
And it would supply homeschooled young children these kinds of as her son with a actual physical outlet they need to have.
“It’s taught him anything is doable if you do the job difficult and are tenacious,” she said.
Whether or not Skatepark Champions moves ahead with its BMX park plans on its possess or with the county’s support, they will have to have to present the program is a “viable entity,” Engel explained. The county in specific desires the nonprofit to have a business enterprise approach for creating cash so that it could reimburse the county for retaining the park, she said.
Engel has offered her suggestions to the Ramona Community Arranging Group’s Parks and Recreation Subcommittee, which has commonly been supportive of the proposal.
“The subcommittee mostly agreed that this notion is too major for the RICC prepare, which was exactly what I hoped they would say,” she reported in an e mail. “We also talked about that ideal next to senior facilities could possibly not be the very best placement for a sizable action activity park.”
Engel is hunting to recruit a volunteer to spearhead the BMX task, but Ryan Shohara has been extra as a scooter and BMX mentor.