By Olivia Eiken | Staff Writer
If you’ve walked around Fountain Mall between noon and 5 p.m. at any point in the last two years, you have surely come across — or almost been run over by — the men who make up Baylor’s skateboarding community. Whether you appreciate their “boys being boys” mentality or not, they hope to be here to stay.
Jacksonville, Fla., junior Easton Mahepaul is a prominent figure in the skate group, but he never had interest in learning the skill until he came to college. Earlier this semester, he began the process of founding an official skate club through Student Activities. Mahepaul said he wants to create a safe space for students like him who had never skated before.
“We’ve been able to form a community and make something with our specific group, but I know that’s not going to last after we all graduate,” Mahepaul said. “We want to ensure that we leave something behind that’ll last for new freshmen at Baylor. I would love to look back and know that people are continuing to do this sport and have the secured space and opportunity to try it.”
The group plans to have a skate club chartered by next fall, with unique goals in mind.
“One of the main things we want to have in the club is to teach classes and show people that it’s not that hard to get into skateboarding and also that we are a good community, despite what the stereotypical reputation may be,” Mahepaul said.
In a 2009 interview with Time magazine, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk spoke about the bad reputation and negative stereotypes often associated with skateboarders. He said it was because “they had no place to go, so they used the urban landscape as their skate parks.”
Mahepaul said he recognizes the safety concern with skateboarding, but said it’s nothing more than what comes with any other activity.
“I feel like there’s always a concern that we are going to get hurt, but it’s with any sport and doing anything,” Mahepaul said. “You can trip and fall when you’re walking.”
After recently becoming involved with the Baylor skateboarding community, Dallas sophomore Ethan Kazunga said he is grateful for the group because of its culture and the unexpected friendships he has made.
“It’s funny because I don’t have much in common with these guys besides this,” Kazunga said. “Skating has allowed us to come together and form friendships in ways that I wouldn’t have ever known. We’re all so different, but skating really is the unifying factor, and I think that’s really cool and invaluable.”
Kazunga is eager to get a skate club established so that other students at Baylor can have the same opportunity.
“It’s more of a way of organizing what we do, because we already have something so great,” Kazunga said. “Organizing is the driving factor. It’s something to get the skating community together in a way that is productive while also working toward a goal. I feel like if we were a club, we would have our own safe space where we can do our own thing with the security of not getting in trouble from law enforcement and Baylor PD. We just want the Baylor student body and administration to know that we’re not trying to cause any trouble. We’re just practicing our sport like any other group on campus.”
