Joel Mcilroy at Cleveland Skatepark.
BY KANE STEWART, OWNER OF POP EYES SKATE SHOP, CAPALABA
I first got into skateboarding in the early ’90s when my brother and I both received skateboards for Christmas, and have been hooked since then.
There were no skateparks in the Redlands back then, so the only place to skate was the local Koala Park shopping centre. I guess you could say at a young age skateboarding opened my eyes up to the world, and after seeing my first international skateboard video, I knew I wanted to travel to skate those spots.
Growing up as a skateboarder in the Redlands, you were mostly seen as an outcast or to the general public, ‘up to no good’, but skateboarding has been the one thing that has kept me out of trouble and let me travel the world.
I have been teaching skateboarding for the last 15 years and trying to get the youth of the Redlands back outside and on the board.
Over the years I have seen a decline in skateboarders in the Redlands; I do believe that a major factor is our outdated skateparks here in the Redlands, with even the locals travelling out of town to skate.
With the Redlands producing some of the best skateboarders in Australia, including Joel Mcilroy (pictured), Tommy Fynn and Alex Lawton, I hope the local council can finally do something for the youth and give them a better skateboarding facility.
