At More Skate Parks, an ‘aggressive’ takeover

A sophomore in high school this fall, he regularly heads to the skate park on Monday nights, where he shares the sidewalk with aggressive skaters of various ages and skill levels. Lately he has brought his younger sisters with him. “We skate until they turn off the lights,” he said, adding that his fellow skaters push him to try new moves.

In Houghton and other skate parks, skaters also practice alongside BMX riders and skateboarders. “You have to be patient and wait your turn,” he said. “There’s competition and you never know what’s going to happen.”

According to Mr. Julio, interest in aggressive skating declined as skateboarding became more popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The sports have an intertwined history, he said, that hasn’t been without tension between skaters and skateboarders.

“I used to get spat on,” Mr. Julio said. “There were definitely fights.” But lately, he said, skate parks have become more of a “melting pot.” “I think skating has evolved in recent years through inclusivity, not exclusivity,” said Mr. Julio.

Mr. Crowfield, who met Mr. Julio last year, now skates on a team for Pigeon’s Roller Skate Shop, a store in Long Beach. In April, Mr. Crowfield won second place in a miniramp competition for under-18 skaters at the Blading cupan event sponsored by Them Skates.

Sometimes when Mr. Crowfield tells his friends he’s going to skate, they think he means skateboarding. “If I tell them, ‘No, it’s skating,'” he added, “they’ll say, oh!”