South Africa boasts world`s best skate park

Source: SA Good News, 07/07/2015

Kimberley skate park awarded top position in Global Skateboarding
Awards held in Turkey.
• Northern Cape Province tied with New York City Parks and Recreation
for contribution in promoting skateboarding.
MEC John Block of the Northern Cape Department of Economic Development
and Tourism recently accepted the trophy when the Kumba Skate Plaza in
Kimberley took the honours as the Skate Park of the Year at the
recently held Global Skateboarding Awards in Turkey. The
state-of-the-art skate park was built four years ago and is home to
the annual Kimberley Diamond Cup world skateboarding championships
presented by Kumba Iron Ore, a business unit of Anglo American, as
well as a community leisure park.
The Northern Cape Province also tied with New York City Parks and
Recreation in the category for public entities such as municipalities,
cities or provinces that made a significant contribution in promoting
skateboarding and creating social responsibility programmes to further
the sport. The province has been invested in the Skateboarding for
Hope community outreach programme for the past four years and has
introduced the sport to more than 100 000 youth throughout South Africa.
Accepting the awards on behalf of the Northern Cape Province, Block
expressed the gratitude of the province.
We were very honoured to have been nominated amongst these
well-established skate parks and huge cities in the various
categories. We are obviously absolutely thrilled to have our efforts
recognised on a global platform. Our association with the Kimberley
Diamond Cup was driven by our youth and their need for social
development. The fact that they embraced skateboarding so
passionately and have supported this campaign so enthusiastically has
definitely contributed to us winning these awards.
"As a provincial government, we will continue our involvement with
skateboarding and help to spread the positive message amongst the
youth of our country. We are also looking forward to welcoming the
skateboarding world to Kimberley again from 7 – 10 October 2015 and
invite them to enjoy the warm hospitality and incredible tourism
offerings of the Northern Cape," explained Block at the awards
ceremony hosted during the Global Skateboarding Summit in Istanbul,
Turkey.
The Kumba Skate Plaza eked out competitors such as the Etnies Skate
Park in Lake Forest, California, the Southside Skatepark in Houston,
Texas, Clairemont YMCA in San Diego and the Skatehalle in Aurich,
Germany. The Kimberley facility is the only one of its kind in the
world offering free access, training clinics and contests all-year
round. Thousands of skaters are drawn to the park on an annual basis
and it has become one of the key tourism attractions in the capital
city of South Africa`s largest province.
According to Tim McFerran of World Skateboarding Grand Prix, the skate
park is an undeniable asset for the community of Kimberley and the
Northern Cape. "Over the past four years, more than 120 000 people
have visited the Kumba Skate Plaza. Free skateboarding training is
presented on a daily basis. Since the Northern Cape provincial
government has embraced skateboarding as part of their youth
development programme, the skate park has played an enormous role in
uniting the youth of the province and creating a sense of ownership
amongst the burgeoning skateboarding community. Last year saw an
unprecedented 37 countries being represented at the world
championships and we`re expecting an even greater turn-out for 2015,"
mentioned McFerran.