Build it and they'll come
Sydney skateboarding legend Chad Ford talks to David Hayes
With knees free and elbows unpadded, Chad takes to the cement
To outsiders, skateboarding may
seem like a phase left in your teenage
years alongside a penchant for punk
rock and smoking dope, but 36-yearold
Sydney skate park architect Chad
Ford has made a career of it. “Skating
gives me balance,” says Ford,
who has designed over 50 Australian
skate parks and countless more
temporary ramps. “As good as you
think you are, it sends you crashing
back to earth.”
Ford first hit the deck as a four-year-old living in Millers Point and
became involved in designing skate
parks as a young adult. “My mum
was really supportive,” he says. “She
thought it was really healthy and
constructive.” His first skate park, a
wooden pipe at Keirle Park in Manly,
has been redesigned by Ford five
times and is still one of the most
popular skate parks on the Northern
Beaches. “A good skate park has
flow,” he says. “That’s about not
sending boarders into dead spots by
linking obstacles together.”
More than 64 Aussie and international
deck dogs will hit Bondi Skate
Park this Saturday to compete in the
fourth annual Bowl-A-Rama skate
competition. “It will present Australian
skating on the world stage,” says
Ford, who is organising the event.
“Overseas skateboarders tend to be
specialists of certain aspects of skating,
but Australian skateboarders are
more well rounded.”
Among the Aussie skateboarders
competing will be Calvin Harris
and Jeff ‘Skunk’ Williams, who has
skated for almost 20 years. About
1,500 spectators are expected to
visit the event, which will include
live DJs and stadium seating. “You
can channel your mood through
skateboarding,” says Ford. “It’s been
part of my life since I was a kid in
the mid-seventies.”
Bowl-A-Rama is
on Sat 23 Feb.