Skateistan

Decades of war have deprived Afghan youth of sports and recreation. An Australian man is trying to change that by building a skateboarding school.

Afghanistan has the highest proportion of school-age children in the world. For a vast majority of these seven million youngsters, sports are virtually nonexistent.

Oliver Percovich, a 34-year-old from Melbourne, Australia, plans to open Afghanistan’s first skateboarding school, Skateistan, this spring. He sees the sport as a way to woo students into after-school activities like English and computer classes, which are otherwise reserved for the elite.

Most public schools, stretched to provide basic materials like desks, do not have playgrounds. Boys play pickup soccer or volleyball games on dusty fields. But sports are an afterthought for most girls, who are discouraged from public gatherings. When Afghan girls reach puberty, they must be veiled and can no longer associate with men outside the family. Percovich said his indoor skate park could be part of the solution, with boys and girls in separate classes.

Percovich has raised the money needed to build an 8,600-square-foot bubble to house the nonprofit Skateistan complex, and the Kabul Parks Authority has tentatively donated land. He is still waiting for official permission to begin the project.

About 20 embassies and nongovernmental organizations rejected Percovich’s financing proposal for a skateboarding school. He was down to $1,500 and had maxed out his credit card to pay the rent. Percovich’s break came last October, when the Canadian, Norwegian and German governments pledged a combined $120,000. The Kabul Parks Authority chose a site in a poor area of the city.

Andreas Schüetzenberger, whose German company, IOU Ramps, has built 300 skate ramps in places like Israel and Mongolia, plans to install the platforms at no cost once Skateistan is built.

Percovich also recruited Titus Dittman, who delivered one ton of secondhand skate equipment. In 1982, Dittman transformed a parking lot in Germany into one of the world’s most well-known cult skate scenes, Monster Mastership, which has since become the World Skateboarding Championships.

“Afghan kids are the same as kids all over the world,” Percovich says. “They just haven’t been given the same opportunities. They need a positive environment to do positive things for Afghanistan and for themselves.”

Length: 6:13

By Adam B. Ellick

VIEW: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/01/25/sports/othersports/1231544948551/skateistan.html

SEE ALSO:
Skateboarding in Afghanistan Provides a Diversion From Desolation
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/sports/othersports/26skate.html