Bearings on the Board: Ridgewood Skateboard Camps do the Trick

Follow the winding, tree-covered path down from the Stable parking lot towards Graydon, and you’ll hear the familiar slaps of skateboards on pavement, echoing within the cinderblock walls.

A group of helmet-clad kids toting skateboards focuses carefully on a young man who is explaining how to do an “Ollie.” It’s a skateboard trick requiring one to pop the skateboard off the ground without the use of hands. It’s the basis of many other tricks, but not easily mastered. Some have it, some are almost there. They are constantly motivated by the veritable circus of gravity-defying tricks displayed by the older kids, and to a greater degree, the fact that their own instructor, Ketan Malhotra, was also once just a kid with a skateboard and determination.

The 23-year-old Rutgers graduate is currently the creative mind and energy behind the Village Recreation Department’s Skateboard Camps. 

It all started three years ago when the Ho-Ho-Kus resident and experienced skater saw flyers for the Village’s new skate park. A self-taught skater since age eleven who earned multiple sponsorships from skate shops as a college student, Malhotra knew he could help kids to get started in the sport. His mother Judy, Art Specialist at Ridgewood’s Orchard School, encouraged the then college junior to pitch his idea.

Nancy Bigos, Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation, and Jody Schleicher, Recreation Supervisor, saw something special in Malhotra: “We had been watching Ketan interact with the kids for several weeks before we made a decision, so we knew he would be great,” said Bigos. They also saw the opportunity make the most of the skate park whilst bringing something new and exciting to the lineup of Parks and Rec Programs.

Both have been nurturing the program since its inception and according to Malhotra, have been very supportive in helping him get his ideas off the ground. Malhotra finds working with young skaters “very rewarding, as it allows me to provide them with the help and support in skateboarding that my friends and I never had growing up.”

With his experience, Malhotra said he can teach children how to not only best perform the tricks, but also markedly minimize the risk of injury by stressing the importance of protective gear, as well as stretching.

Last October, 45 boys and girls of various ages and abilities took part in a “Back to School Best Trick Contest”. Malhotra partnered up with elementary school teacher Peggy Chanod to organize a contest with prizes donated by local sponsors. Many of those same kids have returned for camps.

This summer saw both morning and afternoon camps, and a six-week after-school camp is currently in session. Aside from learning how to skate and master tricks, the camps teach children how to maintain their equipment. This includes using a wrench to adjust trucks (skateboard wheel axles), and changing wheels and bearings when appropriate.

Malhotra says starting with a good foundation and progressing from there is important: “Even the most basic tricks are hard to execute for first timers. I lay out a foundation of tricks for them that makes progression to harder ones natural,” he remarked. This reduces frustration for new skaters and makes learning more fun.

Malhotra hopes the camps will become a way for kids to find other friends with an interest in skating. Some of the motivation to learn comes from feeding off of other skaters’ determination and creative energy, Malhotra said. Most importantly, to this new crop of Village skaters, Malhotra emphasizes not only the importance of learning how to share space and equipment, but to respect each other and public property.

[Editor's note: At a recent council meeting, Parks & Recreation Committee liaison Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh reported that there have been instances of destruction to the skate park totaling $5,500.]

Nowadays it’s not uncommon to see parents sitting on the bleachers, paper and coffee in hand. Malhotra said it’s a good idea for parents to check out the skating the kids are doing at the park. 

"They will see that it’s not just a pastime, but something that is challenging their kids both physically and mentally.”