Skateboarding at John McCrae

This year John McCrae’s physical education department is featuring a new sport never seen before in any OCDSB school - skateboarding. Yes, you heard me right, skateboarding. The school has purchased around 30 longboards to be used in the Grade 10 and 11 Outdoor Education classes. During these classes, the teacher (Mr. Martin) will show students the fundamentals of skateboarding, as well as how to cushion yourself from a fall, among other things.

While participating in this course, students will improve their balance and coordination, as well as their upper and lower body strength. From personal experience, skateboarding takes quite a bit of balance to ride and turn without falling off, so balancing on a skateboard moving quickly will help improve that. Students will also improve their coordination by practicing propelling themselves on the skateboard, as well as using their hands to keep balanced. In addition, students will get an excellent lower body workout from the force required to propel themselves on a skateboard. Finally, about halfway through the course, an urban paddle (a stick with a lacrosse ball on the end) will be implemented so that students can propel themselves using their upper body strength.

Skateboarding also has a lot of transferable skills; particularly in the Outdoor Ed. classes. For example, during a normal year at John McCrae, the Outdoor Ed. classes go on a camping trip. During the trip, students would use a canoe to get around. Our urban paddle activities would help students develop the proper form and muscles required to use a canoe paddle effectively because the form required to propel yourself on a skateboard using an urban paddle is very similar to the stroking form you use with a canoe paddle.