TRR photo by Richard A. Ross Tim Gorzynski of Narrowsburg works on a skateboarding maneuver on the steps of the school building. Getting a rolling start, the object was to get airborne and land on the board at the bottom. Gorzynski is usually successful at this maneuver.

Skateboarding: sport or hobby?

By RICHARD A. ROSS

NARROWSBURG, NY — “Don’t try this at home” needed to be the admonition to people watching the X games this past weekend as the world’s best skateboarders fell more than they landed in their nollie-heelflip 360’s, backflip tailslides, kickflip mctwists and ollie-backside grabs. The attraction of the X games and extreme sports like skateboarding is growing by leaps and bounds.

The same warning applies to kids when it comes to leaping over stairways or trying to skate down railings. Starting out by looking for “something new to try and have fun with,” Willie Shaffer of Narrowsburg began by just getting the hang of riding on his board.

His parents bought him a skateboard a couple of years ago for his birthday and he has been at it ever since. Friends Tim Gorzynski, Eric Hector and Shane Cardone have since teamed up with him, going from place to place in this small town by the Delaware, skateboarding and often being chased from place to place. The four were at it last week in Narrowsburg, taking advantage of the still empty school and somewhat deserted town to work on their ollies and tricks. An ollie involves getting all the wheels of the board off the ground. All four boys seemed to be adept at the maneuver in varying degrees.

	TRR photo by Richard A. Ross Eric Hector ollies off the steps at the Narrowsburg campus of Sullivan West.

To Tim Gorzynski, skateboarding serves as a great outlet. “If I get yelled at, rather than staying up in my room, I just get on my skateboard,” he said. “It’s something we do for ourselves,” he added.

Asked what impact if any the video game market had on skateboarding, all four boys concurred that it was negative. “It’s made skateboarding a corporate enterprise. A lot of what you see is very commercial,” Gorzynski said. “A lot of what you see in Tony Hawk, Pro Skater is very unrealistic, like people jumping off of mountains and stuff,” Shaffer said.

Skateboarding is popular in small towns like Narrowsburg and Callicoon. The latter has a small skate park. Port Jervis has one too. It’s something the Narrowsburg kids aspire towards and they recently pleaded their case before the town board.

The equipment is relatively inexpensive. A good board runs about $120 dollars. The basic parts are the deck, trucks and the pins that hold the trucks in place. Boards can crack from the constant crashes and stresses placed on them. Replacement parts can be found locally at Sneaker King in Honesdale or in Middletown at the Galleria Mall. Sometimes parts can be found in hardware stores.

Is skateboarding competitive? “With us it is,” Hector said. The boys play SKATE, which is akin to the game of HORSE. A person does a maneuver and the others have to follow suit. If you miss, you get a letter. If you end up with the whole word SKATE, you lose.

	TRR photo by Richard A. Ross Eric Hector, Tim Gorzynski, Shane Cardone and Willie Shaffer of Narrowsburg are friends that have a love of skateboarding. “For me, skateboarding is an outlet,” said Gorzynski. (Click for larger image)

Websites such as Skateboard.com and skateboarddirectory.com are helpful. Shaffer said, “We look for stuff that we might be able to do.”

Getting bumps and bruises goes with the territory. “It’s what pushes us,” says Gorzynski, showing off his latest abrasions. The boys don’t use any helmets or protective gear, and that is worrisome to town officials and other adults who are concerned about injuries and liability. Getting banged up doesn’t seem to concern these enthusiasts, however.

Despite its widening popularity, the four rejected the idea that kids should skate just because others are doing it. “Don’t do it cause it’s cool, do it cause you want to,” Gorzynski said.

Over-fifty baseball rolls on as Fogies win

By RICHARD A. ROSS

WALLENPAUPACK, PA — The battle of the Over-50 Baseball League continued Sunday at the Wallenpaupack High School baseball field. With the series all tied up at five games each, the competition was as thick as the swarms of mayflies on the field.

It looked to start out as a hitting game, as the home team Fogies scored twice in the first inning, but the Wheezers answered back with one run. The second inning action saw the Fogies kept scoreless while the Wheezers managed to cross home plate four times making it 5-2 in their favor.

Third and fourth inning action added three runs to the Fogies score, tying it up at five runs each, while they managed to keep the Wheezers scoreless through the fifth.

In sixth inning action, the Wheezers managed to pull ahead by one run after dropping the Fogies batting lineup, 1-2-3. From there out it was a defensive battle for the Fogies to keep the Wheezers from scoring any additional runs as they pounded hits off Szakal’s pitching.

Hard hitting aside, neither team could produce any runs through the seventh and eighth innings and it looked inevitable that the Wheezers would pull ahead in the standings with a 6-5 victory.

All of that changed when the Fogies managed to put three on base and score twice in the top of the ninth, pulling ahead by one run. The Wheezers couldn’t muster a run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and the Fighting Fogies went down in the books with the win, 7-6.

Hard hitters for the Fogies were Lynch, Keegan, Butler and Pettit, and for the losing Wheezers were Guy, Fluck, Hecker and Colgan.

The Over-50 Baseball League meets every Sunday afternoon, weather permitting, at the Wallenpaupack High School baseball field in Wilsonville, just east of Hawley on Route 6. Warm-ups start at 3:30 p.m.