Written By: Matthew Rumbley
When I was a senior in high school my parents and I took a tour of the University of North Florida and one of the main things I remembered was, UNF had a skate park! We never went to look at it when we were there, but I remember being really stoked that there was a skate park at the college. Now that I’m here, I love it! I think it is great that UNF took the time and catered to skater’s interests. Obviously there are way more important reasons I came to UNF, but the skate park is a definite perk.
If you are reading this and the skate park is news to you, I must say it is pretty respectable. The park is relatively small, but well constructed. It consists of a mini ramp, a few other ramps, stair set with a rail and ledge along with a smaller flat rail and ledge. The skate park is hard to find if you haven’t been to UNF before. My first night at UNF I went around looking for it. It was quite a chore, it’s definitely easier to find during the day. Basically if you are trying to find the skate park, go to the most northern parking lot on campus and it is right at the end of a dirt trail. If I didn’t mention yet, the skate park is free! So whenever you are feeling like a little shred session in between classes or whenever you have time, the skate park is there for you.
My favorite thing to skate at the park would hands down be the mini-ramp. I think it is the best thing there by far. It is around 5 feet and has a spine with a little speed bump on the side. It is so fun to skate. I have seen some pretty insane tricks go down at the UNF skate park. One of them was a switch 180 smith to front blunt pop shoveit out, insanity. Also, I have seen awesome lines done there. Local UNF skate park regular Justin Browning says, “I love the UNF skate park, it is so rad, I have learned some great tricks there.” Take it from Justin, this skate park is well worth your time, especially if you go to UNF, I mean it’s right there.
If you are looking for other skate parks in Jacksonville there is a really sweet free skate park called Monument, off of Monument Road. It is all concrete and has some insane transitions. Team Pain built the whole thing and you can tell. It has some unique obstacles and flows really well. Also, the world-renowned skate park, Kona, is only 15 minutes from UNF. So if you are a skater and you just moved here, there are many options. Ultimately the UNF skate park is great, especially if you like a good mini ramp. I love UNF and all that it has to offer. Having a skate park is amazing and I enjoy it all the time, I hope you can too!
Swoop Scoop 