There is an online competition that is being hosted by Tony Hawk’s Skatepark Foundation with the grand prize being a trip to skate with Tony Hawk himself. There is also $10,000 in prize money.
Renoite Tim Schaefer is in the running and has been in the top three for most of the contest.
The contest itself is by popular vote, and to buy votes, the money raised goes directly to the Skatepark Foundation to further help the creation of skateparks across the country.
“If I were to win, I would like to talk with Tony about Reno,” said Schaefer. “Reno is an amazing city with amazing people. The only thing I feel it is missing is an up-to-date skatepark where local skateboarders can thrive and generate the next pro skaters.
“If I were to win, I would like to ask Tony’s advice and possibly his participation, even if just a guest appearance one day, to talk to the kids and share his knowledge and wisdom as a professional skater, and as a person in general.”
Schaefer has been skating for more than 20 years and has a passion for the community as well as the sport involved in skateboarding. Working with different skate shops, as well as competing in Colorado, Arizona and California, Schaefer has invested a lot of time and energy into the art itself as well as connecting others to the sport.
“I also have a plan to one day form a skate camp, where youth, or folks of any age can come, volunteer or attend camp,” said Schaefer. “This camp would have not only skateboarding, and lessons, but also teach life skills, work skills, it would be community built, meaning the people attending the camp would be taught how to design and build obstacles and bring them to life, as well as therapy through skateboarding, meditation, music and other useful skills, creating similar memories and friendships to those which skateboarding have given me, that I cherish dearly.”
Deciding to give back, Schaefer worked with a Brazilian skateboarder in Fortaleza Brazil to bring both skateboards to those who couldn’t otherwise afford them as well as bring attention to the number of orphans in the world with his non-profit “Boards for Brazil.”
This gave youth the chance to own their own skateboards as well as providing resources to two different orphanages and skateparks.
According to the website for the Skatepark Project, Tony Hawk got the idea to start this foundation after receiving thousands of emails from parents and children across the U.S. who didn’t have access to safe and legal skating areas.
This was the beginning of the Tony Hawk Foundation in 2002 and since 2020 has been renamed The Skatepark Project to better reflect the aims of the organization.
The foundation up until this point has donated more than $10 million to over 600 recipients to open and fund skateparks across all 50 states.
“Skateboarding is a way of life,” Schaefer said. “And it can teach us and give us so much, even gives us so many ways to give back. It truly is the gift that keeps on giving.”
