Photos by Korey Jackson. Words by Zach Moeller.
Skateboarding at Old Dominion University is awesome for many reasons. The campus is flat and covered in pavement, making skating from place to place very easy. ODU is located in Norfolk, Virginia, a city often overlooked by the skateboard community (surprisingly, as it is the second largest city in Virginia, and has a good selection of spots.) Downtown Norfolk is a ten minute skate away, but on the days that you can’t make it downtown, skateboarders at ODU have a variety of spots to pick from on campus.
Old Dominion has ledges, stairs, gaps, smooth flat ground, and a good handrail, all within a five minute skate of each other. The ODU scene is relatively small. At first I only skated around campus with Preston Annarino, a guy I knew previous to starting school, but we are constantly meeting new skaters here. It’s been really cool to make new friends based solely off a mutual love of skateboarding. Slowly but surely the scene is growing, and our ODU crew is getting bigger and bigger.
Old Dominion is not deprived of spots, but if you want a change of scenery Richmond, Washington DC, and Raleigh are all within several hours of Norfolk, making weekend trips very doable. Closer to home, Northside skatepark is a five minute drive away, and is definitely worth checking out if you want a change from campus spots. This being said, you can skate around ODU’s campus and always be able to find something new to skate. There’s a ton of great places to eat, bars, coffee shops and cool hole in the wall stores all near by. The night life at ODU is really good as well. Any given night there is a party or a concert going on, so there is never a dull moment.
Old Dominion is an awesome school for a skateboarder. Its selection of spots is on point. The scene here is growing week by week and I can’t wait to see where it goes. Big thanks to our shop Skate Supply and to Skate Jawn. If you’re ever in Norfolk come check us out.
