Photos and Interview by Jonathan Becker

J- First off, congrats! You’re starting things off with a bang; Damn Am Louisville 2024.
P- I feel like it’s a big honor to have the contest here straight out of the gate. To get this here this quickly is awesome but, I also felt this crazy responsibility because I don’t want to blow it. We have been working on the park for over 10 months now and I was worried that maybe I couldn’t make it to opening day in time to even have this contest. Trying to get insurance, trying to get through all the permits and all that stuff, trying to get through the city permitting requirements was insane! I didn’t know what might come up until the day I actually received it, like boom here is the permit and you can open up. That was such a weight off the shoulders, I’m stoked it is over.

J- Can you tell me a little more about working with the city? Sounds like there was some push back.
P- Here is what happened. This space is 50 years old and there used to be industrial stuff here for the entire time. I went to the city and said, “I would like to open a skatepark in this building, what is that going to take?” They handed me a basic list of things I needed to do to change the use of the building from industrial to assembly, meaning people assemble here. They were like, well if people are going to be in this building we need to make sure it’s safe in all these ways; fire protection, bathroom codes, it has to have exits and blah blah blah. To get all of that done is so crazy and you have to keep hiring people to do all of these jobs because you need professionals. You can’t do it yourself. Costs were adding up, it was taking forever, you are hiring people that weren’t showing up and it is just a very difficult process. When it came down to building the course itself, that was easy. That’s an exaggeration… but I was working with great ramp builders. They built it in two months, we collaborated and that was fun. It was a creative process but we had to get through all that other nonsense first.

J- When did the idea to make this park come to you and what was the reasoning behind it?
P- I was involved in SPoT Tampa since day one. I wasn’t an owner or anything ever, I was just a skater there and then I have been involved with it ever since. I started working there and doing the events. Seeing that is inspiration for sure. I would go to Tampa and think, “This is the coolest place to be in the world!” and everyone comes out and has a blast. I think as a skater don’t we all want to have a skatepark to design what we think would be cool? So that was part of it but what finally sparked it was that there was an indoor skatepark in this city called Riot. It was here forever, it was rad, and during covid it shut down. I started immediately looking around to see what it would take to do an indoor. Once I started looking I saw this building really quickly afterwards and I was like, “There needs to be a skatepark in here.”

J- What is your favorite aspect about the park?
P- Well first I want to shout out SPot Tampa again, they built the formula for a great park to do events in. Also, I love the location, when you come here you will see it. Man, this place is cool. It is right next to a neighborhood but we are secluded because we are on the other side of a freeway and under a train track so it feels like we are on an island far from the city but we are seriously three minutes away from downtown. Also, the general layout inside is super cool with a great flow. Finally, I have been paying attention to skateparks for many years and seeing what kids like to skate on. Not just building a stair set, big hubba, and half pipe. What do kids actually skate on every day? I tried to take all those different things and include it in here. Somehow, I feel like it was dumb luck, just through some design choices it all flows together super well. It is not just back and forth, it flows in a triangle. I think the tree looks super rad too, shout out to my friends Erik Switzer and Matt McDole for spending so much time making that tree. People from now on might be like, “Oh, you are talking about the park with the tree in it.”

J- What do you think this park will do for the Louisville scene?
P- Again, when I go to Tampa, I see people coming from all over the world. They are so stoked to be there, they all want to contribute, and we have seen how Damn Am can change peoples lives right? I hope that this park can provide some of those opportunities for kids from this area and from anywhere. Just to expand that thing because we see a lot of contests happening out there right now all around the world like qualifying events for the olympics. I’m not going to lie, that stuff doesn’t look that fun. A lot of it is not cool at all but I want to hopefully contribute to what is seen as core skateboarding. Kids want to just show up and rip, they don’t want to be competing all the time and training. I think there will be more opportunities not just for skaters to work with rad people in the city. Hey I own a print shop and want to print your shirts or I want to shoot photos here or I want to learn video. Skateboarding isn’t just doing tricks, it’s the whole community of people that make all this stuff happen. I want that stuff to happen here, and it already is, so it’s very fun to be a part of.

J- For the people who aren’t familiar with the scene in Louisville, can you dive into it? What’s going down over here?
P- Every city has its own sick and unique scene. Louisville is no exception, there are pros from the 90’s that are from here like Thomas Hornung, Tony Cox, Chip Van Ham. OG Louisville pros. Then we had Cole Wilson and later we have John Clemmons and Cotie Robinson who are the current pros. I’m not acting like I am trying to create the scene, there is a great scene and I just want to give it more of a nucleus right here. There are a few good parks around but dude let’s be real, an outdoor park typically doesn’t provide that same type of vibe as a rad indoor. You go to the outdoor, nobody is playing rad music there unless you brought your own right? You try to get in the bathroom and it is locked or it’s smashed. There is no shade or anything to get to drink. If you break your board you have to leave. I grew up skating SPot Tampa and we would go there everyday and then head out street skating or whatever. I think indoor parks provide a super fun scene that you cannot get from an outdoor park.

J- What is in store for the future of Sprak?
P- The obvious basic ones are we will be doing programs like skate camps and classes and doing whatever, any good ideas. I would like to honestly create some weird community back here like build stuff for businesses. My example would be a coffee shop, bar, tattoo studio, print shop, music venue, airbnb for people coming from out of town to stay right here. I think that would be sick so people would be like, “Hey where are you going?” This is where you’re going! Hanging out all weekend and having a blast, that is the goal. I don’t want it to just be us skateboarding and leave.

J- How can people show support for Sprak and what you have going on here?
P- They can come here and skate, look us up and leave a 5 star review on google, they can buy Sprak gear. I plan on turning it into a brand of course. If you are a rich person, you can go online and be a “founding member” for Sprak and that is more like a donation in a way. Whatever though, literally anything. Call me up and tell me what you’re into and what you can do to contribute. Whether you can shoot photos, print some shirts, make skateboards, anything like that and I would be stoked. I want to work with as many people as possible just to do cool stuff and involve skaters.

J- Well it sounds like there is a lot of promise in Sprak and what you have going on. It is very cool to see you take this idea that you had and make it into a tangible reality. It is impressive and inspirational for not only skateboarders but people in Louisville to see someone successful like yourself doing what they want to do while implementing something into their community to build and grow. On that note is there anything you would like to add?

P- I would say this… I feel like I have had fifty ideas in my life where I was like “I should do this” and then I talk myself out of it. This one I couldn’t talk myself out of because I felt it was too important even though it was the biggest plunge. Like diving into the deep end, sink or swim. I know it just started but I know one hundred percent it was the right move so I would advise people to not talk yourself out of something you think you should do. No excuses, go for it! But as me in a year, I might say ehhhh… Thanks for the interest and thanks for being a part of it.