After years of struggle and efforts, Maribor finally managed to set up the largest skate park in Slovenia which has already become a real magnet for skateboarding fans.
Skateboarding is an extremely popular sport among the young. This is an urban street sport which involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard. Cities and smaller communities across Slovenia have recognised the need for development of urban sports infrastructure, which has led to dedicated tracks, trails or skate parks springing up like mushrooms after the rain.
In Maribor, EU funding was used to revitalise the former skate park which now covers a total of 9,937 m2. Once underutilised and abandoned area was rehabilitated to accommodate a building and a sports activities polygon. Landscaping works were also carried out. The park is open to all residents, which has a positive impact as it brings together different generations and encourages them to interact and mingle and boosts revival of the larger area.
Iztok Šumatič aka Ico has been skateboarding since early childhood and knows the Maribor skateboarding scene extremely well. He also acts as the spokesperson of the Civil Initiative Maribor for Sk8park which had been fighting for Maribor to get a skate park for years.
‘’Before, Maribor was far behind in terms of skate park infrastructure. If we wanted to skateboard, we had to go all the way to Ruše, but now, skaters from Ljubljana, Zagreb and even Graz come to Maribor to skateboard’’, proudly explains Ico.
‘’You can see skaters of all generations mingle in the park – teenagers, older skaters and children. Everybody is welcome here. It’s really rewarding to see all these children have fun and progress each day. Occasionally, you would see older citizens come to the park; as they watch our skaters they realise that skateboarding is a sport and a form of creative self-expression and that skaters are not hooligans as many of them tend to think.”
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Beneficiary: Urban Municipality Maribor |
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Programme: Operational Programme for the Implementation of European Cohesion Policy in the Period 2014-2020 |
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Fund: European Regional Development Fund |
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Project funding: EUR 600,000 |
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EU contribution: EUR 380,000
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