UK skateboarder and military serviceman Senior Aircraftman Dom Brown has created a skateboard club at his base for military personnel and their families. He undertook the mission after recognising the demand and gap for skateboarding within the services. His role as Officer in Charge and Lead Coach sees him overseeing the direction of the club’s success, coaching and other avenues such as administration.
Skateboarding has always been a passion for Dom ever since a young age, growing up whilst riding the rough streets of Worcestershire where there were very limited small skateparks around. These days having an ever-growing skate scene with so many more kids and adults taking up skateboarding is fantastic to see, and has changed so much for the better.
Dom recognised that there was the infrastructure in place to making skateboarding a reality within the services. There were many well built concrete skateparks in the vicinity of the base and a ‘playpark’ style skatepark on base. Understanding that there was many other clubs on station that had been built from the resourceful personnel who were passionate about their clubs, he continued to go down the correct chains within the base to establish the club.
Today, the Benson Skateboard Club runs multiple coaching sessions per week for service personnel and their families. There will be much more to come such as competitions and trips to larger skateparks. Dom’s ultimate goal is to make skateboarding an official military sport. With skateboarding in the Olympics, the Benson Skateboard Club is receiving nothing but great feedback and many opportunities to become something huge. It will continue to push to greatness.
To find out how to create a skateboard club at your base, a ‘how to’ guide will soon be published. Also please ask Official Military Skate for any questions or queries you may have.
