My brother had a Playstation 2 growing up (honestly I think we still have it) I had many games that I loved playing on the PS2, but one that still sticks out in my mind even now is Tony Hawk American Wasteland. I would spend hours playing this game, building my own personal skate parks, practicing my skills for different competitions you can play. Younger Sydney would have been THRILLED with what present-day Sydney got to do this past weekend.
The men on my squad have spent the past two months doing skateboard ministry (how sick does that sound?) They go down to the slums a few miles from our base, and they spend a few hours skateboarding with the dudes that hang out down there. They have spent the last two months building relationships and friendships with these dudes, and this weekend the whole squad was invited to come see a part of this ministry.
My base staff down here in Costa Rica teamed up with a ton of different people and spent months planning a skateboarding competition. The goal of this competition was to reach an age group of men that is so hard to reach and to bring light to this neighborhood, and I can confidently say we achieved this. Saturday morning we woke up early, put on our vans and went down to the skatepark our men know so well. We set up face painting and kids games, we laid all the prizes out on a table, we had a skateboard ship down here set up ramps and rails all over the sidewalks, there was food being sold, music blasting, and slowly people starting pouring in.
Skateboarders have a look to them, they wear the baggy clothes and the slip-on vans, they rock the oversized shirts and tattoo’ ed arms. These guys get judged so hard on what they wear and how they act, but let me tell you, these were some of the kindest guys I have ever met.
This skateboarding competition brought so much joy to these guys and the community they live in. So often these men are treated as outsiders, they are ignored by peers and rejected from the church. But these men are so much more than what people see them as. They spend hours practicing and perfecting something they are passionate about, in the same way, that we practice painting or writing or whatever. They have built up a community at the skateparks, created a family together.
Getting to spend time with these men was a privilege and I’m so grateful that I was given the opportunity to have a role in this.
