Matt House, 18, of Annapolis dropped down the quarter pipe yesterday on his skateboard, kick-flipped over the hip of the pyramid then did a nose grind on a wooden box.
Translated from the language of skateboarding, that means he performed a series of tricks at Annapolis Recreation and Parks Department's skateboard park on its opening day.
While the baseball field and tennis courts were vacant on the sunny but chilly fall afternoon, more than 60 skateboarders crowded around the chain-link fence that surrounds the new facility in Truxtun Park.
Inside, 12 to 15 skaters, almost exclusively boys and young men, zipped across the flat patch of asphalt stocked with wooden surfaces that skateboarders relish -- quarter pipes, banked ramps, pyramids, rails and ledges.
"The ramps are real smooth," House said. "I'm going to be out here a lot."
The park provides skateboarders with something new: a public space in the city to skate in.
For years, skateboarding in all but residential areas has been illegal. Part of the reason is that skateboarding on ledges, stairs and benches often damages the stone or cement, leaving it scarred and discolored.
Despite the law, skateboarders have ridden in front of businesses or in the historic district, but when they appeared to be disturbing customers or damaging public property, police would tell them to stop.
That happened to Chris Sadler, 19, of Annapolis and two friends who had been skating in a courtyard near St. John's College a few weeks ago.
"It's good to have somewhere to skate now," Sadler said.
This is one thing skateboarders and police see eye to eye on.
"When you come across a kid skating somewhere, they say there's nowhere else to do it," said Annapolis police Officer Hal Dalton. "Now there is. I'm enthusiastic about that."
Cindy Brunner, 32, of Annapolis feels the same way about the park, but for a different reason. It will keep her son Luke Brunner, 7, from skating in the street, she said.
"I know here he's not going to get hit by a car," she said.
While her son was one of the youngest kids to try out the new park, Art Roberts, 38, of Annapolis might have been the oldest. He said he used to skateboard in the city back in the 1970s, he said.
The park will be open from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. schooldays and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. weekends, weather permitting, said LeeAnn Bogan, director of the Annapolis Recreation and Parks Department.
The park has been in the works since the mid-1990s. It took years to get it approved and built. For a long time, it was held up by liability concerns, said Paul Coe, who was a member of the Annapolis Skating Advisory Committee and co-owner of Evolve Board Shop, which sells skate equipment on Main Street.
Location also was an issue, as the city has a limited amount of park space and most of the tennis and basketball courts were still enjoying heavy use.
"Finally we were able to overcome all of those hurdles," Bogan said.
A state open-space grant covered $27,000 of the $37,000 cost of the skate park. Evolve Board Shop collected more than $3,400 in donations for the project.
It is a relatively small and inexpensive skate park, Bogan said. Others frequently have cement bowls and large half-pipe ramps. It is possible that such amenities could be part of her department's offerings sometime in the future, Bogan said.
"My intimation is that as soon as we open the park it's going to be too small," she said, adding that Annapolis seems to have a thriving community of skateboarders.
The city is behind the curve when it comes to providing a place to skate, Sadler said. Parks have been built in Baltimore, Bowie, Glen Burnie, Lansdowne, Stevensville and Waldorf, he said.
Sadler said the park is about average compared with others like it that simulate obstacles that might be found on the street, but there is one thing that makes it exciting.
"It's the first one here kids don't have to drive to," he said. "And it's free!"