Rémy Walter bought his first board as a teenager and skateboarding has governed his entire life ever since.
In 2003, he opened the largest skateclub in the capital, Paris Skate Culture, in the 3rd arrondissement.
The structure, which has association status, defends the practice of skateboarding in an urban environment.
According to him, a lot of things still need to be done within the city of Paris.
Has skateboarding changed in Paris?
RÉMY WALTER.
Yes and no.
There are more and more initiates but the development of the practice can only be initiated by the setting up of real standardized infrastructures, with changing rooms, toilets, etc.
As with all other sports.
Skateparks or other urban facilities would make it possible to teach more people, children and adults, as well as people with disabilities, to set up competitions.
In the end, organize the life of skateboarding.
All of these things cannot be happening on the street.
Thanks to associations, small skateparks, such as the one on the Quai de Jemmapes (10th district) or the one in Fougères (20th district), have sprung up but this is not enough.
To read also Tokyo in the Seine: on the Parisian ramps, the first Olympic steps of the skate divide the amateurs
What must be done for the practice to evolve?
We are still waiting for the large covered skatepark in Paris, in the heart of the city and not at the ends as some already are.
In Île-de-France, five large skateparks would be needed.
For the moment, there are only those of Chelles and Villiers-sur-Orge.
Then, there should be local skateparks in the neighborhoods for children to let off steam after school, for example.
Beyond these aspects, we are three years away from the Olympic Games and no Olympic skatepark project is in the sights.
It's all well and good to put the tests on the Place de la Concorde, but if the objective is to get the public to take an interest in it, why not assemble modules in the city, even if it means dismantling them after Paris 2024. and put them elsewhere?
What are the positive effects of skateboarding in the city?
Take the example of La Faute-sur-Mer, in Vendée.
The aging population prompted the mayor to build a skatepark.
He realized that it had recreated a dynamic by attracting young people.
And skateboarding, in general, is a symbol of modernity in the city.
It is also movement, an additional energy that emanates from the urban landscape and above all an ecological way of moving.
