A skateboard can get you from point A to point B with flare and style, but it can also serve as a chariot for one of life’s greatest lessons, according to former professional skateboarder Kanten Russell.
“Skateboarding teaches you that you’re going to fall down a lot and scrape yourself up, but you can’t let anything keep you on the ground,” he said. “Life is like skating in that if you don’t get back up and continue on, you’re going to miss out on a lot.”
The 44-year-old from San Diego certainly didn’t stay on the ground as his athletic career was coming to a close. He studied civil engineering and landscape architecture, and skated on to a fulfilling career designing skate parks and plazas all over the country. His mission? Improve communities, give youth a positive outlet and provide them a place to go where they feel like they belong.
Photo by Grant Brittain
“Developing these environments is amazing because you’re creating a social opportunity for kids who aren’t necessarily into mainstream sports and might have trouble finding friends who enjoy what they like doing,” said Russell, a designer and project manager for Stantec. “And, you also see older generations mentor younger generations in these parks….I’ve found a profession where I can give back to the sport that gave me so much.”
Good Grades First, Skating Second
Being from southern California, Russell grew up in the birthplace of skateboarding. However, he gravitated toward the sport relatively late into his childhood.
“I started at 13, going on 14. I was more into basketball before that, but when a couple of friends got skateboards for their birthday, I wanted to join in on the fun,” he said. “Plus, living by the beach, I saw lots of skating and surfing happening, so it was kind of natural to want ride a board.”
Though his parents were more in favor of him playing traditional sports, they bought him a skateboard that looked more like “a brick” by today’s standards. Still, he taught himself how to kick his board under foot, ride rails and contort his body in the air for impressive spins.
“My parents were supportive and allowed me to ride as much as I wanted to as long as I maintained good grades, and that was my motivation.” he said.
His grades got him into UC San Diego, but he wanted to find out where his passion could take him, so he turned pro at 19 and waded into a skateboard scene that wasn’t exactly profitable in the early 90s.
“The plan was, if I didn’t make it in skateboarding in the first year or two, I would commit to going to school full time,” he said. “And my parents supported me in that decision.”
With his talent on the board, he acquired sponsors, landed on the cover of magazines and was featured in several skateboarding films, so he kept deferring his acceptance to UCSD year after year, and made more money along the way.
“It helped that I made the right choices and didn’t get caught up in trouble like drinking and drugs,” he said. “I didn’t go out and waste a bunch of my money like some pro athletes. It can be hard not to be irresponsible when you’re that young, getting lots of attending and earning money doing something like that.”
On (St.) Cloud 9 Designing Parks
Russell’s maturity was kicked up even higher four years into his pro career when he had his first daughter at 23. A few years after that, his second daughter was born.
Photo c/o Kanten Russell
“I really was thinking more long term as a father and providing for my family, and I knew I wasn’t going to skate at the pro level forever,” he said. “I thought about what I would like to transition into and, instead of getting a job in the skateboarding industry, I really wanted to do something more intellectual and take advantage of everything I learned in school.”
So, when he came across a volunteer program hosted by the city of Chula Vista to give people an opportunity to learn more about civil engineering, landscape architecture and construction management, Russell dove right in.
“I ended up going there and finding it interesting,” he said. “I was still skateboarding and getting paid, and then volunteering on a part-time basis. Then they offered me a paid internship and that’s when I decided to make the official jump over to that world.”
He went back to school and, in the process, was contacted by an engineering firm that not only offered to hire him, but pay for his education as well. After two years in that position, Mike McIntyre of Action Sport Design convinced the former pro to join him in designing skate parks all over the country.
Within the first week of joining McIntyre’s team, Russell was on a plane bound for St. Cloud, Minnesota, where he was heading the design for the world’s first green skate park.
“We were able to use, at that time, the most progressive green design technology possible by capturing all the storm water into planters that also doubled as skate-able features,” he explained. “We used recycled granite material that was from a local quarry that was donated for skate features, blocks for seating and for all of the crushed rock under the concrete slabs.”
Years later, he designed a skate plaza in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, converting a brownfield into an active space to help combat childhood obesity.
Photo c/o Kanten Russell
“How many people were riding the park even before the grand opening proved that it was well worth the investment,” Russell said. “It was not only well used by the kids, but by some of the senior citizens, who would come and sit down on the benches to just watch kids being active and doing something positive.”
The only criticism with that design?
“People in St. Louis were complaining that we built the park three hours too far south, and they needed something like that in their neighborhood,” Russell said.
Then there’s the skate plaza he helped create where everything, including the skate park bowl, was ADA accessible, so people in wheelchairs could ride, too.
“That design was also for the parents in wheelchairs who just want to be in there and grab their kid,” he said.
Most recently, Russell and Stantec partnered with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and other community donors to build 11-year-old Rocco Worley his very own backyard skate park.
Rocco, who had a rare tumor in his cerebellum and, following surgery to remove the mass in 2017, needed chemotherapy and steroid treatments, didn’t ask to meet a skateboard legend or take an epic trip. His wish was for his own skating mecca.
“He wanted something lasting, something he could create memories from with family and friends,” Russell said. “Who doesn’t want to be a part of making something like that happen?'”
Skateboarding Isn’t The Enemy
In the 90s, skate parks were deemed a major liability, not only in terms of potential for injury, but due to the fact that they were often in less visible locations, making them an ideal location for youth to misbehave, and even worse, for gangs and drug dealers to conduct their “business.”
“We find that most skate parks in park and recreation are now being used way more than other recreational outlets like tennis courts, so why not put a big effort into creating a safe space for everyone to enjoy?” Russell said.
For example, at the planning meeting for the St. Cloud skate plaza, a women showed up to express her concern about the new project because the old skate park in town wasn’t considered safe at all.
Photo by Rob Collins
“It had a bad reputation and left a bad taste in her mouth, but those are all the reasons why you want to do a park in the right way. If you treat skateboarders like criminals, they act like criminals,” Russell explained. “You can’t put them in enclosed fencing or having someone checking them into and out of the park. You want the space to be in a visible place and want it to be where the community is sort of taking care of its own. Once the project in St. Cloud was done, detractors realized it was more of a community asset.”
That’s why Russell and his team often work with skate plaza advocates not only in the deign process, but in the pursuit of funding and encouraging them to work with Stantec’s grant writing team.
After all, skateboarding isn’t the enemy.
And, as far as Russell goes? When he’s not managing projects or doing ride-thrus on new parks, he’s a husband and an adoring father of three girls who imparts his wisdom every chance he gets.
“It’s not about what you can do for yourself. It’s about what you can do with what you’ve learned, and with what your skill set is to give back to others who need it,” he said.
With that advice, it’s easy to see why Russell is coasting through life and enjoying the ride along the way.
