{"id":42065,"date":"2023-01-19T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=42065"},"modified":"2023-01-19T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T11:00:00","slug":"skatepark-offers-an-indoor-option-for-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2023\/01\/19\/skatepark-offers-an-indoor-option-for-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Skatepark offers an indoor option for community"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Danielle Ray <\/b>
\n Landmark Correspondent<\/i><\/div>\n

STERLING \u2014 One local family has been an integral part of Vessel Skatepark, which recently opened in Worcester.<\/p>\n

Town residents Adam and Tiffany Henkel worked closely with Missouri transplant Stephen Shoge, the visionary and founder and president of the skatepark. Shoge has been skateboarding for 23 years, and he realized after relocating to Massachusetts several years ago that the area was \u201creally in need of an indoor place to skate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cold and dark half the year, with the only other indoor skatepark being an hour and a half away,\u201d he said of what inspired them to launch the free indoor skatepark at the 70 James St. space. \u201cThere was also an opportunity to utilize the skatepark as a way to share the hope that we\u2019ve found in Jesus. He changed our lives, and we want to give others that opportunity. They do what they want with it from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Henkel family, whom Shonge refers to as \u201ca big part of our leadership team,\u201d were moved to join the skatepark ministry last year when they heard about Shonge and his wife\u2019s \u201cvision.\u201d Adam ran a skate ministry in Australia, where they met, so it was a perfect fit for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up poor, in love with skateboarding, and in need of something to help me deal with all I was going through,\u201d Shonge shared. \u201cThere are so many young people, especially in this area, who are in the same situation. Many are in need of positive male role models and in need of hope. This seemed like a great way to help in a lot of those areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vessel Skatepark is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that receives funding and donations from churches, businesses and individuals local and all over the country, including places like Virginia, Minnesota, Colorado, Texas, Florida, New Hampshire, Shoge\u2019s home state, and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe rely on the continuous generosity of people to continue to be open and operate,\u201d Tiffany said.<\/p>\n

The crew decided to open the skatepark in Worcester because it\u2019s the second largest city in New England and central in the state as well as the region. As such they have people coming from all over New England to use it.<\/p>\n

The materials used to build Vessel came from a park that closed in New Hampshire, and for the most part the new park was built by Kyle Brush and Jeff Kozak, the leaders of Truth Skate Church in Michigan and Testimony Skateboards in Illinois, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came down and built everything free of charge,\u201d the group relayed.<\/p>\n

Vessel officially opened Dec. 3 and is available for anyone age 5 or older to use.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get a lot of 15- to 30-yearolds during our normal sessions, but we also have novice sessions a couple times a week. Those sessions usually have a range of 6- to 15-year-olds,\u201d Shoge said. \u201cYounger and less experienced skaters can come and feel more comfortable riding and learning basic tricks or even just how to ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Henkels have three boys \u2014 Taven, 14, Ashton, 12, and Lukas, 9, \u2014 who all love going to the skatepark, their mom said. Skateboards, scooters and roller skates are welcome, and the elements featured at the park include a 4-foot-tall ramp, a five stair with a handrail and hubba, an A-frame with hubbas, a long manual pad\/ledge, and a steep brick bank.<\/p>\n

There are free rental skateboards and helmets on hand for those starting out, a parent lounge and hang-out room with table tennis, couches and games; Vessel Skatepark merch is availableatBellaDonnaConsignment Boutique in Westminster.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has been grateful to have a place to come and skate for free,\u201d Shoge said, adding that skaters from ages 5 to 50 \u201chave come and expressed their thanks because they have wanted and needed an indoor park for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group said they are thrilled to be able to offer this to the community, and when asked what their favorite thing about Vessel is, they were very clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cHearing people\u2019s genuine thankfulness for the park and knowing that they are doing what they love, being active, connecting more with people, and hearing about hope in a positive environment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STERLING \u2014 One local family has been an integral part of Vessel Skatepark, which recently opened in Worcester. Town residents Adam and Tiffany Henkel worked closely with Missouri transplant Stephen Shoge, the visionary and founder and president of the skatepark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42068,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}