To Korumburra resident Branden Kovacs, the town’s old skatepark near the showgrounds offered more than a place to do tricks. The collection of ramps, metal bars and concrete slopes kept him away from trouble and made him feel accepted.
“I will always be grateful I had a facility like that in a country town to express myself,” he told the Monitor.
“I was bullied for three quarters of my life, pretty much from primary school to as a tradesman. When I was a kid, this park helped me. It was a place where I never felt judged.”
Kovacs riding at the old skatepark when he was a teenager.
What happened: In March, South Gippsland council unveiled a new skate park next to the old train station along the Great Southern Railtrail and a couple of weeks ago the skatepark at the showground was quietly removed.
Kovacs remembers when the original park opened in the early 2000s: “I started there on skateboards and scooters but once I found the love of BMX bikes, I was sentenced to life.”
He learned his first flip at 14 years old.
“That took a lot of courage because it's metal ramps. They're quite mellow - mellow means there's not enough force into the ramp to help you do the trick. You’ve got to use all your muscles and momentum to get it around,” he said.
“Mentally, it was hard, but when we learned how to do them it was game changing. It was unreal.”
Kovacs doing a flip and losing his hat.
Keeping out of trouble
Many kids in regional Victoria gravitate towards football, basketball or netball, and Kovacs reckons the community of kids that hang out at skateparks are often seen as misfits.
“We were always classed as the outcast because we were doing something different. It was displayed like we were troublemakers, which was far from the truth.”
In skateparks, he said, “there's no rivalry. You’re just there having a good time and you progress, that's what it’s all about”.
The old Korumburra skatepark.
Learning the hard way
Flying around on a BMX at speed can be dangerous, and Kovacs has collected plenty of scars.
“I snapped my hand in half six years ago and I'm still recovering now from it. I broke my foot twice when I was about 13, and then I broke my leg when I was 15 - I still have the plates in my leg now.”
He learned the hard way that you need a helmet and he will often advise kids at the park to wear them: “I like to tell them to put it on because you've only got one brain.”
Kovacs flying high at the old park.
One last ride
A few weeks before the old skatepark was removed, Kovacs went for one last ride. He was joined by his three-year-old daughter, who filmed him riding the ramps.
“I'm glad I got one last bit of footage there. It just brings me so much joy that I get to ride with my daughter.”