The idea of a creating a skate plaza met the goals of the St. Cloud Morning Optimists Club: encouraging the development of youths and inspiring respect for the law.

So the club on Tuesday pledged $50,000 to the St. Cloud Skate Plaza at Lake George on one condition: that pessimists step up to the plate to help match the amount.

The club will match donations dollar for dollar, up to that amount with the challenge grant.

St. Cloud Park and Recreation Board vice-chair Austin Lee accepted the donation as one of the first major contributions to an effort he leads.

The 15-year-old skateboarder, a student at Apollo High School, approached the mayor with the skate plaza idea more than a year ago and has since presented the idea during public hearings and at fundraisers.

The board needs to raise $250,000 in private donations by the end of the year. If the goal is reached in time, the city will include the skate plaza in its 2008 budget and engineering plans.

The plaza would give skateboarders a free place to practice their sport, now chosen by almost as many people who play tennis or softball nationwide.

Raising interest

The club's donation was the first substantial contribution to the skate plaza.

Charlotte Lee, Austin's mother, said businesses and corporations are interested in the project, but hesitate to be the first when they find no major donations have been made.

"They're waiting to see that it's going to happen," she said.

She said 25 percent of the total that needs to be raised by the end of the year has been donated.

Current cost estimates sit between $750,000 and $1 million, but material and labor donations could decrease the amount for the 40,000-square-foot design, unanimously approved by the park board to be at St. Cloud's Lake George Municipal Complex.

The facility would be equipped with sidewalks, benches, railings, curbs and stairs.

Mike Johnson, incoming president for the Morning Optimists Club, said Austin Lee presented the skate plaza idea to the organization and discussed youth impacts and funding issues.

Johnson said the key point in Lee's presentation is that skateboarders have a negative image mostly because of complaints of skaters on the sidewalks.

"The skate plaza would provide a safe and appropriate environment," he said.

Johnson said larger corporations need to step forward to make this project a success.

Lee, the youngest person to serve in the St. Cloud government, was professional and enthusiastic in his presentation, Johnson said.

The club decided the project met its criteria for a donation.

It has previously contributed to groups such as Big Brothers Big Sisters and Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Minnesota and promotes youth activity.

Gaining popularity

Lee said more students in the incoming middle school classes are involved in skateboarding than in his class, but that growth in the sport is unlimited.

"It's not even just a youth sport anymore," he said.

According to a National Sporting Goods Association survey, the numbers of skateboarders nationwide increased steadily from 1996-2006 from 4.7 million to 9.7 million participants.

In comparison, basketball's participation has decreased from 31.8 million to 26.7 million. In 2006, about 10 million people aged 7 and older participated more than once in tennis.

While public tennis courts are located throughout the St. Cloud area where people play without worry of hitting a car or getting hit by one, boarders have been left to the streets.

Statistically, skateboarding is safer than playing basketball.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2002, skateboarding had an injury rate of 8.9 per 1,000 participants. Basketball produced 21.2 emergency room-treated injuries per 1,000 players.

Losing ground

Charlotte Lee said soccer and baseball players can practice or play for free in locations across the city. Courts, pools or fields cover the needs for other sports' participants.

"Skateboarders deserve a free place to practice their sport, too," she said.

Stretch's Street Park in Waite Park wasn't free, but it was a smoke-free, drug-free and alcohol-free indoor skate park.

It shut down earlier this year after the building's owner sold the warehouselike structure on Second Street South in Waite Park.

She said even with a rate of $3 per hour for skaters, she couldn't afford to send her three children there every day.

"That's more than $260 a month," she said. "There's no way."

Charlotte Lee said Stretch's has been missed.

"We knew that the kids were safe and someplace legal," she said. "Now there's really no legal place to skate in St. Cloud," she said.

She said skateboarding should be a daily activity, not one limited to monthly trips to the Twin Cities area.

Austin Lee said his friends go out of town to skate, which is also expensive with gas prices.

He said the next closest popular park is in Rogers.

"The reality is that skateboarding needs to be a public thing," Charlotte Lee said.

Austin Lee tries to skateboard in his own driveway daily, anywhere from 10 minutes to the whole day.

"I do it as much as I can or whenever I'm not in school or doing homework," he said.