Recent Photos Posted at skateparkoftampa.com

James Cobb was out too. You'll see more of James

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

James Cobb was out too. You'll see more of James behind the counters at SPoT soon.

Skater Profile: James Cobb

FSEC Alex Biblioni's hair is fully flared

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

FSEC Alex Biblioni's hair is fully flared.

Skater Profile: Alex Bibiloni

Andrew Evans (right) and Edwards Guerra (left)

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

Andrew Evans (right) and Edwards Guerra (left) threw some elbows on the youngsters trying to get these posters.

Skater Profile: Andrew Evans

This skate mom brought some kids out

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

This skate mom brought some kids out to meet Andrew.

Reynolds day party crew.

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

Reynolds day party crew.

Skater Profile: Andrew Reynolds

Schaefer handing out posters to the kids

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

Schaefer handing out posters to the kids.

Skater Profile: Brian Schaefer

Andrew Reynolds with his Daughter Stella

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

Andrew with Stella.

Skater Profile: Andrew Reynolds

Andrew was nice enough to sign a handful of poster

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

Andrew was nice enough to sign a handful of posters.

Skater Profile: Andrew Reynolds

Just two hits lurking hard

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

Just two hits lurking hard.

Skater Profile: Justin Zaragoza

Adam Hawley pulling out an ice cold beer

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

Adam Hawley pulling out an ice cold beer for himself.

This dude tried dropping in on the vert ramp

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

This dude tried dropping in on the vert ramp with this thing but we told him he brought the wrong equipment.

Skater Profile: PJ Castellano

Andrew teaching Stella how to come off a curb

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

Andrew teaching Stella how to come off a curb.

Skater Profile: Andrew Reynolds

PoT's fearless leader would give four thumbs up

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

SPoT's fearless leader would give four thumbs up if he could.

Skater Profile: Brian Schaefer

Justin, Casey, Matt, and FSEC Barack Wiser

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

Justin, Casey, Matt, and FSEC Barack Wiser chillin' at the meat wagon.

Skater Profile: Justin Ryan

Nerdsday Thursday: SQL Queries

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Thursday, May 16, 2013

And finally, I'm leaving you with a super nerd bonus, and that's the SQL query used to mine this data. From here, it's pulled into Excel for further analysis and comparison, plus putting it in chart form. Don't be scared of numbers and computers, kids. Learn this stuff now while you're young and you can do almost anything you want when you get older, just don't quit skateboarding.

Nerdsday Thursday: Are Skateboarders Quitting?

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Thursday, May 16, 2013

Now, there's a few assumptions, both positive and negative, that you can make about why this data is what it is. So, I dug even deeper. Looking at that list of 200 top skaters in 2006, how many of them do you think skated at least once in the following years, not even being in the top 200, just skated one single time? This chart below shows that and it's alarming. Out of the top 200 skaters in 2006, by 2012, less than half of them have skated here at least once. Is it safe to assume they quit? There's more free parks around here, but damn, wouldn't you at least come one single time a year if you were still skating? Especially since we completely change the course every single year? I think it's safe to assume those kids quit skating. Damn, what are they doing these days? Rapping like Jereme Rogers? Getting old and fat? Who knows, maybe you have different thoughts on these data patterns?

Nerdsday Thursday: Are Skateboarders Quitting?

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Thursday, May 16, 2013

After seeing the raw data, I thought I'd dig a little deeper. Out of all those kids that were in our top 200 customers in 2006, how many still remained in the top 200 over the years? You would hope that the majority still skates just as much as they always have. Unfortunately not. The following year in 2007, less then 50% of those top 200 skaters are still in the top 200. By 2012, only 19 of them remain. Good lawd what had happened??? 19? That number is so low I'm going to list all the damn names of you: Jake H, Dirt Weasel, Alex P, Alex U, Andreas G, Jack L, Andrew B, Louis S, Jordan P, Baby Drew, Cameron H (now a SPoT employee!), Vincent A (FSEC member), Khristopher D, Matthew M, Dimitri R, Max M, Sean S, Nicholas B. That's only 18 because the 19th one is "general customer" that we ring up new people under that aren't in the system yet. Thank you all for sticking with skating and being a part of SPoT and skateboarding for more than five years.

Average Age of Skateboarders

By Rob Meronek, Posted on Thursday, May 16, 2013

I started with doing an analysis of our top 200 skaters over the years. Of course, the first question is regarding their ages. The steady increase in the average age of our top 200 customers has the same patterns we've found in past Nerdsday Thursdays like pros getting older, man ams getting more man, and general average skateboarder ages over the years.