Skateboarding is on the rise in Fountain Hills. The town is using federal grants to expand the Desert Vista skate park in town, and a local businessman, Caleb Dassinger, has partnered with the Town to create skateboarding competitions and a skateboarding school for Fountain Hills youth.

Skateboarding is on the rise globally, too. It was one of five sports to debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and four of the 12 medal winners were under the age of 16.

Back home, Dassinger held the first week of his 2022 Brilliant Victory skate school this past Saturday, Oct. 22. Dassinger teaches kids ages 8-14 for an hour in a small but personalized class of four to eight kids. He teaches two levels, beginner and intermediate.

“It’s hitting another really big resurgence,” Dassinger said. “You’ll have a kid that’s great at soccer or whatever, and then they’re an incredible skater, too. When I was growing up, it wasn’t like that. There was the jocks and the skaters. It’s really interesting what skateboarding is turning into, but I think it’s for the better.”

Dassinger approached the Town’s Parks and Recreation Department with an idea for his skate school in late 2020. They supported his plans and asked him to participate in the Return to Recess program, which teaches local youth the basics of a variety of sports and activities. Dassinger will take a much larger group of around 30-40 kids with him to the skate park and give a basic introduction to the sport during the next Return to Recess series.

Since Dassinger and the Town started collaborating, lights were added to the skate park, Dassinger started his school, and they held a skate competition, the Fountain Hills Skateboarding Classic.

“The Town’s Park and Rec department, they did all the setup,” Dassinger said. “I invited a lot of other local skate companies, and the Town took care of their vendor’s license. The Town actually had it so organized, they had officials from the Rec Department at the entrance signing up the skaters that were participating. The company that they got to donate the lights so we can skate at night, Musco Lighting, they donated the cash prizes to the skaters. You had skaters winning $300 for placing in the competition. It was incredible.”

The Town is investing nearly $700,000 into the skate park. There isn’t an official timeline for the construction, but the Town is renovating and expanding the park. Desert Vista will get stairs, bowls, ramps and a pump track added to it. Dassinger hopes the renovations are completed by the time of the second annual competition.

“The existing park will still be there, just resurfaced and a little added to it,” Dassinger said. “It’s going to make Fountain Hills a contender for one of the best skate parks in the state.”

Dassinger is originally from Mesa, and he started skating in the late ‘90s. He has owned a licensed skateboarding company, Brilliant Victory, since 2014. He sells boards and other gear and even finds and promotes talented skaters on his own skate team.

Dassinger said he tried to do something similar to his skateboarding school years ago in Mesa. He talked with a Mesa City Council member, but nothing ever came of it.

Dassinger said he was stoked when the Town of Fountain Hills got back to him with enthusiasm. It shows one of the many ways the sport has changed since Dassinger started skating.

“When I was growing up, they would literally arrest us for skating in the parking lot,” Dassinger said. “Now I have a government organization making a skate park for us basically. It’s amazing.”

Dassinger promotes his skate team on social media, but back in the day, skaters used to send a VHS tape to skate stores. Dassinger can make custom skateboards for his team, and the online videos he posts generate board sales for his business.

Dassinger has previously done charity events at Sunshine Acres Orphanage in Mesa, but his efforts in Fountain Hills led to something he never expected. Dassinger was nominated by the Town and will receive an award from the State of Arizona at the Peoria Sports Complex this November. As far as he knows, Dassinger is the first person in Arizona to create a skateboarding school through a local government.

The signup for the skateboard school and Return to Recess are on the fountainhillsaz.gov website. Return to Recess is under youth and teen activities, and the Brilliant Victory skate school is on the youth sports programs page.

“To this day, I’m 34 years old, and when I think about skateboarding, it’s still the coolest thing in the world to me,” Dassinger said. “There’s nothing better, there’s nothing more freeing than doing it. It’s an incredible subculture that I’m just glad to be part of. I can go to a skate park anywhere on the Earth and feel welcome. It’s always just been my thing. I’ll always do it.”