When Zulkarnaen Mohd Zin was in his teens, the avid skateboarder was "looked down" upon because many saw his favourite sport as a counter-culture symbol and the pastime of delinquents. But nowadays, the 48-year-old is happy to witness the rapid change in perception as skateboarding, like other urban sports, enters the mainstream on the back of its Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021. On March 16, Zulkarnaen was beaming with pride as he watched his 13-year-old daughter Eva Myra perform tricks during a run at the opening ceremony of ActiveSG's first skate facility, the YouthCreates Bishan Skate Spot at Bishan Sport Centre. While there are other larger skate parks such as the 1.4ha Xtreme SkatePark at East Coast Park and 1.7ha SkatePark @ Lakeside Garden, the 300 sq m Bishan facility is the first to be constructed by national agency Sport Singapore (SportSG) and the only one that is located within an existing sports centre. The YouthCreates Skate Spot will be open from 7am to 10pm daily, in line with ActiveSG Bishan Sport Centre's operating hours. The facility can also be used for inline and roller skating, as well as BMX riding. Zulkarnaen, who works in the logistics industry, said: "When I was skating, if you see the authorities, you pick up the board and walk with your head down. That was a time when there was not much focus on extreme sports. "With this (Bishan Skate Spot) development, it (shines) more light on the sport. The public can see that it is more than just a delinquent sport. The more skate spots there are, the more awareness we can have for the sport." The new venue will serve as a pilot project to promote youth engagement and community building, with plans to have similar facilities across its sports centres being studied, said SportSG's chief of sport development group Marcus Tan. Tan stated that SportSG recognised the growing interest in skateboarding based on the "strong participation" in recent years at events such as Ramp It Up, Shredder Series and Mass Singapore that were organised by YouthCreates, a SportSG movement to build a fun and vibrant youth sporting community. In line with the aim to engage youths beyond just traditional sports, SportSG is planning to stage programmes with the availability of its own skate spot in Bishan, which is strategically located in the heartland with "about 20 schools" in the vicinity. "We are working with our partners to bring regular Learn To Play programmes so that people can pick up skateboarding as an interest and as a sport," he added. The idea is to catalyse the development of Singaporean skateboarders to one day feature on the world stage, such as the Olympics, although Tan said, for the move to succeed, it will need the support of other stakeholders. The launching ceremony, officiated by member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Culture, Community and Youth, Mohd Fahmi Aliman, featured skateboarding competitions, demonstrations and fringe activities which attracted about 200 skaters and spectators of all ages. One of the attendees, 27-year-old flight attendant Hazmi Husaini, is buoyed by the new facility and the programmes for skaters. He said: "I think it is beneficial for those who want to give the sport a try. "Now there will be somewhere to register (and learn). Last time, when I started out, we watched YouTube videos and then we tried it without any guidance. "Having programmes like this can help to improve the sport. We are excited to see the skateboarding scene grow even more with facilities like this." Meanwhile, SportSG also announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Youth Council (NYC) to introduce the Young ChangeMakers-YouthCreates (Sport) grant, which aims to support youth-led sporting initiatives. Through the collaboration, NYC's Young ChangeMakers grant cap has been increased from $5,000 to either $6,000 or $8,000, based on project merit.