[ti:Cambodians Get Lessons in Skateboarding, Life] [ar:Fritzi Bodenheimer] [al:Education Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Education Report. [00:03.95](SOUND) [00:08.74]Some young Cambodians are learning a new sport [00:12.53]-- skateboarding. [00:14.13]The country's first skateboard park [00:16.89]is located on the grounds of a local charity group [00:20.68]at the edge of Phnom Penh, the capital. [00:23.73]Fifteen-year-old Chea Sophanit [00:26.93]has been skating for about six months. [00:29.53]"When I see the different styles from skateboarding, [00:38.68]especially from the best skaters, [00:41.44]I just want to be like them," he says. [00:44.69]Sports like Khmer boxing and soccer [00:49.58]are wildly popular in Cambodia. [00:52.87]But Chea says skating has already become his favorite sport. [00:59.27]The skaters are learning tricks [01:02.43]like launching off a jump or half-pipe [01:05.69]and flying through the air on their narrow wooden boards. [01:10.04]A nongovernmental organization called Skateistan Cambodia [01:16.69]organizes weekly programs at the park. [01:20.60]Skateistan started its work in Afghanistan. [01:24.75]Rory Burke works with the group [01:27.94]which expanded to Cambodia last year. [01:31.10]RORY BURKE: "Yeah, it's definitely not a typical Cambodian pastime. [01:34.59]And I think the idea of 'why skateboarding' [01:36.66]is that it's not been done before here. [01:38.72]We want to use skateboarding as something saying, [01:41.12]'Hey this is new, this is something different.' [01:42.67]And that kind of itself becomes a little bit of hook. [01:45.92]People see it and they think and they say, [01:47.76]¡®Whoa, what is that?' and they want to get involved." [01:49.76]Skateistan partners with local groups that work with young people. [01:55.01]The park is on the grounds of the group known as PSE, [02:00.50]where children attend school and learn a trade. [02:04.50]There are almost one hundred twenty participants. [02:08.85]Many come from troubled lives. [02:11.90]Sean Burke says for some, skateboarding [02:16.68]is a chance just to be a kid for a couple of hours a week. [02:21.85]He says he hopes the program [02:24.89]will help them build life skills through sport. [02:28.79]Seventeen-year-old Sang Rotha is a student at PSE. [02:34.37]"Sometimes I don't do well on topics like math," he says. [02:40.06]"I feel bad when I find it hard to keep up with my lessons. [02:45.91]So that's why I skateboard, to improve my bad feelings." [02:51.82]He says he began skateboarding more than a year ago. [02:57.15]Before he started training, it seemed very easy. [03:02.56]But it was very difficult to learn tricks, [03:06.36]and he got hurt a lot from falling off. [03:09.80]Rory Burke says learning to deal with the difficulties [03:14.99]is part of the lesson for these young skateboarders. [03:19.14]RORY BURKE: "You know, it's pretty daunting [03:21.24]to get on a skateboard for the first time. [03:22.79]And then when they drop in for the first time [03:24.73]and ride some of the ramps, it's pretty scary. [03:27.48]It kind of teaches them, [03:28.83]'Hey, you're going to fall down a bunch, [03:30.04]but you've got to get back up.'" [03:31.04]Skateistan Cambodia plans [03:34.19]to open the country's first public skate park [03:39.94]later this year in Phnom Penh. [03:42.90]And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, [03:47.70]online at 51voa.com. [03:52.16]I'm Fritzi Bodenheimer.