Gliding along

A passion for alternative sports has led Mandan High School junior Corey Peterson to design and craft custom skate decks.

During the winter, Peterson can be found on his snowboard, while during the other seasons he is on a skateboard or shooting paintballs.

"Ive been skateboarding for four years, snowboarding for three years and paintballing for two," said Peterson, who consider skateboarding to be his favorite of the three.

"Ive used skateboarding as something to do whenever something happens or when Im mad or sad," Peterson said. "I find it more freeing."

That passion has led him to customize decks by sanding the graphics off a board, stenciling or sketching a design onto it and using a bandsaw to cut the designs into the board and shape it.

After thats done, a new graphic can be put onto it. Then the board is polyurethaned to make it look new.

The time it takes for this process can be from less than one hour to more than three hours. Once the new board is finished, it can then be a wall hanger or used to skate.

"Skateboarding has been more of the core of my life than anything else. Its more me," said Peterson, who also skates in competitions.

During a competition in September, Peterson took third place one day for an event, and second the next day.

"I love skating in competitions not because I want to win but because they bring everyone in the skateboarding community together, said Peterson, who hosts the Mandan Jam in June along with senior Dylan Kahl and junior Zack Eckroth.

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Gliding along