DOZENS of young men and a handful of girls from all over Northern Mindanao competed in a skimboarding competition held in Barangay Taboc, Opol town, Misamis Oriental over the weekend.
The tourney attracted skimboarders not just from Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental but also from Iligan City and other provinces.
One of the participants, Peter Pagar, 39, is from Barangay Tubod, in Iligan, who came to Opol to compete with other skimboarders.
Now married with three children and running a cellphone shop, Pagar started skim boarding when he was 17 years old on the shorelines of Iligan. He said he learned how to skim after seeing videos of it on Youtube.
He and some of his neighbors also made their own boards out of thick plywood.
“Me and five of my friends started skimboarding and we had a great time while doing it,” he said.
Just by gliding across the shore gave them thrill. “It was the best feeling. That was the only skim boarding trick we know. We didn’t realize you do so much with a skim board.”
From gliding, Pagar and his “Pirata” crew (the name of his group) also tried the “Shove It” or spinning once while on the skim board.
From there, they learned more tricks and enjoyed skimboarding even more.
Another trick that a skimmer must learn is “wave-riding,” a technique that resembles surfing but instead of waiting on the sea for the swell to come, the skim boarder meets an incoming breaking wave and ride it back to shore, thus the term.
With the tricks they had acquired, the boys at Pirata began joining competitions outside Iligan.
Joining tourneys brought Pagar and his team to Cebu, Leyte, Zambales, Surigao, Davao City, General Santos, Sarangani, and Butuan.
But for him, the best place to skim is in Mati, Davao Oriental.
“The beaches in Mati are perfect. The sand is white, the sea crystal-clear and clean,” Pagar said, who has been to the city recently to judge a skim boarding contest.
“If I like the place, the prize money won’t matter. We will go there and compete. It’s our passion,” he said, adding that the presence of skim boarders such as him also helps keep the sport alive.
“The local government units, they have no clue what skim boarding is. That’s why when we present it to local officials for sponsorship, we bring visuals so they will understand and appreciate the sport,” Pagar said.
Pagar is the president of Mindanao Skim Alliance, a network of skim boarder groups in the island.
One of the objectives of the alliance, he said, is to support skim boarding by teaching young kids and holding contests so it will not die.
“That’s why we make it a point to join competitions so the sport will keep going,” he said.
Although most of the young people nowadays would rather occupy their time with social media, Pagar said he is still optimistic that skim boarding will not become a novelty hobby among the younger generation.