Ollies, kick flips and bromance are all terms skater Michael Schmitt understands. Schmitt, a freshman, started skate boarding in elementary school when a friend introduced him to the hobby, and 11 years later he’s still rolling. Schmitt doesn’t skate alone. He skates with friends whenever possible. He and his friends, Mychal Dennis and Adam Bellflower, skate whenever the weather permits, even harsh winter months. ‘In the winter it’s basically, ‘Look, there’s no snow over there. Let’s go,” Schmitt said. The skating trio found they had to improvise if the weather keeps them from practicing their maybe mid-air past-times, or if they can’t find a traffic-free patch of sidewalk. ‘We built a box in Adam’s basement for skating,’ Schmitt said. A box is a flat table-like construction that skaters can use to practice their tricks in and outdoors. Schmitt has a favorite trick he likes to perform -the kick flip/casper flip. The trick involves circulating your board like a spinning top while in the air, which is done by arranging feet in a particular placement on the board. ‘It’s a stupid trick,’ Bellflower said. ‘Yeah, but no one else can do it like me,’ Schmitt said. The three skaters can attest that skating doesn’t come without it’s price – sometimes in the form of hospital bills. ‘I’ve sprained my ankle more times than I can count, and I have a gash in my side from the box,’ Schmitt said. Bellflower has broken his wrist, and Dennis has busted his knee and fallen on his head. Besides injury, the skaters have to avoid being caught while skating around the Education Building – their destination of choice because the stairs are the best to use as a ramp and there is a lot of open space, Bellflower said. But according to the University Skating Policy, that location is off limits. ‘No person may skateboard, in-line skate, roller skate or use any other similar wheeled device in or on campus buildings, or on any porch, steps, loading dock or other raised paved surface on campus including parking curbs, or on disability ramps,’ the policy states. ‘ Bellflower said they had one guy approach them and threaten to take them all to jail without warning for skating. ‘Another guy, a young cop, was nice about it. He just asked if we knew the skating policy, and we said we honestly didn’t, so he just walked away,’ Schmitt said. But despite the rules, each member has a different reason for practicing their labor of love together on University property. ‘It’s fun. Kind of like a sport, but you don’t have to worry about anyone else on a team. I just have to worry about progressing myself,’ Dennis said. He added he has became good friends with his fellow skaters through the art, which shows that while this culture is hard to pin down, it also brings people together. ‘Whenever I see another skater on campus, I feel a connection,’ he said. Bellflower agreed with this and said he had been doing some sort of skating, in-line skating or skateboarding, since he was 6 years old, a tradition that he has stuck with and wouldn’t have it any other way. Schmitt’s reason was simple combining both the skateboarding art and the connections he makes. ‘My favorite part is the bromance and meeting people,’ he said.