We asked Ventura County skaters about the X Games. Here's what they said.

Five Points Skate Shop in midtown Ventura was quiet on Wednesday afternoon, with just one or two groups of customers poking their heads in at a time.

But in a week, owner Brad Spann, 72, hopes the four-decade-old shop will be hopping.

The X Games are coming to town Friday to Sunday, bringing with them many of the world's top competition skaters — as well as BMXers and motocross riders.

Eight of the 12 male and female skaters who medaled at the 2020 Olympics have invites to the contest at Ventura County Fairgrounds, along with big name draws like 12-time X Games gold medalist Nyjah Huston. Hometown product and occasional Five Points patron Curren Caples is also on the list.

The stars, Spann hopes, will also draw skate fans to town. Just don't expect to find him in the bleachers.

"We'll be here at the shop," he said, laughing.

The weekend contest is the most high-profile action sports event to hit Ventura, with national broadcasts on ABC and ESPN planned for the three days of BMX, motocross and skateboard finals.

But X Games fever isn't gripping all of the county's skaters.

"I don't think that's what skating is about," said Kohl Gonzalez, 17, while he waited his turn at the Ojai Skateboard Park's popular clover-style bowl.

"I didn't know that was a thing," said Edgar Ruiz, 15, while hanging out at Ventura's BlackHole SkateShop. "I get bored of watching people skate. I just like doing it."

It's been almost 30 years since ESPN launched the X Games in Rhode Island, with events like bungee jumping and street luge taking place alongside the contests we know today. In 2021, competitive skating hit new mainstream heights with its inclusion in the 2020 Olympic Games.

Still, the points-based, competitive nature of the event doesn't resonate with some skaters who grew up grinding street curbs and ollying whatever set of stairs they could find.

"It shouldn't be a sport," Gonzalez said. "It should be a way to express yourself."

Others are more amenable. Fred Stilwell, 15, spent Thursday afternoon skating Ventura's Avenue Skatepark. He's got tickets to be at the fairground Sunday, when three skateboard disciplines have their finals. He said he knows upwards of 20 other friends who also plan to be there.

"It looks cool," he said.

Eddie Hadvina, 62, grew up skating ditches and empty swimming pools down the coast in Venice. These days, he drives from his home in Agoura Hills to Ojai one or two nights a week to carve the purpose-built skating pool with a group of grizzled veterans.

"That's the fountain of youth," he said between runs on Thursday. He said he's skated with a number of pros over decades of skating and isn't sure yet whether he'll head to the X Games.

Hadvina sometimes throws down himself, in 60-years-and-up level park competitions. He still marvels that the sport has achieved its current level of credibility.

"When we started skating back in the day, we were considered total outcasts," he said.

Today the world is mildly friendlier to skaters, with Ojai's park a prime example. But, he said, those early days molded an ethos of camaraderie over contest that still resonates in the world of skating.

Still, he admitted, "(The pros) are totally nuts, what they're doing. It's almost unrelatable."

Dominic DePalma, at 47, the youngster of the veterans crew, said he plans to be at all three days of the competition with his wife and two daughters.

"We're amped," he said.

DePalma lives in Ventura and said he's taken trips down to the fairgrounds as workers piece together the games' ramps and rails bit by bit.

On Friday, the brand new concrete bowls, wooden ramps and dirt jumps will send athletes skyward, spinning and twisting against an ocean backdrop on boards, bikes and motorbikes.

"Who wouldn't want to watch that?" DePalma asked.

For more information on the X Games, go to tinyurl.com/mtedmybr.

Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach him at isaiah.murtaugh@vcstar.com or 805-437-0236 and follow him on Twitter @isaiahmurtaugh and @vcsschools. You can support this work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: X Games: Ventura County skaters weigh in on 2023 summer games