Katie Ketchum Performs with
Cirque Du Soleil
X-Treme Athlete is Training in Elma.
Western New York Native Katie Ketchum Performs with Cirque Du Soleil.
Elma Review - November 4, 2010
Women & Children’s Hospital Hosts Skateboard Safety Day at Xtreme Wheels Skate Park
Published: 9/13/2010
A Skateboard Safety day hosted by The Regional Level I Pediatric Trauma Center for Western New York at Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, in partnership with Kiwanis, will take place at Xtreme Wheels Skate Park on September 18 at 11 am.
To help avert future head injuries while skateboarding, head injury prevention education and demonstration activities will be presented by Dawn Melancon, R.N., Trauma Coordinator at Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, Kathleen Duke and Child Life Specialist Sue Mirabella. Head injury prevention programs will occur at the skate park from 11 am until 12:30 pm. Activities will include:
Children participating will receive a skateboarding helmet and gear: including knee pads, wrist guards and also elbow guards on a first come first serve basis.
Xtreme Wheels Skate Park opened in 2003 and now has over 9,000 registered members. The park is 30,000 square feet of ramps and rails for inline skating, skateboarding, BMX bikes, and scooters.
The Kiwanis have supported the Regional Level I Pediatric Trauma Center for Western New York at Women & Children’s Hospital for many years by sponsoring trauma education, injury prevention programs and equipment.
Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, a Kaleida Health facility and teaching hospital for the University at Buffalo School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, is the regional center for specialized pediatric, perinatal and obstetrical services in Western New York and beyond.
Needless to say, we're very happy!
Free skate gear, and more
By Samantha Maziarz Christmann
The Buffalo News
Published: 9/6/2010
In-line skaters, skateboarders and bike riders alike are invited to pick up some free protective gear at a local skate park this month.
In-line skaters, skateboarders and bike riders alike are invited to pick up some free protective gear at a local skate park this month.
Xtreme Wheels Indoor Skate Park on Hertel Avenue near Military Road has teamed up with Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo to give away 60 helmets, wrist pads and knee pads Sept. 18 at 10 a.m. Attendees also will receive education about safe sports practices.
"Even if kids can't afford protection, there's no reason they shouldn't have it," said Virginia Clark, who owns Xtreme Wheels with husband Robert. "This is one of those things where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
Almost half of all sports-related head injuries occur while during bicycling, skateboarding or skating incidents, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Women and Children's Hospital in Buffalohas seen a spike in head trauma injuries.
"You see so many kids out on the streets riding without protective gear," said Clark. "We had one of our own kids who had a serious injury that -- if he hadn't been wearing his helmet -- would have been fatal. It was a real eye opener."
Patrons at the skate park, which has 25-foot ceilings and a wide assortment of skate ramps and rails, are required to wear safety equipment.
Xtreme Wheels occupies the first floor of the former John Kam Malting Co., a 26,000-square-foot, abandoned brick building Clark and her partners bought in 1999 for $10,000.
Doing most of the designing and construction work themselves or with volunteers, Clark and her partners invested $500,000 in the building and opened the skate park's doors in the fall of 2003.
Until the recent opening of another park in Central New York, Xtreme Wheels was the largest indoor skate park within a 300-mile radius. Today, it still is by far Western New York's largest, drawing visitors from Canada, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The free equipment giveaway isn't the only way the park keeps its roughly 10,000 members safe. Kids at the park weave from one ramp to another, rather than in and out of traffic outside.
Malik Myrick, 11, of Buffalo's Kaisertown neighborhood, said he skates at Xtreme Wheels from open to close almost every day in the summer.
"Where I live, kids will push you and grab your board and tell you it's no good," he said. "They don't let people do that here."
Clark is a mother figure to patrons, most of whom she knows by name and who affectionately call her "V". The skate park has an arcade, concessions area, retail shop and sound stage where local and national acts put on free concerts.
"It's the only place I know where kids from Clarence and East Amherst mingle with kids from Riverside and Black Rock," said Clark. "They're building lifelong friendships. A lot of good things happen here."
A ZEN FEELING
Local's love of photography and skateboarding has led to Zen Seven Skateboards
By Erich Neuhaus
The Tonawanda News
Published: 7/27/2010
CITY OF TONAWANDA — Not many people can say they’ve started their own business based off two childhood hobbies.
And when the hobbies are photography and skateboarding, even fewer people speak up.
City of Tonawanda resident Micah Weber can raise his hand to that, though, creating his own skateboarding company called Zen Seven Skateboards, which combines his artistic and professional photography skills and uses the picture to design a graphic for the underside of skateboards.
The idea erupted in 2009, when Weber said he got back into skateboarding from a 10-year hiatus. He’s been skating and taking pictures since he was approximately 10 years old.
“I’d really like to have my own company that involves my two passions,” Weber said.
So the 30-year-old, with an office job at Ingram Micro, pursued his idea on a part-time basis. Already having his own website for his part-time photography gigs, Weber designed and created a website for Zen Seven and partnered up with childhood friend Jay Morgan to really get the ball rolling.
With skateboard decks being made through a company called Polestar — to which Weber e-mails proposed board designs so the company can make them — all they had to do is hit the streets with the boards and show them off.
Weber would go out and skate himself, whether if it was at Ives Pond or hosting skate competitions at Xtreme Wheels Indoor Skate Park on Hertel Avenue in Buffalo, and skateboarders of all ages were intrigued about the sharp graphic on the underside of the board and the new company.
But that’s not all they were intrigued about.
“I think the thing they like the most is that, as an owner, I’m skating with them. Being face-to-face is huge,” Weber said.
To showcase the company even more, Weber started the search for a good skateboarder to lead his company by example. That’s when 20 year-old Shayne Witmer answered an ad on Craigslist.com.
When Weber and Morgan met him and saw him skate, they knew they found their man.
“He’s just a good kid. I mean if you were running any kind of company, you’d want him to be working for you,” Morgan said of his sponsored skater. “And he’s really good.”
Word of mouth and skating the streets and the skate parks have been the driving force for this young company’s success. Besides just selling skateboards, Weber also sells Zen Seven graphic T-shirts and now key chains. Facebook has also been a big part in “spreading the Zen,” as Weber calls it.
The Facebook page has more than 1,000 fans, and it’s common for people to order their Zen gear there, where Weber will place the order himself.
Just over a year ago, Weber received his first shipment of boards and has sold or given away more than 100 of them, some of them shipped to as far away as Australia. He says most skaters who have purchased a deck have bought another one because of durability of the deck, and, of course, the design. Some have even purchased boards as art to be put into their homes.
Zen Seven offers three decks right now, with a fourth design to come out in August.
The gas mask deck is a photo of a military green gas mask on what looks like a brick-red textured board with the Zen Seven logo on the end of the board. The money clip board is a close up photo of a money clip with a $100 bill showcased with the Zen Seven logo on the clip itself. And the DCM board is a design of a photograph of the ceiling at Washington DC’s Metro by Weber, and arching concrete structure with hundreds of rectangles, almost looking like a net, with Zen Seven in blue capital letters spreading the length of the board.
“I love ‘em,” Witmer says. “I think it’s awesome that it’s his real photography.”
The Zen Life
Weber, Witmer and Morgan try to meet up as often as possible to skate, but between full-time jobs and school, meeting up can be hard. In July, though, the three gathered at Xtreme Wheels.
On a street-styled course — one in which is comprised of railings, ledges, picnic benches, etc. — with ramps for getting air and a quarter pipe to send you back to the other side of the course, Witmer and Weber skated for about an hour with Morgan watching on.
It’s easy to see Witmer’s talent is in another league than Weber and the other skateboarders there. He uses a ramp to get up to five feet in the air, landing with ease before he takes on the quarter-pipe that will send him on his way back through the course. As he gains speed, and his iPod humming through his ears, Witmer goes up the 45-degree ramp with a two-foot rail in the middle of it, and easily jumps the rail while spinning himself and the board with his feet a full 360 degrees.
“The bigger this company gets, the more he’ll get out there,” Morgan said after witnessing Witmer’s 360 flip trick. “(Witmer) is never satisfied, always looking to get better.
Weber, in the mean time, is right beside Witmer, trying his own moves trying to get better, too. It’s not a typical owner-to-player relationship, it’s friendly and fun, both encouraging each other and the other skaters.
Wearing a red polo shirt and an all black Yankees cap to match his wide, flat-bottomed skater shoes with the word “Zen” sketched into his dark stone-washed blue jeans, Weber can pull off a few moves of his own, jumping his board on the rail, or “grinding” it on the trucks of his skateboard, then landing it nicely back on the wooden surface.
With a couple of skateboarders looking on, 19-year-old Elliott Smith from Tonawanda decides it’s time for a new board and comes up to Weber to inquire about buying a deck off of Weber.
“This Zen Seven deck has me feeling like a kid again,” Smith exclaimed out loud as he rides down the ramp on his new money clip deck.
It must be a Zen feeling.
“Everyone that gets one freaks. They all want to be a part of this,” Morgan said as he looked on to the course.
One more talented skater will become a part of the Zen Seven team next month as Weber plans to surprise a teen he’s had his eye on with a sponsorship at the release part for his new deck at Xtreme Wheels — all signs that more and more skaters are starting to feel the Zen.
For more information on Zen Seven Skateboards, and their sponsored events, visitwww.ZenSevenSkatboards.com and www.micahweber.com.
Jello Biafra stops in!
WGRZ-TV's Daybreak went Xtreme... Freestyle
BMX star Dave Mirra endorsing Xtreme
Wheels goes to the dogs! As
a perk for our valued members, we now offer FREE lockers. Inquire
at the desk when checking in... and don't forget to
bring your own lock!!!
Business First does Feature Story Making a deposit in the Karma Bank... Xtreme Wheels Wins The Great Skate Giveaway! Business First spotlights the Xtreme Wheels BMX Tour Stop Rich DiValentino on the cover of The Buffalo News' Gusto What Kids Do... BMX article from the Ken Ton Bee Extreme Sports... Skatepark Allows Youth To Get Their "Ollies" You have to check this out… Chappelle on wheels The erstwhile Comedy Central star decided to do something
Chappelle and friends contacted the folks at Xtreme Wheels Indoor Skate Park on Hertel Avenue and asked for a little after-hours party. Owner Virginia Mazgajewski said the star and an entourage of about 10 showed up around midnight and skateboarded the night away, finally departing - after posing for pictures - around sunrise the next day. "It was really, really fun, and he was incredibly gracious," Mazgajewski said. He also bought a T-shirt from the park and wore it after cutting off the sleeves. The next day, Mazgajewski told a couple of awestruck young boys that Chappelle had been there. Then it dawned on her. "You know, I think those sleeves are still in the garbage." So if "Dave Chappelle's sleeves" show up on eBay, you'll know where they came from.
June 21st is the official, "Go Skateboarding Day". To celebrate the occasion, Xtreme Wheels Indoor Skate Park, in conjunction with B.Lo Boards, is hosting a skate parade. The skate parade is a first of it's kind for the City of Buffalo and Western New York.
Intuit is sponsoring a national contest called, "Love a Local Business". Selected from over 30,000 nominations nation wide, Xtreme Wheels Indoor Skate Park was awarded one of the eight Growth Grants valued at $5,000.
On Tuesday June 20th, ex-Dead Kennedy member
and social activist and anarcist (though not a promoter of anarchy), Jello
Biafra made a surprise stop at Xtreme
Wheels with his Spoken Word Tour. Here he is with our very own resident anarchist,
Virginia. They look so harmless, don't they?
V-Day...
April 4, 2006!
Virginia gets some ink
in Rochester talking about Shawn Dahl's skateboards.
click here.
Buffalo Rising Magazine Talks About Prime Time at
Xtreme Wheels!
check it out here.
April 4, 2006 was officially declared Proclamation
Day in the City of Buffalo for Virginia Mazgajewski of Xtreme Wheels Indoor
Skate Park.
Pictured: Councilmember Joe Golombek with Virginia
YWCA
honors local women in business
Or
... "Xtreme Wheels owner Virginia Mazgajewski wins another award!
The YWCA
of WNY held a luncheon and awards show that recognized women
from throughout the region at its annual Leader Luncheon March 15. The event
honored women that exemplify sustained excellence and creativity and make
signficant contributions in their field and in the community.
Oxy Chill Factor!
In case you missed it, Xtreme Wheels had a VERY Big Day on
March 1st when Hollywood came a-knockin' and filmed a commercial for Oxy Chill
Factor starring Dave Mirra. For more on this exciting event
click here. Pictures are
up in the photo gallery.
And...
here's
a bit of national publicty
we've received!
There will be more links posted... and eventually
we'll post the commercial!
We're not sure what his (or her) name is...
but Xtreme Wheels has a new dog.
Scooter? Thrasher? Grinder? Skateboard?
I'm sure they'll tell me... I'll pass it on.
Who doesn't love puppies?
On Xtreme Wheels!!
Business
First recently did a feature story (Cover, no less) on
Xtreme Wheels. Read it here.
Xtreme Wheels Buffalo.com
Site Of The Day!!
We
just received this from Buffalo.com...
Congratulations!
Your website has been selected by Buffalo.com as the
Site of the Day for August 19, 2004.
The Buffalo.com Site of the Day highlights the
best of the Western New York Web Directory.
Your site was selected because it met several criteria
including distinctiveness, visual appeal, functionality,
ease of use, and whether the site is interesting.
Needless to say, we're very happy!
Congrats to our own
Katie Ketchum!!
Katie Ketchum just won first place in the ASA Comp held
in
Ohio recently! Way to go Katie, we are so proud of you.
Anyday now, the Buffalo News is featuring a story about
Xtreme Wheels and Katie's picture will be in the article
along with our other awesome XW girls.
Keep up the great work!
Check out The Riverside review article
about Katie!
We Came... We Saw... We Kicked... err... sorry... we conquered.
And by we, that should read YOU! Thank you to everyone who voted for XW in the Vitaball Great Skate Giveaway! Click the Vitaball graphic to see how incredible
you truly are! 
From The Ken-Ton Bee
Xtreme Wheels Extremely Fun
Xtreme Wheels is the only real game in town when it comes to satisfying skateboarders, in line skaters and BMX bikers.
What a great article with great feedback! To read the artice and comments, and leave your own, just click the Buffalo Rising logo.
After he appeared at Shea's Performing Arts Center
about
a week ago, comedian Dave Chappelle was
looking for some
fun in Western New York.
Nightclub? Casino? No.
a little more extreme. Or Xtreme.
The Buffalo News
from the scurrilous website hosting company we started with
who decided to register it in his own name behind our back....
well we finally won, and now you can get here by
xtreme-wheels.com or xtreme-wheelz.com.
