Scores of teenage boys are grinding rails and attempting to perfect kick flips — a spinning skateboarding trick — at Chandler Skate Park on a recent Monday evening. Armed with shiny, colorful helmets and protective knee gear, they're a long way from becoming the next Tony Hawk or Bucky Lasek, but they don't seem to care. They're just here to have fun.

“I love to skate here,’’ says Daniel Carlburg, 15, of Phoenix. “It's my favorite park, so I'll come all the way down here to skate. I like that it's more of a street park than anything. There's a lot more rails and boxes and less quarter pipes.’’

The 35,000-square-foot park — which is located at the Snedigar Sportsplex in south Chandler — offers concrete bowls, decks, blocks and metal rails for new and veteran skaters alike.

“It's a good place to practice,’’ says Maxium Clear, 14, of Chandler. “I never get bored here. It's really smooth and there's no cracks. There's a lot of ledges you can grind on. It's good for advanced and beginning (skaters). Everybody can skate here.’’

Over the last few years, skateboarding has grown in popularity, participants say.

“It had kind of been around all along and became revived,’’ says skateboarder Fotini Patris, 24, of Tempe. “I think the kids who weren’t so much into the traditional sports wanted to get out and do something. Now it’s becoming a regular, traditional sport. . . . Kids don't always want to go out for the football team. They don’t want to play basketball. But they do want to do something.’’

In addition to Chandler Skate Park, other skate parks have been popping up around the East Valley. Gilbert's Freestone Skate Park — a 22,000-square- foot park adjacent to Freestone Park — is equipped with ramps, bowls and grinds.

“It's more for BMX and (in-line) skaters,’’ Clear says.

The Reed Park Skate Court in Mesa boasts grinding surfaces, boxes and pyramids in its 31,000-square-foot facility, while the 24,000-square-foot Helen L. Wilcox Skate Plaza in Paradise Valley is filled with large bowls, ramps and rails. Scottsdale's The Wedge@Eldorado Park showcases a fun box, amoeba box, launch box, curbs, rails and quarter pipe for skaters to enjoy in its 16,500 square feet.

“I'm not a fan of the Wedge,’’ Carlburg says. “It's not very big and not as fun as the Chandler one.’’

Whether you go to Chandler, Scottsdale, Gilbert or Mesa for your skating needs, Clear offers one warning before he takes off with his skateboard in tow.

“Don't worry if you biff it,’’ he says, referring to a wipeout. “If you don't bail, it's not fun. That's what makes it fun.’’

East Valley skate parks:

Chandler Skate Park
Where: 4500 S. Basha Road, Chandler Hours: 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. daily
Info:

Freestone Skate Park
Where: 1015 E. Juniper Road, Gilbert
Hours: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily
Info:

Helen L. Wilcox Skate Plaza at Paradise Valley Park
Where: 17642 N. 40th St.
Hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily
Info:

Reed Park Skate Court
Where: 1631 E. Broadway Road, Mesa
Hours: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily
Info:

The Wedge@Eldorado Park
Where: 2311 N. Miller Road, Scottsdale
Hours: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily
Info: