CHAPEL HILL - Mike Hartley ticks off son Jon's athletic accomplishments like the proud father he is. Only these accomplishments aren't your traditional Little League victories, no medals or trophies were awarded, no championships won.

"Let's see," begins Hartley, "you broke your jaw, your thumb, your toes --"

" -- my collarbone," 14-year-old Jon adds.

"Ahh, that was questionable," counters Dad.

Four years ago, Jon was the prototypical American boy of years past, playing team sports such as baseball and basketball. Then he discovered skateboarding. Now that's all he does, five hours a day, seven days a week.

"You can be yourself," the lanky boarder says during a break from one of those five-hour sessions last week at the Chapel Hill Skatepark. "You don't have to listen to a coach."

A growing number of kids are thinking like Jon. They like the freedom of activities such as skateboarding, and they like the way it lets them express themselves creatively. According to the National Sporting Goods Association, there were 4.5 million skateboarders in the United States in 1995. Last year, the number was 12 million.

"Some kids just aren't into competitive sports, football, baseball," says Jennifer MacDougall, a recreation consultant in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at N.C. State University. Activities such as skateboarding, BMX biking, rock climbing are all becoming more pervasive, says MacDougall, in part, she believes, because ESPN's X Games "has brought to life more options for physical activity."

"Physical activity isn't just competitive sports," agrees Get Kids in Action (www.getkidsinaction.org), a cooperative effort aimed at battling the nationwide childhood obesity epidemic.

Ah, yes, the obesity epidemic. In North Carolina alone, a study released late last year by Be Active North Carolina (www.beactivenc.org) found that 13 percent of the state's kids are overweight and an additional 14 percent are at risk of becoming so.

Perhaps more alarming, the study found that more than three-quarters of the kids surveyed "did not participate in even moderate physical activity on five or more of the past seven days."

So while Get Kids in Action -- which involves UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Public Health, its Department of Athletics and Gatorade -- supports such "vigorous" activities as soccer, lap swimming and jogging, it also encourages more "moderate" activities, such as hopscotch, walking the dog and skateboarding -- "fun fitness," as it's sometimes called.

Get vigorous

That's where things get a little tricky. According to the Centers for Disease Control, a "vigorous" activity is one done for an extended period that results in "heavy breathing and sweating;" a "moderate" activity is one you do for half an hour to an hour and while you may not get tired, your breathing does increase.

The distinction can be subjective.

Scuba diving, for instance, is rated as vigorous. Yet successful scuba technique stresses a minimal amount of exertion.

Watch the kids at the Chapel Hill Skatepark push off and perform a multitude of stunts over and over, and you'd be inclined to place them in the "vigorous" category. And there's the fact that these kids are rarely here for just an hour.

Jon Hartley, recall, puts in five hours a day on his board. Crestone Witsell, 13, of Chapel Hill and 15-year-old Hillsborough resident Isaiah Hartsell say they routinely spend six to 10 hours a day at the skatepark. (Domino's pizza deliveries are frequent.) John Futch, 14, of Chapel Hill, is at the park every day.

Next page >

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.