Shawn Turner doesn't just skateboard.

He actually has a board with his name on it.

"It happened seven months ago," the DeKalb man said. "It's still hard to believe. Some kid will come up to me and ask me to sign it. It's surreal. That's your dream, to have your name on a board."

Although still an amateur, Turner has built such a reputation he's an exception to the rule that only professionals have their own boards – which is why his is a bro-model rather than a pro-model. A freelance motion graphics artist, Turner has sponsors and gets paid to go on skateboarding tours across the country.

"I don't want to compete, because it starts being less fun and more like a job," he said.

Turner, 23, has been skateboarding since he was 10, when his grandmother bought him a board from Walmart. That same year, the Genoa Park District opened the Chamberlain Skateboard Park three blocks from his house.

"All the other kids were like five years older than me," Turner said. "They just kind of took me under their wing. It made me grow up fairly fast."

That same kind of camaraderie draws many skateboarders to SMLTWN, 229 E. Lincoln Highway in DeKalb. The skateboard store – pronounced Smalltown – opened in 2007, and is the only store of its kind within 30 miles.

Co-owner Ariel Reis said most skateboarders are between the ages of 13 and 24, but people of all ages and walks of life participate. She said she knows people in their 40s who skateboard every day.

"If you love it, you'll keep doing it," 19-year-old Northern Illinois University student Gavin Tudor said.

Turner said when he was in high school, kids stopped skateboarding to take up sports. He did the opposite.

"I gave up sports to skateboard," he said. "I just never stopped."

Reis said it takes dedication and hard work to become good at skateboarding, but "once you get the basics, it's like the best feeling there is."

Daeielle Culver of DeKalb is a substitute teacher who sometimes rides her board to class. It's eco-friendly, offers exercise – and she loves it.

"I like that turn-on you get. It's like flying," she said.

Reis said skateboarding is different things to different people, making it hard to classify. It can be a sport, a hobby, a form of transportation or a form of exercise.

"(To me) it's more than a sport; it's an art form," she said. "It's definitely a form of meditation."

Alex Combs, 13, skates with his friends at Chamberlain Park in Genoa.

"It's my hobby," he said. "Whenever I'm bored I have something to do."

Quinn Lacaste, 9, also skates at Chamberlain Park. She said it's a way to spend time with friends outside. She said she began learning from her uncle when she was 2.

Culver said it can be hard for girls and women to break into the "boys club" of skateboarding, since more males ride than females. Reis teaches skateboarding lessons to both boys and girls through local park districts, and teaches one-on-one lessons to girls 9 to 12.

"To me, that's the best way to learn, when you're young and haven't developed bad habits," she said. "You can learn to skate and fall the right way without getting hurt."

If you're not willing to fall, Culver said, you probably shouldn't skateboard.

"It's not if you're gonna fall, it's when," said John Dowjotas, 19, of DeKalb.

SMLTWN offers competitions and clinics for skateboarders throughout the year. For information, call 815-756-5555 or visit smalltownskates.com.