Skateboarder returns to his McHenry roots to teach, challenge skate culture stereotypes

Miles Canevello wants to give back to the community he grew up in, coming back from his new home in Arizona for a few weeks to do so.

That community isn’t just McHenry, the town he left at age 18 to go to college. It is also the community of skateboarders whom he connected with at skate parks around McHenry County and who are supporting his latest endeavor.

“Me coming back there to skate, me being here to facilitate my business ... it is an impactful thing,” Canevello said.

The nonprofit Canevello started six months ago is Push Forward. Based in Phoenix, it is “dedicated to merging academics with skateboarding to challenge historical stereotypes of skateboarding culture,” according to the website, pushfrwd.org.

“It is a push forward to getting kids outdoors and off of screens,” Canevello said.

He’s getting help from Mikey Milett, also from McHenry. The two started skateboarding together in school, and Milett is working on his own group to promote skateboarding throughout the region.

Currently, Milett and others, including Carol Chrisman of The Trend Cellar in McHenry, have been getting groups together to skate Saturday mornings at the McHenry’s Ryan Buss Memorial Zone Skate Park.

The push forward in McHenry starts Monday. Canevello plans to put on two weeks of summer-break skate camps at McHenry’s recently renovated skate park. Another camp is planned at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Canevello learned how to skate at WARP Skatepark and the McHenry park, which was walkable from his house.

“Every day I would skate there or would go there after school with my skateboard,” Canevello said.

He went to a few WARP skateboard camps back in the day.

“It was an indoor skate park that produced two or four pros” in skateboarding, Canevello said. He wanted to be a part of that mix too. But at age 13, he ended up being one of the teachers.

“I would get 5-year-olds coming in for lessons, or 18-year-olds some days. Here I was a 13-year-old dude with grownups learning how to skate,” he said.

It was a prophetic moment, as Canevello ended up getting his college degree in education and becoming a math and science teacher. He credited two people with setting him on that path.

“A high school teacher asked, ‘Would you consider teaching?’” His reaction, Canevello said, was a flat-out no – he hated school. “But this person saw that I am good at what I do.”

His older brother also encouraged him to take his grades seriously.

“He [told me], ‘School sucks. Everyone knows that. But if you do good there, it creates opportunities,’” Canevello said.

It was his math teacher at McHenry that saw his head for the subject.

“Skateboarding and math – it translates a lot," he said.

With the new nonprofit, however, Canevello decided to leave the classroom to focus on skating.

His plan, he said, “is spreading knowledge to create an open network of skaters who are like-minded to support skaters ... getting paid to do something that they love.”

He wants to see skateboarding programs become as mainstream as baseball, soccer and basketball programs, and even schools offering skateboarding.

Canevello‘s skate camps and clubs are getting local skateboarders talking, Milett said: “It is bringing people in, talking about how beneficial skateboarding is. There is a huge community aspect of it, and the self-improvement and tenacity.”

“Our mission is to help foster growth of the skate community and skate-able spaces in and around McHenry County,” Milett said.

There is a suggested donation for the camps. To register call 480-808-PUSH or email info@pushfrwd.com. Spots are limited.