Snedigar Sports Complex - Chandler, Arizona, U.S.A.

First things first. The Chandler park is probably the best park in Phoenix (as of this writing anyway= May 03'). It's a toss up between Paradise Valley and Chandler depending on your preferences, if you like a little bit of vertical Chandler is probably your 1st hit park. Paradise Valley and Gilbert are good parks too however. Like most AZ parks the Chandler Park is free, w/ lights, no attendant, and no pad rules. It's a good sized park and has a little bit for everyone. It's best feature (in my 30+ year old opinion) is its larger bowl. It has a variety of hips, extensions, escalators, and a spine. It's a good ride. It has maybe a few inches of true vert in its steepest spots and the coping is consistent and well laid. There are many possibilities in here but some of them are made a bit difficult by a rather large lump of s**t "speed bump" in the middle of the bowl that the locals refer to as the "Twinkie". Why they call it a Twinkie I'm not sure because it sure as hell isn't soft. A jackhammer monkey wrench of this thing is in order! Nonetheless, this bowl is good and it's no one's fault but your own if you can't have fun in it, just think of it as a cement ramp rather than a pool. There is way more right with this bowl than wrong with it. The other bowl is a smaller square/round type of thing w/ 2 hips and an escalator. Its a great beginner bowl but if you are a tranny trog/speed junker don't get your hopes up. In the spot where there "waterfall" should be there is about a 3" depth difference that is too small to pump. On a positive note, the hips are fun and it's a good bowl to learn new tricks in? The rest of the park is pretty large and has a ton of different obstacles, ? pipes, hips, rails, boxes, manual pads, volcano, bank to wall, ollie nipples, fun box. All of the rail/ledge stuff is pretty much separate from the transition stuff which makes the park a lot easier to ride when it is busy. The local kids have gotten good so fast since this place opened. The cement work throughout the park is excellent, although it is starting to show signs of its age. The AZ sun is probably to blame for that though. Considering how much could go wrong w/ a public park w/all the red tape, codes, restrictions, etc. the place is pretty amazing. All of my nitpicks are of the "constructive criticism" variety, overall this place kicks ass and I'm lucky to live close to it! I'm going to give it 7 out of 10. -- Chris Kelley