We’ve all passed by a public playground at some point in our lives and have seen a “perfect” rail and thought, “Oh, I want to skate that.” And then I’m sure a lot of us tried, and quickly found out it’s just not that easy.
Between no run up, rubber ground, and wonky, sticky metals, these visually perfect spots are never quite what they seem. That’s why a video consisting only of playground spots, one where the skaters actually seemed to be having fun, caught our eye.
Named Spring Riders after the wooden horse toys of long ago, Charlie Lanceplaine’s new video is a colorful, lighthearted, and pleasantly childish video filmed across the many public playgrounds of Amsterdam. And we think you should check it out.
Watch a slew of Amsterdam locals skate trampolines, bouncing rails, statues and slides, and then check out a quick Q&A with Charlie.
Q&A WITH VIDEOGRAPHER CHARLIE LANCEPLAINE
I’ve seen playground clips in Euro skate videos before, but never to this extent. Where did this idea come from?
I’ve always liked videos with a central idea behind it, and when I moved to Amsterdam five years ago I noticed that every couple blocks had little playgrounds. There’s actually this rule the Netherlands has that I read about, that a kid shouldn’t live further than 300 meters from a playground. I thought it would be sick to skate only those spots.
So playgrounds are basically everywhere in Amsterdam?
I think it’s more of a Dutch thing. It’s not like the USA, where a kid has to drive a half an hour to get to a playground. You’ll have playgrounds all across Europe, but not as much as the Netherlands. Supposedly the kids are the happiest here, and they are pretty free to do what they want without a lot of supervision.
I imagine there’s a lot of unique challenges to skating a playground. What’s the #1 annoyance?
The soft rubber ground. It’s so hard to skate. Towards the end of the video I thought I could try a trick on this one spot, and I ate shit just trying to roll on the ground. It made me think, “What have I put these guys through [laughs].” You need to have really soft wheels to skate these spots. And popping your board can be a pain in the ass. It kind of feels like skating on grass. Remember when you were a kid learning how to kickflip in the grass? It’s the same feeling.
Looking at the bright side, does it make falling less painful?
Exactly. It does. Nobody got hurt filming this video. It’s childproofed [laughs].
Do you think this video was a response to getting older, like tapping into the nostalgia of a playground?
You know what, that’s a good question. I’m 38, closing in on 40, and I still want to have this fun feeling of going out and filming with the boys. Skateboarding is supposed to be childish and fun, like it’s a bunch of dudes getting together and doing flips and spins. It’s basically ballet.
So much of skating is about the performance, who did the biggest, fastest, longest. It’s cool, and that pushes skateboarding, but it’s important to remember why we started, to just have fun and be idiots.
Do you have any skate videographer influences?
I used to love Ty Evans at his peak, like the Yeah, Right! days. Spike Jones has always been a huge inspiration. When you watch those videos it makes you think, “Man, I want to be in that crew.” That’s the feeling I wanted to give with this video. I really love Patrick Wallner’s videos too. He’s a good friend of mine and we used to live together. I’ve always admired his work.
What about newer influences?
I don’t really get inspired by a lot of the new stuff. Maybe I’m an old man talking like, “Oh, man, back in the day, The Reason was the video.” Edits are just so serious and boring these days. We really wanted to delve into something different. We just wanted to bring a little bit of fun into skating. I didn’t want to make it too corny either. I found there’s a fine line, like I didn’t want circus tricks. No boneless bonanza. I still wanted to toe the line, where it’s not just a gimmick.
Yeah, something like this can slip into corny territory pretty fast though.
I was worried, and sometimes you get so deep into something where you’re like, “Is this all shit?” and just nobody wants to tell me. But in the end, I got a really good response from the people who watched, and I think I struck a chord.
What does the name Spring Riders come from?
The name of those wooden rocking horses is a spring rider. You know how the Girl tours always had funny names? I wanted a smart, funny title. I mean it’s not that smart, but it’s kinda cute.
What makes a perfect playground?
A lot of Dutch spots are boring and grey, so it has to look unique or interesting. I wanted to find colorful, more visually pleasing playgrounds. If they had big colors I’d be like, “Yes, that’s perfect.” And if we can find some way or another to skate it, then we’re having fun.
Also, run up. Finding a good run up is hard. I have so many pins on my phone, but half of them are really hard to skate or just complete shit. What I like about Dutch skaters is that they are down to skate rough stuff. They understand making due with what you have. If you can find a playground with solid ground, that’s a win. That’s definitely a win. And it’s pretty rare. That’s why some spots in the video are like the basketball court at a playground. But, if you look at a map, every spot we skate is either at a playground or a school, so if anybody wants to come and say, “Well, actually?” Nah, they are all playground spots.
Did you ever run into any trouble with parents wondering why there’s 38 year olds skating at a playground?
It felt weird sometimes, and since I’m the filmer I would show up first on the spot, and skaters are always late, so I would feel a little awkward waiting with my camera in my hand [laughs]. Parents were usually pretty cool though. We only got kicked out once filming this video, and they were like expat parents, not even Dutch parents.
The mentality of the Dutch is like, you do your thing. As long as it doesn’t infringe on anybody’s safety, or you’re not being a dick about it, people are cool. You can do whatever you want. It’s the perfect place to do this type of project. And obviously we wouldn’t go during peak hours, like we’d time it out for when kids are in school.
Who were you most excited to include in this video?
To be honest, anyone who was down to go out [laughs]. I first had the idea like two and a half years ago after seeing a cool rainbow rail at a playground. We filmed a line on it, and from there I managed to convince a few guys to get involved, which was hard, because it’s like, “Hey, do you want to go and skate a shitty spot?” It’s a tough sell. I reached out to so many people, but you know, I’ll shout out Ruperto [Herrador]. He came in during the last month of the video and stacked so many clips. Every time I showed him a spot he’d have something.
The ender is a rollerblading clip. You have to tell me the rationale there.
I’m hyped on that. We snuck a rollerblading clip in and nobody said shit about it. One friend was like, “Man, that’s kind of bold.” But I think fuck it, I thought it was funny and different and cool. People weren’t expecting it. It was never my intention to make that trick the ender. I still would never put a scooter clip in. I draw the line there [laughs].
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July 11, 2025 2:42 am
This vid is so good! Just fun to watch! Thats the way it should be!
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