When it comes to skateboarding, Corey Seitz is a big wheel.

Watch him zip up and down the ramps at Muskogee’s skatepark — a system he helped design. In an instant, he skids down a railing narrow enough to wrap your hands around. He wheels his skateboard toward a low metal bench, then, hop, he’s making his way across it with ease.

He knows every ramp, every railing, every half-pipe, quarter pipe and hubba ledge.

“I come out here four or five times a week, an average of three times,” he said.

Now 28, Seitz has been wheeling around on skateboards since he was 4.

“A cousin from California got me into it, and I haven’t quit yet,” he said.

Such skateboard skill has opened doors for the 2001 Muskogee High School graduate. He spent two years managing the skatepark at Falls Creek, a Southern Baptist camp that draws 45,000 youths each summer.

As director of the Christian Life Center at First Baptist Church, Seitz uses skateboarding to help reach out to people. He hosts a weekly skate church that draws 30 to 40 people a week.

However, skateboarding is only one of Seitz’ interests. He also is active in music and ministry.

With a song

in their hearts

When he wasn’t skateboarding or playing soccer or some other sport, young Corey Seitz sang. He sang in church and school choirs during elementary school and middle school. In high school, he was influenced by choir director Bill Hearn.

“He developed who I am as a singer,” Seitz recalled. “He brought out the best in people.”

Music also brought Seitz to Tara Brown, the MHS student who would eventually be his wife. They met during the 2001 MHS musical production of “Guys and Dolls.”

“I was a senior and she was a junior,” he recalled. “I played Sky Masterson, and I’ll never forget the day she walked in as a new student. I remember exactly what she had on.”

Seitz said he lost track of Tara when he went to college and didn’t see her for eight years. They reconnected in 2009 and married in March.

He said he and his wife now enjoy “singing together and harmonizing together.”

He sings tenor, she sings soprano. Seitz said they sometimes have sung at Miss Addie’s, but usually it’s just for fun.

“We put music on in the car and sing along,” he said. “We listen to a lot of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald and hip hop.”

Yes, hip-hop.

“LeCrae is a Christian rapper out of Dallas who is really phenomenal,” he said.



Building relationships

as activity minister

Seitz’ job as director of the First Baptist Church Christian Life Center enables him to combine his love of people with his interest in sports.

“I get to connect with a lot of different people — children, adults, senior adults,” he said. “I get so much out of that. I love building relationships, getting to know someone.”

He said he got the job after a lot of prayer and searching.

“When I came back to Muskogee in 2009, I was not sure what I was going to do,” Seitz said. “I knew God was leading me to minister somewhere.”

He said he prayed to see what he felt God was calling him to do.

“I really want to have a heart for ministry,” he said.

As Christian Life Center director, Seitz is the church’s “activity minister.”

The center has a full gym, a weight room, game room, even a bowling alley. The center also offers Upward basketball, a Christian sports league.

“It’s a full-out recreational facility,” he said. “Here’s the main aspect of it, especially to my generation. A lot of people might not set foot in a church but will shoot pool, will shoot baskets, will do skateboarding. With this, you get to build relationships.”

He said the Christian Life Center is for people of all ages.

“The walking trail and weight room is used by seniors, and we have different Sunday School parties,” Seitz said.



Skateboarding

as a creative outlet

One thing Seitz likes best about skateboarding is emphasis on the individual.

“You’re with a group of friends, but it’s you skating,” he said. “It’s very individual.”

He contrasted that with team sports he has done.

“I played soccer through high school,” he said. “With team sports, you may have three, four or five guys who keep the team going. With skateboarding, the responsibility is squarely on your shoulders. It’s being able to be as good as you want to be.”

Seitz finds a creative outlet through skateboarding.

“There’s always something new to learn, new things all the time,” he said. “There’s always new ways to take a trick you know and make it more difficult and complete.

Seitz helped the city of Muskogee design two skateparks. He said he helped design one that was in an old hangar at Love-Hatbox Sports Complex more than nine years ago.

He was called on again to help design the new Love-Hatbox skatepark in 2010.

“I worked closely with Mark Wilkerson,” he said, referring to the Muskogee Parks and Recreation director.

Seitz said a skatepark needs a “good flow.”

He said a good flow comes “when you can kind of flow through the park, skating up and down the ramps without having to stop.”

Meet Corey Seitz

AGE: 28.

HOMETOWN: Muskogee.

JOB: Christian Life Center director, First Baptist Church.

EDUCATION: Muskogee High School 2001; attended Oklahoma State University; seeking a degree in sports management/Christian ministry from Bacone College.

FAMILY: Wife, Tara; two dogs, Roxy and Eddie.

CHURCH: First Baptist Church.

HOBBIES: “It’s a long list: Fishing, cycling, running, working out, fitness, anything outside, playing catch, drawing or painting, dabbling with drums and guitars.