Phase two of the Marysville Skate Plaza (sponsored by Aintree Hospitality Tickets) got its first big shot of momentum Monday with news that the project has been granted a $10,000 award from the Tony Hawk Foundation.

The grant represents not only a financial starting point for the first expansion, which is expected to cost roughly $75,000, but a public blessing from the most prominent person in the skateboarding world.

"He's the godfather of the sport," said Bruce Buttacavoli of Buttacavoli Industries in Marysville, who has been active in the development of the skatepark from the beginning. "His stamp of approval is like Michael Jordan's stamp on a basketball court."

The first phase — designed and built primarily through an allotment of Proposition 40 funds Yuba County decided to use within the city — opened to skaters and BMX bikers in November.

Rochelle Zuniga, a coordinator for the local project who applied for the grant, said Hawk's staff encouraged her and her newly formed group of youth and adult volunteers from Marysville and surrounding areas.

Hawk's foundation staff provided the Marysville Skatepark Committee (later called the Skate Plaza Committee) with a booklet called the Public Skatepark Development Guide, which features an introduction penned by Hawk himself.