The X Trials, set for Father's Day weekend next month at Lake Compounce, will offer a close-up look at skateboarding, BMX biking and in-line skating competition on June 15-17.

The X Trials are a qualifying event for the X Games, an ESPN event since 1997 that is akin to the Olympics of extreme sports. This year, the Summer X Games will be held in Philadelphia August 17-23.

Alongside the pro athletes at Lake Compounce will be the Xperience, a place where fans -- and families -- can have fun and try out some of the sports they're watching.

"There's a lot of music, a lot of energy" at the Xperience, said ESPN spokeswoman Katie Moses. She said one booth will have a disc jockey arrangement where people can take a turn at the microphone.

At the Xperience, which Moses called an "interactive village," there will be a live band. She said ESPN typically gets a local band for that gig.

Moses said the Xperience will include "a mini skate park" complete with skateboards, helmets and pads so anyone can go for a spin.

Sometimes ESPN will get one of the pros to demonstrate a trick at the Xperience, Moses said, or teach something to a fan.

"Some of these kids actually get to get on a skateboard with some of our best pros," Moses said.

There will also be a climbing wall, said Amy Cacciola, another ESPN spokeswoman, and a simulated bungee jump.

"It is a trampoline," Cacciola said. Participants can jump extra high because they are attached to an elastic cord that is hooked up to tall vertical bars on the sides of the trampoline, she said.

"Because you're roped in, it gives the sensation of freefall," Cacciola said. "It's very popular."

Cacciola said the climbing wall will be "a smaller version of our climbing wall we have in the X Games."

Cacciola said participants wear a harness, but that doesn't make it easy.

"It's hard," Cacciola said. "It's all legs."

There isn't an age restriction for the climbing wall, Cacciola said.

"I've seen 3-year-olds do it," said Cacciola.

Best of all -- thanks to a host of corporate sponsors who pick up the tab so that they can have booths and advertising -- everything is free.

"It's just a lot of fun," Moses said.

Top sponsors are AT&T, Adidas, Mountain Dew, Pontiac, Taco Bell and Motorola.

Other corporate sponsors will be Circuit City, Pac Sun, Right Guard, the U.S. Marine Corps, Wrigley's, Universal Pictures, and Playstation 2.

"It's because of these sponsors that the people don't have to pay a dime," said Moses, adding that there are usually a lot of free samples and promotional items, too. Sponsors will have booths with games, samples and the like, according to Moses.

"The Marines always have a pull-up bar," she said.