Agoura Takes First in Close CHSSC Season Opener
Apr 16 2007 / Simi Valley, CA
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The rest of the field was filled out by Oak Park in fourth with 20.6, Simi Valley with 19.3, Royal with 18.2 and Newbury Park finished with 15.6 for seventh.
About 75 people lined the Skatelab indoor skatepark in Simi Valley to watch and cheer the skaters on. Spectators were a mix of family, friends and younger skaters looking up to the high schoolers. There were also some people who heard about the event and showed up because they were curious to see what the CHSSC is about.
The seven-team CHSSC is believed to be the first high school level skate league in the country featuring skateboarders from Los Angeles area high schools. Each CHSSC team has five skaters and is led by a captain. (See more on how CHSSC works below.)
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The CHSSC season includes four events with points competition focusing on street style skating. There are three CHSCC events will take place on three Saturday’s over the next eight weeks.
2007 CHSSC SCHEDULE
CHSSC Event 1 - STREET - 1ST Room @ Skatelab First Place: Agoura
CHSSC Event 2 - STREET – Outside @ Skatelab DATE: May 12 1:00 PM
CHSSC Event 3 - STREET - 2ND Room @ Skatelab DATE: May 26 1:00 PM
CHSSC Event 4 - 8 STAIR - 2ND ROOM @ Skatelab DATE: June 9 1:00 PM
It was a great afternoon of skating with skaters from all teams both having fun and concentrating on the competition. While there were standout runs the focus is on the team. Head judge Steve Badillo said, "The combined effort from all three members of the team is what is important."
Badillo went on to say the best teams this season will figure out how to "utilize all three skaters" who compete at each event.
The top teams in this first event, Agoura, Santa Monica and Westlake all had solid team performances.
Agoura senior Josh Krakover had a "flawless run," according to Badillo, using most of the street course with consistency and style. Senior Ryan Klass and junior Travis Meador also skated for the first-place Agoura.
Juniors Evan Edwards, Wesley Tata and Nick Richardson skated the first event for Santa Monica with great energy and form.
Westlake skaters Lee Derber, Corey Philips and Justin Kleaga all turned in sold runs that helped them capture third.
CHSSC founder Jeff Stern was very pleased with the first event. Stern has been working 60 hours a week for the past few months to make sure there were skaters, teams, sponsors and support the make the first event happen.
Stern also talked about the team concept for skating and even if one person has a great run "it will not matter if his teammates do not say on their boards." While Stern runs the CHSSC it is up to the team captains to make sure each skater is focusing on doing the best they can to help their team.
During the competition there was consistent fun, laughs and howls from teammates as skaters did their run. Ryan Klass from Agoura, Bryce "Space" Mandel and Josh Nichols not only had solid runs but had fun with the judges.
Corey Philips, Westlake, and Roy Canright, Simi Valley, were crowd favorites on both team and individual bowl competition.
One of the most refreshing parts of the competition was everyone genuinely seemed to be rooting for skaters to do well. There was no heckling, laughing at falls or trash talk which is so prevalent in traditional sports.
Skateboarders are traditionally syndical of rules, teams, coaches and not being able to do their own thing. Stern and the CHSSC have done a good job of balancing organization and structure with the freedom and loose atmosphere skating embraces. The fact that each team leader is a skater, or one of them, is a great step.
Badillo summed up the afternoon by saying "this is an event for kids who can’t get noticed, they can express themselves here." He added, "Competition was tight for most kids and for the rest just do it for fun."
Related
HOW CHSSC EVENTS WORK
CHSSC rules allow each of the seven teams to skate only three of their five skaters for each event. The team captain picks which three skaters will skate for the day’s event. This is a similar model to players dressing for games in traditional sports, only the players who suite up for a game are allowed to play
There are two sessions with each skater getting a 60 second run in each session. The first session is complete when each of the team’s three skaters complete their run. There is a short break and each skater takes a second 60 second run with the highest score of the two runs counting for the team. Team score are compiled by adding up all three best run scores of their skaters.
CHSSC scoring and judging is led by Steve Badillo, the head judge, who is a pro skateboarder for Alva Skateboards. Steve has two additional judges join him for each event.
- Lat34
