Skateboarding Takes Off in the Off-Season
Dec 22 2006 / Los Angeles, CADon’t let the rise of big competitions like the X Games, Dew Tour, and LG Action Sports Tour trick you into thinking pro skateboarding is a seasonal activity.
For one thing, skateboard roots and branches now span the globe, creating an Endless Summer vibe with contests and tours going down all over the world: Sandro Dias cleaned up in the 2006 Pro Vert World Rankings by making it to every event on the World Cup skateboarding circuit this year, including stops in Brazil, Malaysia, the Czech Republic, and Canada that went down before, in the middle of, and after the Summer action here in the states. Last week, he was off to the United Arab Emirates – of all places – to skate at X Games Dubai. Believe it.
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Winter’s chills won’t stop street skaters’ urban assault either, though Zoo York’s Aaron Suski has been known to skip the hat and scarf sessions by relocating to Tucson, Arizona once the wind starts whistling through Manhattan. He’ll get some more fun in the sun in January, when the Zoo York team swaps hemispheres for its Australian tour. Similarly, many of your favorite crews are flying South for the season for various tours and film trips, so look for more international flavor in next year’s video parts as skaters scour the globe in search of warmer weather and new spots untarnished by overexposure or anti-skateboarding bolts.
“It really doesn’t stop,” writes Bob Burnquist, in his Blob blog (Check it out here > ) “It just doesn’t end.” Burnquist took the “flying South” thing to the ridiculous extreme, as is his style, following up his “Dude Tour” duty with a ride in an F-16 and an appearance at the MTV VMB awards show in Brazil before joining Geoff Rowley, Rune Glifberg, Aarto Saari, and Mark Appleyard for the Flip team’s recently wrapped Feast Tour through Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida.
Some of the Almost team is filming in Japan, and the Black Label team is just back from China; Chet Childress and the rest of the team have a blog online now at Chet’s Corner > where Childress offers the following timeless advice: “Shred the planet. Make a canvas with your wheels and avoid a normal lifestyle if possible.”
Ryan Sheckler reversed the migration, flying to New York last week to begin filming for his new MTV reality series. He’s also been back on his motorcycle again recently for an Alpine Stars event: Sneaking into all those X Games and Dew Tour after-parties with his FMX friends must be going to his head.
Late Fall to early Spring is also prime time for pro rehearsal, from the vert ramp in Encinitas to the Brooklyn Banks, and it’s never too early to start working on those 2007 video parts or building up the bag of tricks. But even if you’re stuck inside for a snow day, you can still pretend you’re a pro by throwing down for a new game system and picking up Tony Hawk’s Project 8. You can role-play as Dew Tour champ Ryan Sheckler or Thrasher Magazine 2006 Skater of the Year Daewon Song (beats Dungeons & Dragons), and rest assured that most of the industry’s top pros are wasting some time in exactly the same way. Even Nyjah Huston gets in on the virtual action: the youngster’s digital dreads flailing across your screen should serve as a needed reminder to get up off the couch every once in a while and get back to some real-world skating: Summer’s just around the corner. Keep it together.
