I was thrilled to go to the LA sports Arena to witness the high energy skate competition called Sk8wars. Amateurs of all ages came to fight for their chance to win cash and prizes.
At 10 AM I was surprised that the smell of fresh cut wood was still in the air -the builders seem to be working at a snails pace. The skaters were eager to get onto the course having been promised a chance to practice at 8 AM. It didn’t help that rain was coming down hard outside so there really wasn’t anywhere to skate except the indoor course as promised.
By 10:30 the promised skate course wasn’t even close to being built so in the end, the competition went on without it. There was a half pipe in one area and a jump ramp over a rail to skate on in another. The skaters made the most of it and killed it for hours- providing an exciting session to watch.
Guys were flying over the rail two and three at a time -cracking the skate track under their weight. On more than one occasion the skate track was being built while the skaters were sessioning it simultaneously.
Your wheel falling INTO the skate track certainly adds to the difficulty factor.
Injuries look more impressive on the Big Screen TV:
I tore myself away from the amazing skating long enough to check out the vendors upstairs. Something for everyone from “Goodlife with Gabby” healthy lifestyles for kids to “Lit” skateboards a company that advertises that their light up skateboards are seedless…..
I like this idea of a new type of grip tape;composite particles. It’s an eco-friendly product and could be the next best thing in skating. If nothing else, they have cool T-shirts with a bitchen logo.
I loved meeting Kelly from “Hoop it up!” She is like a little hula hoop pixie with kick ass dance moves. She has worked with over 2 million kids and has even been to the white house! I have been trying to find a grown up sized hoop for me because I can’t do most “core” excercises so I was very excited to find one at Sk8wars. That was an awesome surprise. I have been using my hoop for 10 minutes a day (for 3 whole days now…) I’ll keep you all posted how that works out for me. Hopefully I will end up trim like Miss Kelly here:
I enjoyed meeting nine-year-old Strider whose dad; Bob Ellis created the “Yo baby” a plastic skateboard deck without wheels. My son used one of these for years and I will tell you that they are perfect to practice on in the house if you have a kid like mine that just can’t stop skating.
Back in the arena they narrowed the crowd of skating hopefuls to about half. That half were given numbers going all the way up to a hundred and something but in the end, only the skaters with numbers 1-60 were allowed to compete for the money. Hopefully these kinks will be ironed out by next years event.
More skating and more building took place during round two of the Sk8war. The energy was high as the skaters risked it all to get their runs in. The singer of the band Stretford End got in the groove and decided to do a little ariwalk of his own:
I definitely would like to check out the Sk8wars next year. I think with a bit more control over the builders and the contest, it could become an epic annual skate event. Looking foward to it.
This kid; Carlos Lastia really did kill it. In fact as I was leaving, I asked him for a photo telling him I knew he was going to win so I needed a good pic of him standing still. Congratulations Carlos- you deserve it!
First Place: Carlos Lastia:
Second Place: Justin Smolenski:
Third Place: Jordan Maxham
As you can see, I risked my life (or at least my lens) to get these shots but it was well worth it. I love skaters and the skate community and will always do what I can to continue to paint skaters in a positive light. Skate or Die! K.P.
