Hawaii
The second annual éS Game of SKATE, presented by Boost Mobile, hit Hawaii on Saturday, May 17, 2008. With twice as many entrants as last year and all of their friends and family in attendance, A’ala Park was full. In true Hawaii style, there was hootin’ and hollerin’ from start to finish.
The Game of SKATE was set up at one end of the park, so most of the park was still skateable, which meant everyone could keep their legs fresh between rounds. As the field of 137 was whittled down to the finals, the skating got better and the games got more intense.
Aala Park locals Chad Hiyakumoto, Chris “Applenuts” Awong, John Oliveira, Shane Ragiles, Matt Chaffin, and Danny Hamaguchi, along with rippers Rico Qwantez, and Bernardo Bernard all held it down into the top 16. Chaffin ended in 4th, John Oliviera got 3rd, and the final two skaters were a repeat match of last year: Danny Hamaguchi and Ian Okui. These two went through a big list of tricks including fakie tres, half-cab flips, and nollie frontside flips before Ian got Danny with a nollie varial heelflip and a switch bigspin heelflip to earn the trip to the World Amateur Championships for the second year in a row. Thanks to Chad at APB for helping make the éS Game of SKATE happen in Hawaii again. This was a great way to start off the Game of SKATE tour!
