The first ever Estonian éS Game of SKATE took place in the city of Tartu on 23rd of may. The morning rain scared off a big part of the competitors but despite that many still arrived and battled out for the cool prizes and invitations...
This seasons first Baltic éS Game of Skate competition took off in Vilnius, Lithuania, right in front of the Xclub shop. Not only locals but also skateboarders from Latvia came down there on the 16th of May to participate in the...
The éS Game of SKATE, presented by Boost Mobile, has officially come to a close and what a finale it was!
On the last stop of the éS Game of SKATE tour, Brea’s Liberty Boardshop hosted 178 skaters, all looking for that last shot at a spot in the Amateur World Championships being held the following weekend in Costa Mesa. Locals Brad Herrera, Doug Mares, and Edgar Torres all skated hard but fell in semi final games to Alvaro Delval, Paljum Tschering and Boo Johnson. Paljum Tschering, not afraid to show he came to win, fired warning shots early with tricks that are designed to get skaters out quickly. His tricks, like kickflip body varials, shove-it reverts, nollie norths and ollie souths, just to name a few, got a lot of crowd reactions and plenty of looks from the other skaters but in the end, he proved that he came to win and wasn’t going home empty handed after entering his 5th Game of SKATE this summer. In the end it was clear he could hold it down with solid skating and consistency and he was going to the finals, deservedly so.
As the final games of the first round of SKATE were winding down, a lone skater signed in and became the 123rd competitor at the Los Altos Skatepark, hosted by The Beach Zone in Albuquerque. Being the 123rd skater meant he would be playing in 3-way games of SKATE all day long. This would be no easy task in blistering heat against 122 hungry skaters - but the heat, in the air and on the ground, did not faze John Thomson. Defending champ Paul Hockett and newcomers Brian Jackson and Andrew Torralvo could not hold off John Thomson as he battled his way through his 6th round of multi-skater games to win it all and take home that Boost Mobile i425 phone, an éS Game of SKATE Gold Medal and the all-expenses-paid trip to the finals in July, during the Maloof Money Cup, being held at the Orange County Fairgrounds.
Normally, July 3rd at Venice Beach is no more extraordinary than any other day of the year. With the Independence Day holiday looming on the horizon, fireworks were the last things on the minds of 144 hungry skaters that gathered on the basketball courts at Venice Beach for the Active Boardshop éS Game of SKATE, presented by Boost Mobile. With the normal offering of acrobats, jugglers, clowns and beggars, Venice provided an interesting backdrop for skaters like Prince Gilchrist, Joe Varella, Matt Lemond and others to showcase their flatground skills. Paljum Tschering, an early favorite from Tibet, lost in a heated semi final game to Carlos Lastra but this wouldn’t be the last we heard from Paljum. As we approached the home stretch, SoCal locals Joe Varella, Chris Angeles, Alex Lopez and Carlos Lastra were our final four skaters standing. Arizona transplant Carlos Lastra held off Alex Lopez and showed the crowd his frontside pop shove-it late flip to give Alex an “E” and take home the top spot.
Collective Boardshop hosted our first trip to the Dallas, Texas, area in three years, and despite the stifling heat and shade-less parking lot, we had 128 skaters come out, all hoping to take home that Gold Medal, Boost Mobile phone and the ticket to California for the Finals. Chris and the guys at Collective made sure the éS crew, competitors and spectators had plenty of water and shade all day long—truly kind hosts in the southern tradition. While the Collective crew provided hospitality Texas style, out on the 110-degree asphalt, 15-year-old Drake Flores got to work handling the field of skaters in front of him. When it was all said and done, Drake held off fierce competition from Ryan Bernal, Chris Wooley and Carsten Boyer to claim that golden ticket and advance to the Finals in Orange County, CA.
The éS Game of SKATE returned to the City of Brotherly Love and joined forces with Nocturnal Skateshop to prove once again that the east coast is a breeding ground for technical skateboarding. The spot was Rizzo’s Rink under I-95, and the permit fee was an unusual twist: the crew had to paint over the graffiti on the wall of the building overlooking the contest! Once the new canvas was complete, all the familiar faces began to show up as the Game of SKATE crew took over the roller-hockey rink. Philly’s always an interesting stop on tour -- to see who can handle the heat and battle their way to the top for that trip to California and a Boost Mobile Phone.
Spencer Brown, Allen Beers and Dante Benjamin battled hard all day to make it to the finals where Spencer Brown once again proved his SKATE mastery by winning his third trip to the Finals.
After three quick round trips out of Orange County and back, rushing through airports, battling OC/LA traffic and getting rained on, the drive to San Francisco was our longest and most anticipated trip of 2008. It not only kicked off the first stop of many on the éS Game of SKATE summer tour, meaning that we would not be returning home for several long weeks, but here we were on our way to one of our favorite cities on the entire tour. Good friend to the GOS crew and veteran of the SF skate scene Shrewgy greeted us upon our arrival and gave us the inside scoop on one of his favorite Indian Restaurants. We filed that for later and headed over to FTC, our hosts in San Francisco for the Game of SKATE. FTC always gets it right, and Main man Error! Contact not defined. had been working through the difficult San Francisco permit process for the éS Game of SKATE to set up in the famous Waller Street closure. June 1st proved to be a typical late spring day in the Bay area: sunny skies, cool temps and a stiff wind, fresh off the water, blasting in to Golden Gate Park. When you’re set up in a wide-open parking lot, directly in the path of these chilly Pacific gusts, this makes for a challenging Game of SKATE set up and almost always affects the skaters’ ability to perform without interference from the wind. That wouldn’t be the case for NorCal local and flip-trick master, Mark Suciu, who barely broke a sweat on his way to winning his third consecutive éS Game of SKATE, presented by Boost Mobile title. Fellow rippers Adam Emery, KC Docherty, Kenny Tanaka and Paljum Tschering, a top seed from the Seattle and Portland area feeder events, would all join Mark in the top 5 but fall short of overcoming the harsh winds and Mark’s non-stop assault of flip tricks in every direction, regular and switch. Don’t believe us, check him out on YouTube…
On our maiden voyage to the oldest skateshop in the world, an unwelcome guest made her presence known. Mother Nature and all her wrath was in the house at Val Surf in North Hollywood forcing us to take shelter and make plans for what we call a “do over” in the éS Game of SKATE. With just a few games under way when the skies opened up, the decision was made to start fresh one week later and hopefully have all of the rain-soaked kids return to claim their spot in the lineup.