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Sundiego Vans Am Slam stop #3!

2010-07-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

The Sun Diego Vans Am Slam hit Chula Vista on 7/17/10 for the third stop of the tour. The tour culminates with a championship contest at the Vans skatepark in O.C. If you are not familiar with this tour, take it from me that you need to get out to the next stop on 8/28/10 at the Carmel Valley skatepark. There is incredible amateur skating happening right here in San Diego. You will not believe how amazing these skaters are. These riders will melt your face with amazing tricks and powerful skating. Each stop I am blown away that the riders can keep up this level of riding stop after stop.

In the 13 and under division you had skaters as young as 6 showing the crowd what they have. It was great to see some of the smaller kids not being afraid to mix it up with the bigger kids. The three kids on the podium had great use of the park and tricks that were well above their age. The results had Alexis Ramirez in third, Zach Saraceno in second, and Rene Serrano with the win. Zach and Rene are only 100 points apart going into the next stop.

Things started to get hotter with the 14-16 division. They took the riding to another level. Big airs, use of the whole park, and long grinds stuck out to me in this group. I was impressed that at this age they were kick flipping down 6 stair sets and pulling long board slides. In the end, creative use of the park helped propel the winners to the podium. Diego Navarez gets third, Eric Winkowski comes in second, Peejay Encina gets the win. Peejay has a big points lead going forward.

Moving into the 17 and over division the skating just keeps getting better. Higher airs, longer grinds, kick flips into board slides, and tre flips and big spins down the 6 stairs stood out in this division. Use of the park, creative and flowing lines, and big tricks were necessary to get on the podium. Patrick Swiggs had the best combination and took the win, Joshua Briggs gets second, and Dolan Stearns earns third. Patrick and Dolan are very close in points, look for these two to step it up moving forward.

Now on to the money round. The open division is where the big show is, and these skaters delivered. This group is really close to making it to the big league AM contests, and you will hear about several of these riders in the near future. These guys really used the park to it's fullest. The crowd had to get out of the way a few times to allow these skaters to go places that no one expected. Kick flips into manuals, flip in shove it out board slides, the biggest airs, and tricking the biggest obstacles were par for this division. There were lots of contestants so this division had 3 jams and a big final. If you have not had the chance to watch a quality skating competition with 9 or 10 skater jams you are really missing out on a great show. There are skaters all over the place with non-stop tricks being thrown each second. In the final the skating only got better. Full park use, the biggest tricks on the most difficult obstacles, and style had to all come together to place in this tough division. At the end of the day Jake Hill gets third, Brandon Villanueva lands in second, and Bryant Chapo gets his second win of the tour. Brendan has a 600 point lead on Bryant, but Bryant has two wins. This division will not be decided until the end in Oceanside.

The trick of the day is usually quite difficult to decide, but Ivan Ortiz's frontside bigspin off the waterfall roll in to flat easily stood out. This is a giant trick he did with a 12 foot fall to flat concrete.

To view the schedule for the remaining stops of the tour click here., or visit SunDiego.com. To view all my photos, more than 150, from this contest, click here!

@Mkbain

The Wiley One Connect the Dots Tour hits So Cal 7/21

2010-07-11T18:55:00.001-07:00

The Wiley One are bringing their new songs and environmental conscience message to Southern California. This video talks about the innovative bus they will be on:

To see the tour poster with all the dates, click here.

The biggest shows on the list for me are 7/23 at The Krause Family YMCA skate/bike park located at 3401 Clairemont Dr, San Diego, 92117. There will be a skate demo, solar powered concert, and green education. Don't miss this great event at a tremendous skate park.

The following day, 7/24, The Wiley One will team up with Surf Rider San Diego for a beach cleanup and acoustic performance at Mission Beach. Come help do some good and have a blast at it!

Both of the above events are FREE! Yes I said FREE! Come out, have some fun, and see a great band perform.

If you like the track "Never Bored on a Board" playing in the video, you can download the track free (for a short time longer) by clicking here.

@mkbain

Double Corks Rock, but Triple Corks are Smokin'!

2010-07-07T13:55:00.000-07:00

You saw Shaun White, Kevin Pearce, Louie Vito, Danny Davis, and others doing double corks in the half pipe at the events leading up to the Olympics. I cannot tell you the amount of work, dedication, and brass ones it takes to throw a double cork in the first place, but all of the riders above threw them in their runs. An interesting little factoid, Kevin and Danny are members of the same crew, Frends. If you have been paying attention, you would think Louie is a Frend too, but he is not officially listed at the site. Louie definitely pals around with them at least. If you are not familiar with these tricks or the riders, Kevin Pearce and Danny Davis both suffered crippling injuries and did not make it to the Olympics to give Shaun the challenge of a lifetime. That said, Kevin was nominated for a Teen Choice Award, you should sign up and vote for him here.

The impressive display left many people wondering what was next, can you say triple cork?

Torstien Horgmo landed the first triple cork ever filmed, check this out:

I watched that footage 10 times and was just as stoked as I was the first time. Watch it again, it's free!

This morning, lighting up Twitter, is Sammy Carlson with a switch, triple corked, 1260! Sammy always uses his feet sticks to their fullest, but I am blown away by this, have a look:

I know that both of these tricks were done on some of the biggest jumps ever seen, but they are getting the rotations down, and soon enough we will see these tricks in slope style events, and then, if we are lucky, in the half pipe. Shred on and keep the progression going!

@mkbain

Street League and ESPN, a great team!

2010-07-02T18:45:00.000-07:00

Street League, the new invitation only street skating competition tour teams up with ESPN to televise the events! I cannot think of a better television partner, especially considering the real-time scoring that will happen in Street League.

On June 24, 2010, Street League put on a demo in San Diego, and I was there to witness Paul Rodriguez and Chris Cole put on a clinic of top notch skating! The pictures you are seeing are from that event! To see more of my photos from this demo, click here.

Below is the official ESPN press release:

STREET LEAGUE SKATEBOARDING™ ANNOUNCES MULTI-YEAR BROADCAST PARTNERSHIP WITH ESPN

Street League DC Pro Tour fueled by Monster Energy Secures Domestic and International Distribution

Street League Skateboarding™ announced today that they will be entering a multi-year partnership with ESPN for worldwide distribution in more than 198 countries. The 2010 Street League DC Pro Tour fueled by Monster Energy is a prestigious, invite-only, three-event series featuring the top 24 pros in the world. Founded by twenty-year professional skateboarder and entrepreneur, Rob Dyrdek, Street League™ raises the bar of competitive professional skateboarding with the most prize money in skateboarding history, skate plaza course design in world-class arenas and an instant-scoring format that makes every trick count.

“What Dyrdek has done for skateboarding with the creation of Street League is right in line with the quality sports programming that is the cornerstone of ESPN,” said Chris Stiepock, ESPN vice president, sponsorship and content, X Games Franchise. “We are excited to broadcast competitive street skating with the world’s best pros in a package that is both compelling and new for our audience.”

Dyrdek said: “ESPN is an absolute perfect fit for Street League, and it is undeniable that they have helped lay the groundwork for televised skateboarding 16 years ago with the launch of X Games and have stayed with it ever since. With this deal, competitive street skateboarding will finally move from afternoon programming on the weekends to consecutive primetime slots so the audience finally has a chance to tune in and watch the same time every week.”

Street League™ will air the first stop of the tour beginning Wednesday, September 15 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and will continue its coverage of each stop every Wednesday at the same time slot through September 29^th.

Street League™ features the exclusive participation of 24 of the best street skateboarders in the world. To assist their transition into the league, each pro has been given the option to compete in two non-sanctioned wildcard events until the end of 2010. Beginning in 2011, the pros will compete exclusively in the Street League™ series and other Street League™ sanctioned events worldwide. Street League™ will work in conjunction with ESPN to allow Street League™ pros to participate in ESPN-owned events for the duration of the partnership.

Using real time scoring and an exciting proprietary competition format, Street League™ will tell a compelling story about each skateboarder’s performance and will have fans on the edge of their seats from the first trick to the very last. The inaugural year of Street League™ features a three-stop arena tour beginning at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona on August 28^th; Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California on September 11^th; and the final stop in Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center on September 25th. The skaters will be competing at each event for a total purse of $1.2 million. For more information please visit www.streetleague.com.

About ESPN

ESPN, Inc., The Worldwide Leader in Sports, is the leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company featuring the broadest portfolio of multimedia sports assets with over 50 business entities. Based in Bristol, Conn., ESPN Plaza includes more than 700,000 square feet in more than a dozen buildings on 116 acres. The company is 80 percent owned by ABC, Inc., an indirect subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.

About Street League Skateboarding ™

Street League Skateboarding™ is the first sports entertainment property that gives professional street skateboarding its very own league for individual competition. Street League™ features the exclusive participation of the world’s best professionals, the most prize money in skateboarding history with a $1.2 MM purse, and real skate plaza course design inside world-class arenas. Driven by the need to enhance the experience of live professional street skateboarding, Street League™ utilizes real-time scoring and a proprietary format that makes every trick count. Street League™ is created and hosted by twenty-year professional skateboarder and entrepreneur, Rob Dyrdek. More information is available at www.streetleague.com.

Pay attention for details, and get tickets to what surely will be one of the can't miss events of the summer!

Brian Beagle
@mkbian
my blog

"Never Bored on a Board" by The Wiley One, Download Now! Win Prizes Too!

2010-06-17T15:14:00.000-07:00

An @ Mkbain exclusive!

As Sam Wiley ollied over a massive flight of 10 stairs, he thought he’d like to get sponsored and enter the world of professional skateboarding.

As Sammy slammed into the ground at the base of those same stairs and severely sprained his ankle, he thought he’d like to write and perform music for a living instead.

Lucky for us, his ankle never fully healed.

The Wiley One, Sammy’s modern reggae-inspired rock band, features down-to-earth messages focused on promoting spiritual and artistic expression, saving the environment, and finding joy in every day’s struggles, set to a rhythm of catchy, up-beat guitar riffs. With his skateboarding background, The Wiley One’s music is an ideal companion to any board rider’s session, whether skate, snow or surf.

“When you forget the past, the future, and live in the now, you will feel true bliss and freedom. Music and boarding does that for us,” Sammy believes.

Pro surfer Holly Beck agrees—she uses The Wiley One’s “Go Green” as the sole track in her sustainable living and surfing video, “Life After Competitive Surfing is a bit greener.” The Wiley One’s passion for the environment and working with nature melds perfectly into the world of surf, sand and sun.

“Surfing is my last boarding conquest,” Sammy admits. “I consider myself to be a spiritual person and surfing is spiritual in nature. I love the ocean and everything about surfing.”

The Wiley One has also caught the attention of the X Games, and for the past three years they have performed songs such as their hit “Go Green” to the games’ immense crowds of extreme sports enthusiasts. This summer, The Wiley One plans to kick off their summer tour surrounding the X Games with a string of bio-diesel solar powered shows along the Pacific Coast Highway from July 21-31. The band will be previewing their new single “Never Bored on A Board,” scheduled to launch later this year.

Fuel TV features The Wiley One’s “False Reality” on an episode of Firsthand featuring pro surfer Damien Hobgood, letting Sammy’s music illustrate the calming, playful vibes of surfing in Tahiti.

For Sammy, these vibes fit the description of The Wiley One perfectly—cunning, enticing and lighthearted. And for the boarding world, The Wiley One’s passion and impact through music fits its sports just as well.

A story by Jessica Conditt
Sundawg Media

The anticipation is over, download this track by clicking here!

In addition to releasing this track I am giving away a SK8BOX shop deck and T-shirt. SK8BOX is a great local skate shop located at 3215 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA, (619) 471-7870. Support local skate shops!

The winner of the deck and T will be chosen on Friday, June 29th. To enter the contest, just follow me by clicking here and tweet this -> Download "Never Bored on a Board" by @ No7kid Now! Win free skate deck! http://bit.ly/ateufC <-

Boring Rules: 1. Yes, you must follow me. If you do not twitter, send an email to mkbainsports@gmail.com with the subject Twitterless! and that will count as well. 2. Only residents of the continental USA are eligible.

Gatorade Free Flow tour lands in Encinitas, CA!

2010-06-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, June 13th, The Gatorade Free Flow Tour made it's stop in Encinitas at the Ecke YMCA. GFFT tours our nation looking for the nest generation of skateboarders and BMXers. At this stop they had Vert and Street events. I was able to attend the vert contest and was stoked at the level of riding I witnessed.

The event was held on a giant vert ramp that was first used in the 2003 X Games and then donated to the Y. Danny Mayer, Adam Taylor, Josh Strafford, and Paul-Luc Ronchetti were the judges and they are seriously qualified. If you are not familiar with any of the names I just mentioned, do yourself a favor and look them up.

There were roughly 18 skaters under 21 broken into 2 heats. Each and every skater shredded the immense ramp. It was awesome to see kids less than 4 feet tall flying above the coping of a 13' deep ramp. Some of the skaters were close to 6 feet above the deck. 540s, great lip tricks, flip tricks, and amplitude were all here as these riders threw down every thing they had for their chance at the finals. Judging was difficult, I am sure, but five finalists were chosen. Tom Shaar, Joey Hamlisch, Jesse McDonald, Cory Juneao, and Jimmy Wilkins.

In the finals the riding only continued to impress. Tom Shaar and Cory Juneao were the smaller skaters in the final, but that didn't stop them from flyin out of the ramp with style! Jesse had airs, inverts, and boardslides that blew me away. Joey had varials and kickflips mixed in with his airs and lip tricks. Jimmy threw 3 different 540s in his run! It was hard to imagine before going to this contest that the riding would be at this level. Who said vert is dead? These kids are proving that vert is alive, and I am excited for the future of vert riding knowing they are out there shreddin it up! The final reults were 1)Jimmy Wilkins 2)Tom Shaar 3)Joey Hamlisch 4)Jesse McDonald 5)Cory Juneau.

For coverage of the street contest, which I unfortunately could not attend, click here
@mkbain
Blog

Bob Burnquist, Combi Sessions

2010-06-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

Bob Burnquist is a seriously great skater, you know this! Here is a montage of him skating the week leading up to the Pro Tec Pool Party. His IPad even shows up at the beginning. Who knows how many of these tricks Bob would have put down in the final if he didn't slam sooo hard in the pre-lims. I hope he is feeling better and getting ready for the Dew Tour and X Games.

Brian Beagle
@Mkbain
Blog

Gatorade Free Flow Tour in Perris!

2010-06-14T21:23:00.001-07:00

On June 12, 2010, Perris, CA was treated with the Gatorade Free Flow Tour. If you are not familiar with the tour, the GFFT is the "minor leagues" of the Dew Tour. GFFT holds many events across the country looking for the best amateur BMX riders and skateboarders. I was blown away by the level of riding at this event. The Junior division that consists of riders 12 years old and younger was great to watch. These kids were throwing 360s, tweaked out airs, tail whips, tucked no handers, and one kid even threw his first back flip (3rd try) ever! Official results were Parker Heath 3rd, River Bias 2nd, and Pierce Howell 1rst. Pierce (1rst) and Parker (3rd) consider the Krause Family YMCA in Clairemont their home park, and I do as well.

In the open division, the park riding was on par with the pros! The riders are raising the bar of what is considered amateur to a level that is unbelievable. I saw double tail whips, superman whips, 360 whips, front flips, flairs, flair whips, and even 720s! Daniel Sandoval, Kevin Peraza, and Chris Rivers, listed first to third, are names to remember, they will be pros soon! I felt lucky to be watching these guys.

The dirt contest, in it's first year with the GFFT, was the star of the show. The blasting airs, creative use of the dirt park, amazing level of riding, and the fast paced action was outstanding! I was seriously impressed these guys were putting down corked 360s, double tail whips, tail whip 360s, back and front flips, and again 720s, one into a banking left hander! Larry Edgar was seriously blasting into the atmosphere, going bigger than anyone else. In the slide titled extension, he has that amount of style at the apex of a 360 tail whip in the middle of a run! Daniel Sandoval's superman whips and 720s were amazingly polished, and since he won the park contest , I have to give the MVP award to him! Kevin Peraza borrowed a 26" bike (usually riding a 20" bike) from a Demon Dirt rider and killed it. Ending one of his first 26" dirt runs ever, he landed the super man in the slide show, and the crowd went wild! Official results were Kevin Peraza 3rd, Daniel Sandoval 2nd, and Larry Edgar with the win.

After driving 160 miles in a 12 hour day to cover this event I was still hyped up. I had to view the hundreds of pictures I took right away. I will share them all soon, but for now you will have to live with the slide show. If you were in the event, chances are I have shots of you, send an email to mkbainsports@gmail.com and I will share previews. Thank you Gatorade, Allisports, and The Compound for providing such an excellent amateur contest to encourage the next generation of riders!

Mondays with Mike V #9

2010-06-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

This week's Mondays with Mike V is the best in the series so far. He takes you through a great day. Watch, and don't feel too sorry for Larry, after all he works for one of the best skaters in the biz!

Brian Beagle
www.twitter.com/mkbain
www.mkbain.blogspot.com

William Spencer is a human highlight reel!

2010-05-28T08:00:00.001-07:00

Here is some more footage from a very original skater, William Spenser!

He uses a skateboard in a totally different way than anyone else. What do you call a handstand to 10 foot drop landing on a skateboard? What do you call riding up a bank, jumping off your board, back flipping off the obstacle, and landing back on your board? I have no idea, but I know it kicks ass!

Pro-tec Pool Party Rocked!

2010-05-23T18:47:00.001-07:00

If you didn't watch the live webcast on Fuel.tv of the Pro-tec Pool party at the Vans Combi pool yesterday, you missed some serious pool skating! The Vans Combi pool was re-surfaced at a cost of $50,000.00 to make it smoother, faster and better. The skaters have been talking about how much better the Combi is all month long leading up to the competition, and it showed in their skating. The faster surface lead to higher airs, smoother coping lead to longer slides and grinds, and a few of the reshaped areas lead to never-before-seen lines. Take a look at the Masters Final:

The results of the Master Division were Steve Caballero in first, Chris Miller in second, and Lance Mountain in third. These skaters have skated all 3 versions of the Combi pool, and the results could have been from the eighties. It is hard to believe they are still skating at this level!

Now for the current pros, have a look at their final:

The results of this round were Bucky Lasek in first, Rune Glifberg in second, and Omar Hassan in third. Bucky has now won two Pool Parties in a row, and some think it is due to him having a concrete bowl in his backyard. Rune and Omar are both known for their pool skating, and showed the crowd why. Honorable mentions go to Nolan Munroe and Alex Perelson who impressed me more than the official results suggest. To watch all the awesome video from the Pro-tec Pool party, click here.

William Spencer - Parkate? Skatour?

2010-05-18T19:44:00.001-07:00

William Spencer is one of those guys that defies labels. He is a skater, he is a parkour athlete, he is what he wants to be! I have no idea how this man eluded me for years, but I am here to tell you he does things that no skateboarder or free runner would or could do. In this video he shows his amazing skills. I can't wait to see what he is doing today. I will never miss anything William puts on the web again, and neither should you!

Did you see that? Watch that shite again. That actually happened! This is one of the few videos I have seen that have actually hurt my brain this year. I have to say this guy, like Shane O'Niell, Plan B, and many others are taking skateboarding to the next level.

Turfs Up! Complete

2010-05-17T20:58:00.001-07:00

TURF's Up (FULL VIDEO) from TURFglobal on Vimeo.

This is the full length flick featuring the Turf Global team. The entire thing is f-in great. You get everything you want from a skate movie, great tricks, serious skate spots, and lots of fun. The Turf team knows how keep things light but bring the big tricks! Everyone is in here, Jason Wussler, Mike York, Larry Redman, Vince Salvi, Sammy Baptista, Jabari Pendleton, Jason Wakuzawa, Some Dude, and James Kelch. BTW, how awesome is Some Dude, that guy gets gnarls! Watch this video, support the Turf team, get a Turf deck, and try and shred like some of the best in the biz!

Riley Hawk - Skate Movie Part 2

2010-05-12T07:05:00.001-07:00

Riley Hawk (Tony's son) is shredding on his own. This video is part of the much anticipated Skate Movie. As you can see, Riley kicks some serious ass on a skateboard as well. Watch for the smith grind to double kickflip out, I was blown away the first time. Keep tearing the place to pieces Riley!

Turf Global Destroys PQ Skatepark for Willy's Workshop!

2010-05-10T14:41:00.003-07:00

The Turf Global team, featuring Mike York, Lavar McBride, Jason Wussler, JJ Rice, Vitor Borger, an injured Sam Batista, and Biggs, invaded the Rancho Penasquitos skatepark in celebration of their line now being available at Willy's Workshop, a skate shop owned by a local skating hero, Willy Santos.

The demo was f-in awesome, the pros just got out there and mixed it up with the locals at the park. It was obvious from the beginning these Turf riders were there to shred and have a blast doing it. So often it seems riders take their skating too seriously, it was refreshing to see these riders enjoy the park.

I was lucky enough to meet Mike, Lavar, Jason, JJ, Vitor, and Willy. They were cooler than you would expect, I mean after all they were meeting me, not someone they needed to schmooze. If you haven't been to Willy's Workshop you should go. They have a great skate shop and it is next door to the PQ Skatepark!
In this video you have Lavar McBride with a switch frontside flip, JJ Rice with a backside bigspin, and Vitor Borger with a sweet varial flip!

The demo was a blast! Everyone kicked ass and the crowd loved the show. I highly recommend viewing Turf Global's video just under these words, it rocks! They have had over 1500 views in less than 24 hours and it is being re-tweeted all over the twitterverse.

TURF x WILLY'S WORKSHOP DEMO 5/8/2010 from TURFglobal on Vimeo.

As you can see in the photo on the left, Mike York was having a great day. This attitude, or lack of, was the best part of the demo for me. It always surprises me that professional skaters are so easy to talk to. I always expect to be blown off, but these guys shook my hand, said hi, thanked me for coming, and re-tweeted my pictures of the day. It doesn't get much better than that! Click here to see all my pics of the demo!

By Brian Beagle
My Blog, click here
Twitter

Great Skate Spot in Carlsbad!

2010-05-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

Carlsbad, CA is known for great skating and is the home of the original skate park. Skating is such a part of the city that there's even a group, The Carlsbad Village Association, trying to get a skate park, museum and art center built to honor its amazing skateboarding history. So when I heard there was a great spot hidden in Carlsbad, I wasn't surprised and was excited to see it!

Not every skater is happy keeping to skate parks; many prefer the adventure of more rugged, organic spots and like to test their skills on different obstacles. So when Patrick, a local skater, volunteered to show me one of his favorite out-of-the way places to ride, I couldn't resist! From the second I met him, I could tell he treasured this spot; a peaceful drainage ditch across the street from Batiquitos Lagoon. We parked on the corner of La Costa Ave and Saxony and walked east for about 3 minutes, until we came upon the access road gate. We went around that gate, trudging through waist-high weeds and plants, then continued to a chain link fence with a "La Costa Basin" sign on it. We gained access to the spot via an opening in the fence, about 50 ft to the right of that gate. From there, we just had to go about 400 feet back, towards the road. Even though it was a bit of a hike, it was pretty easy to find.

As we approached the run, I was instantly struck by the graffiti. I expected plenty, but was surprised and impressed by the quality and originality of most of the art work! The ditch looked like it needs a good sweep to get it ready for the summer, but it's really asking to be shredded. It's about 16 feet wide with 3'6" high walls, has soft enough transitions to ride quickly, and varying degrees of down hill slope for a challenging ride. At about 100 feet long, it boasts plenty of trick opportunities per pass. With a good top edge, the ditch is perfect for tail and nose slides, and a few killer obstacles, like a grind-able drain hole, give the opportunity to add tricks, originality and technical difficulty to a session. The several small drainage inlets scattered throughout could catch a wheel, so beware! Those openings, as well as the big drain hole (that's been used for grinding a little too much), and a sunken center area (which screams to be cleaned out and used for some sliding action), will keep even the best skater on his game! The run flattens out near the end, allowing time for a skater to stop before getting to the swampy part. For another view click here to see Google maps view from La Costa Ave.

If you decide to make the trek, this spot is definitely worth a look! Sure, it needs a little work to be totally ride-able, but if anyone wants to rip it up, don't hesitate to ask for help getting it ready; I'm always game! It'd be great to see this spot used to its full potential!
Click to view all photos of this spot

By Brian Beagle
My Blog
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The Berrics: Plan B United Nations takes over the web!

2010-05-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

This video is a highlight reel showing the Plan B riders at The Berrics skate park. These riders are pushing street skating to amazing technical levels. I have never seen this amount of mind blowing skating in one film clip. This clip is gaining popularity on the web with over 100,000 documented views in 4 days. The riders in this clip include Scott Decenzo, Ryan Sheckler, Pat Duffy, PJ Ladd,Paul Rodriguez, Torey Pudwill, and Felipe Gustavo. The video starts and ends with the AMs (Scott and Torey) as the bread of the Pro sandwich.

Scott is up first and demonstrates complete domination of tail slides. With flips in, flips out, shovits out, and other combos this kid shows us that he's got the skills to win any street contest. It's hard to believe that this level of skating is considered amateur. Ryan Sheckler comes in next. The only real criticism of Ryan's skating is he is not known for big switch tricks. To shut everyone up, or just entertain me, Sheck throws a switch, nolie, kick flip, 360 gap transfer (there is probably more to it or a name to this trick, but that is what I caught in real time). He backs that up with his patented power riding, big tricks over big gaps and drops. Following that, Pat gets started with grinds and flips that make my head hurt. He closes with a backwards feeble grind with a 360 out, and yes, Andy Macdonald is right, feebles are trending this week. Then PJ comes in with a kick flip down a 6 stair directly into a switch, nolie to nose grind, tre flip out! Mega video game combo points on that. He backs that up with flip, slide, and grind combinations happening so fast I cannot decipher every trick. If you can, let me know, because all I want to say is watch this sickness for yourself. P Rod starts with a smith grind and rolls into a feeble grind with a 180 flip? out. Were either of these switch? They probably both were, but Paul is so good riding switch I can't tell when he does. He finishes his part with a flurry of kick ass riding, and since I can't tell which way he is riding, I will let his skating speak for itself. Torey is up next and his second trick run, a crooked grind to kick flip 180 out, looks buttery, and I think that's why they give us the slow mo. A kick flip 360 over the box shows us his major pop. His part ends with a barrage of tail slides to crazy outs and a kick flip to crooked grind. Felipe has the last part of the video and may be the other amateur, but shows us he deserves to be with these kings of street. His combinations of tricks make me wonder why he and Scott are not actually pros. Amateur skating has caught up with video games and the pros. This video is a shining example of where street skating is and will be for a long time. I have no idea what the next step of progression will be, but I am sure it will turn my brain to jello.

Don't think I am the only one that thinks this video is crazy gnarly. Listen to some of the Twitter buzz. @Mikemo27 Dude... Just watched Plan B United Nations, wow they are so good. It's depressing how they get so good!!! Wow! @TheSkateSpot Plan B United Nations. Torey Pudwill is gnarly. @skatefiles Plan B United Nations is INSANE!!!! @steve_berra Plan B on the berrics. I'm sore just watching it. wow. @hhskate @steve_berra The Plan B edit was mind boggling. @dvsshoecompany TPudz and the Plan B crew really killing the UNited Nations. This is just a sample of what pro skaters and industry people are saying. BTW, you should follow all these people and entities, if you don't. This video shows us some of the heaviest hitters in skating and they are all on the same team! Make sure you watch the video a few times and try to understand all that is happening. We will see a lot of these tricks and combos this summer at the Dew Tour and X Games. I can't wait!

By Brian Beagle
My Blog
Follow Me on Twitter