ON BOARD
COMING EVENTS....
RUSTY HARRIS PRO/AM Categories of Competition
SERIES SCHEDULE OF
CONTESTS 1982
Combo Pool
Banked Slalom
May 29-30 Pipeline
Upland, CA
June 26-27 Skatecity
Whittier, CA
Key Banked
Freestyle
July 24-25
Paramount Tight Slalom
Paramount, Banked
CA
Aug. 27-29 Skateranch
Del Mar, CA
Freestyle
Pool, Banked
Freestyle
Banked Slalom
Tight Slalom
"These dates are the fifth anniversary of the
Pipeline, and they plan an additional day (31st)
of "oldtime" competition, i.e., most 360s, longest
POOL
1. Pro/Am Team Riders-
Includes all sponsored Team riders,
Professional or Amateur.
Elimination phase-Compulsory run, 1
to 25 points. Freestyle run, 1 to 100
points.
Finals-8-man Head to Head.
2. Open Amateur Non-Team Riders-
Eliminate to final 4.
Finals-Best 2 runs totaled.
FREESTYLE
1. Pro/Am Team Riders-
Eliminate to 10 for Finals.
2. Amateur Open-
Eliminate to 5 or 10, depending on total
number of riders.
grind, longest carve, etc. It is Memorial Day SLALOM
weekend.
It has been proposed that all Pro/Am riders
turn in a list of tricks to be used in their routine or
line. This would not mean that they would have
to do it verbatim, but it would be an assist to im-
prove the judging. We would like some feedback
on this subject.
1. Pro/Am Team Riders-
Eliminate to 10 riders on best time of
2 runs.
Finals-Total of 2 best out of 3 runs.
2. Open Amateur-
Same as Pro/Am (depending on number
of riders).
COMIC OF THE MONTH
IZ FT
WHERE TO SKATE...
Skateboarding is on the move again,
and it's GROWING very FAST. The only
problem is, old skaters and new skaters,
who want to get into the SPORT, don't
know where to skate. That is why the
IIOSA International Indoor Outdoor Skate
Association is putting together the world's
First and Only All World Skate Directory.
To do this we need your HELP! 1) Write
us with maps and pictures of your ramps,
pools, ditchs, parks, or anyplace worth
skating. 2) We don't care where in the
world it is just so it's skateable. 3) Support
US. 4) This directory was formed for
skaters by skaters. 5) The name of this
all-new directory will be US Skaters,
World Directory. 6) Write now, send
pictures and maps to: US Skaters, World.
Skate Directory c/o IIOSA, 13422 Floyd
Circle, Dallas, TX 75243.
P.S. US Skaters supports THRASHER
MAG. THRASHER is by far the world's
hottest skateboard mag, we hope you
agree.
Bryan Stone
ALAN
CHILTON
22
We seem to have graduated from that
dark frightening word "death." All the
signs now are pointing skyward for the
future of skateboarding. For a while (a
couple of years to be exact), all you could
hear were questions constantly being
asked whether skateboarding would die
or make it. Well, it seems to have weath-
ered all the madness and skepticism
pretty well. Now people are just riding and
not thinking much about the death. What's
funny about the whole thing though is that
most of the people who questioned the
death of skateboarding were actually
hardcore enthusiasts of the sport them-
selves. Now you've got to ask yourself,
"Even if skateboarding died, would you
quit skateboarding?" Now think about
that. How can a sport die if people don't
quit and stop doing it. Well, I don't think it
can, it just won't work. Well, we were
creating our own paranoia, we are the
ones who keep skating and who will
always skate, so it's a ludicrous circle
which is coming to an end. The fact is that
skateboarding has been evolving (chang-
ing, moving on, going upward) into an
even better sport. But of course we can't
forget what has happened and how
skateboarding was affected by some of
the adverse happenings, i.e., Action Now
going under, skateparks closing, some
manufacturers folding.
Growing pains are inevitable in every-
thing whether it be a sport, an activity or a
business. In 1975 skateboarding started
to grow so fast that it was breaking growth
records. Skateboarder Magazine at one
time was one of the nation's fastest
growing magazines. Skateboarding was
seen on T.V., in movies, and it was in the
public everywhere. Just about every kid
had a board, having a skateboard was the
with
STACY
PERALTA
thing to have. For about a good three
years the sport was blitzing, blazing, and
growing at the speed of light. But then all
of a sudden something happened out of
nowhere. All the mass hysteria over
skateboarding started leveling off and with
it went some of its manufacturers, parks
and magazines. What happened? How
could this happen to good old skateboard-
ing?
ON BOARD
Well, we can look back and see what
happened. Like all growing sports
skateboarding had more than its fair
share of fast buck artists who were
interested in only one thing-money.
Fortunately they left as the going got
tough. Skateparks at one point were
being built in almost every country by
businessmen, not skaters. Unfortunately
for many businessmen, they did not listen
to the demands of the skaters, so many of
them built parks that skaters did not like.
Consequently many parks failed due to
poor design, obsolete design and poor
management. Then there were two
skateboard magazines: Skateboarder and
Skateboard World. They were both good
magazines but they over-emphasized
park riding. Ninety percent of their cover-
age was devoted to park riding, when only
10 percent of the world's skating population
skated them. The skateboarder's life was:
skate in a skatepark or don't skate at all;
at least that's what was being promoted.
So skaters all over the world who did not
live near parks were not part of the
accepted "status quo." In time both
magazines went under due to business
troubles and wrong direction.
Enough of the history, let's pop into the
now. Through all that chaos skateboarding
has devolved and evolved at the same
time. Skating is very independent now,
just like when it started. It does not matter
anymore if you live near a park or not.
Now you can create what you want to
skate. And this is what's revolutionizing
skating, if you can't find it, then create it.
Ramps have turned skateboarding around
from where it used to be. With the advent
of ramps, vertical skateboarding has
become accessible to skaters all over the
world.
Things are being done today that were
unheard of two years ago. Skaters are
forming clubs, gangs, etc. They are
banding together through skating contacts
and through written communication. Can
you believe how many underground skate
magazines there are today. I mean, it is
insane when you realize that there is a
huge network of skater communications
going on all over this world. Steve Cabal-
lero is having an amateur series in his
backyard. Jeff Newton is running a full-
scale ramp series on backyard ramps in
the state of Texas. Eurocana is having
their highly successful Summer Camp
again this year. Mr. Hawk has organized a
better amateur series (CASL) to replace
the deficient and defunct A.S.P.O. Series,
and is working on a new PRO-AM series
which will include bowl, freestyle, and
slalom racing. The parks that are in
business have reported that business is
definitely picking up. Even more amazing
is that there is talk of some of the old
parks reopening, like Big-O and Cosmic
Wave. And what's even more amazing is
that many of the parks that have closed
down and were never torn up have been
getting crowded with sneak-in-skaters.
Mike Johnson of Vans is doing demos
to 20,000 people during the Los Angeles
Lakers halftime, while Rodney Mullen is
doing demos during halftime at his high
school. Barry-S.I.O. is holding demonstra-
tions in Talahassee, Florida, with crowds.
of up to five thousand. Per Holknekt of
Sweden is trying to organize a worldwide
freestyle organization. Dee and lan
Urquhart of the Scottish Skateboard
Association are publishing their magazine
Skateline arid are continuing their high-
level promotions. And you think that's
insane, well the demented and dedicated
skaters that put together this magazine
are so busy, yet dig skating so much that
after a hectic 14-hour day putting together
the magazine, they have midnight sessions
in multi-story parking garages. Look at all
the skaters who have been around since
day one who still skate: Alva, Logan,
LoBoy, Thatcher, Blackhart, Olson,
Folmer, Inouye, Strople, Pryciak, the
Hackett bros., yours truly, etc., etc., etc.
There is only one reason why we all keep
skating...you just can't get better thrills
anywhere else.
Stacy Peralta