良
LOOLS
TOP-Dead Cat pool, the
ruins of modern man
somewhere in the AZ
countrytside. MIDDLE-Scott
Edwards' backside air over a
ramp that he and his crew, left,
built with money from odd jobs.
ARIZONA
To whom (if anyone) it may concern:
With all of the skateboard parks being
closed for a couple of years now, and the
city filling most of the skate pools with
dirt, skate spots are few and far between
in the desolate valley of Phoenix,
Arizona. Most of the skaters, and there
are quite a few radical thrashers at that,
are left to shred on backyard ramps and
halfpipes. Occasionally a pool will be
discovered, but if it is not kept top secret,
the pigs will bust it as fast as you can.
sing/scream the lyrics to "Count" by
locals J.F.A.
Here is a picture of an unidentified
local bailing out at the peak of his run at
the most outrageous pool to be found east
of L.A.-DEAD CAT, which is located in
the midst of the Arizona countryside-
miles from nowhere. This pool has so
many rad lines you wouldn't believe
some of the gnarly sessions and
maneuvers that have been pulled off
here. Skating at D.C. is rapidly decreas-
ing, due to the fact that the hillbilly
sheriffs get their rocks off by busting
skaters. Right after this picture was
taken, a couple of lame, redneck, hick
sheriffs popped us, and said that if they
caught us there again they would take us
to jail on trespassing charges.
So, as you can see, once again we have
a typical case of government f--king with
the youths of America, by filling our
pools and busting our skaters.
Not much else to say-except, when
are you going to do an interview with
J.F.A.? They're not only an excellent
band, but all four members can shred at
D.C., and any other pool for that fact.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Skanks a lot.
Dave Sancler
Phoenix, AZ
Some said it was going to die, and
some were wrong again. Skateboarding is
really growing in the right way. Name a
sport so new that has progressed in so
many areas so RADICALLY, you can't!
When it comes to vert, halfpipes are the
center of energy. Us skaters from
Simpsonville, S.C., are a part of this.
When I moved here, the skate scene
didn't exist. I built a small ramp and got
some people to try it. Soon they were
skaters. We all wanted a halfpipe, so we
got together and worked at garage
sales/car washes until we got enough
money to build. It's ready to ride right
now.
This pipe is already the best in S.C.,
and we're going to improve it. Brian,
Scott, Mike, Matt and Donny are really
progressing and show a lot of potential.
We just did an article with pics for the
newspaper. We didn't contact them. A
reporter saw the pipe and wanted to
know if it was Noah's Ark II.
A major amateur contest will take
place on our halfpipe early this summer.
There will be good media coverage and
I'm going to see that it gets national TV
coverage. The time is right to build a
pipe.
Later Skaterz,
Scott Edwards
Simpsonville, SC
JAPAN
I came to Japan in Sept. of 1981, along
with my wife, as a Christian missionary-
English teacher. Before coming to Japan I
lived in Illinois on the Ill.-Wis. state line.
My brother Kevin and I built a nice
halfpipe, but it wasn't long before he
moved to Arizona and I moved to Japan.
After about a month here, I was getting
slightly bummed on not having a curved.
wall to thrash. Then a student of mine
told me about a place where there was
this cement thing you could ride with a
skateboard. You can imagine how I felt
when I first laid eyes on it. It was about
15 min. drive from my home and is
located near the top of a mountain in a
recreational park called Shiawase-no-
oka, meaning "happy hill." Appropriate
name. Kids would come there and play
on the slides, monkey bars, but in all that
time I skated there, I never once saw
anyone that knew anything about riding
a bowl. I guess I didn't mind having it all
to myself. This bowl, or actually a
"half-bowl," is about 7 ft. deep, 18 ft.
wide, and has about 1% ft. of vertical.
There's a slightly inclined runway that
leads into the bowl, 60 ft. or so, and I
found you could get most rad taking 5 or
6 giant pushes and then blast into the
transition. The location in the mountains
is unreal, and the bowl itself is smooth
and well constructed. Having brought
everything from helmet to spare
bearings, I thrashed many hours away at
this place.
I moved to Ikoma in Aug. of '82, and
soon began to feel the unexplainable
craving for skating vert. I checked at a
local sports store, that by the way was
stocked with lots of the latest skate items,
to see if they knew of any parks. Some
were closed or didn't exist anymore, but
I found one that seemed efficient.
Located in Sakai (about 1 hour by train
and 30 minutes more walking from
Ikoma), this park is somewhat old, but
nonetheless thrashable! The best part
includes a big 8 ft. bank, another 6% ft.
bank that gets slightly vertical, and get
this, a steel quarterpipe! The quarterpipe
measures 10 ft. high, 12 ft. wide. 4 ft. of
vertical, and a big steel pipe for coping.
not your everyday, run-of-the-mill"
quarterpipe. This puppy requires a
ganbaru (refer to your local Japanese for
the meaning, something like go for it!)
attitude to draw its potential. The big
bank is a perfect take-off for the
quarterpipe, and they can be used
together as a halfpipe.
These places have their limitations,
and I suppose I could criticize and gripe
about them, but I'm too stoked on having
access to something I enjoy so much to
do. Also, there's a nice hill by my house
(lots of hills in Japan) where I do some
post-midnight downhill, and plenty of
asphalt to freestyle on. Check around
some, you never know where a choice
skate locale may be. They're all just
waiting to be ripped, so what are you
waiting for?
Skate on,
Robin Ballard
P.S. The photos were taken by my wife,
Mary. Not bad, huh?
Salai Skate Board Park
Robin Ballard, grinding below, found a virtual utopia of skateparks in Japan.
ENGLAND
Just a few lines letting you know that
the skate scene over here in England is
doing well, and is not as dead as people
like to think it is.
Enclosed are a few photos of some of
the action that is happening over here,
and I hope you can put them to good use.
I hope to send more photos soon and a
small write-up on the English skate scene
as soon as possible.
Keep up the good work. Your mag's the
best.
Captain Dobie
London, ENGLAND
Danny Webster at the Farmborough
halfpipe. Photos by Capt. Dobie.
39