TEN DAYS IN A
DO
But the local homeboys
proceed to vibe,
saying, "this land
belongs to our tribe."
They say, "Tu vato loco,
you wanna skate here?
Listen to my words,
just open your ears.
"If you wanna skate,
gotta pass a little test.
What I got in mind,
you see it goes like this.
We thinks you crazy
to come out here.
But we're not gringos,
so we'll be fair
If you wanna skate,
ride this place.
You can't hesitate,
or we'll smash your face.
You gotta follow our lines,
follow our cue.
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Session this place the way we do.
We got the style.
We set the pace.
We'll throw your fads
back into your face.
Just ride this place
wit' yo sticks.
Just pick some lines.
Better make them quick.
We'll stand back here,
And we will watch.
We'll let you know...
a lost.
cause.
The sun did hang.
The sun did fall.
Respect was gained.
Honor. On the walls.
OSTER
DRESSEN
OVER EXPO'D
What you are about to read is the tale of a large scale, competitive skateboarding event, The Transworld
Skateboard Championships, billed and hyped as the largest International event in skateboarding history. This
prestigious event, took place on August 18 through 27 and was guaranteed to be a who's who of modern skate-
boarding. The best skaters in the world were expected. Over thirteen countries had confirmed they would send
amateur teams. All this and the fact that the Transworld Skateboard Championships were going to be held at
Expo '86, in Vancouver, B.C., made it a very high profile event, which would be covered by Sports Illustrated
and other major media.
Into the picture we introduce Mr. John Lucero, a young man of American descent. Mr. Lucero entered and
participated in the Transworld Skateboard Championships. The following is an outline of various details and
excerpts from actual events surrounding the Championships, as experienced by John.
Upon arrival at the Vancouver Airport, I
had a tremendously long wait to receive my
baggage. I began to think that all was lost,
but it finally showed up. Next there was
customs to deal with. The terrorist scare is
on all over the world, and Vancouver is no
exception. Considering that the Expo was
going on in their front yard, the authorities
weren't letting anything suspicious slip
under their noses. Travelling professional
skateboarders don't exactly fit the 'model
citizen' mold in a visual sense. Thus, I spent
a long time wading through customs.
Finding accomodations was next to im-
possible. When there's an event like a World
Expo in town, it's a sure bet there are go-
ing to be a lot of tourists around. The con-
testants were spread out all over the city.
and no one knew where anybody was. Jeff
Grosso and myself ended up staying in an
Accomedex, at $56 (Canadian) a night. An
Accomdex is a square tube of a little room,
about eight feet wide by about ten feet long.
Cubes, with two beds in them and about a
foot between each bed. That was it. One
window and no anything.
An event, the caliber of which this one
promised to be, wouldn't be complete.
without yes, that's right!, opening
ceremonies. This consisted of a parade of
all the contestants marching with the flags.
of their respective countries.
I didn't feel like marching along with the
United States so I defected, along with Jeff
Grosso and Joe Lopes, to Czechoslovakia.
There were two guys on the team and only
one of them competed. That was Ludek
Vasa, who entered the high jump. When we
were through, some man called me an
asshole for doing what I did. Then I went to
the Munich Beer Hall that was near the con-
test site. That's where we went after every
session. This place was as large as a city
block, with rows and rows of picnic tables
filled with people drinking pitchers and pit-
chers of beer, served by busty frauline types,
and eating stuff like knockwurst, struedel,
schnitzel and mashed potatoes. In the
center of the room, against one wall, was a
stage where a gnarly polka band played
music to bash mugs together by.
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