STATE OF THE SKATE, SOVIET UNION
My name is Erik Raitviir, I am 24 years old,
I am an Estonian and I live in the capital of
Estonia that is called Tallinn (always written
with double n). Estonia is situated in the
Northwestern part of the U.S.S.R. on the
coast of the Baltic Sea and is one of the 15
republics of the U.S.S.R. I am graduating the
institute this summer and I shall work as an
engineer.
I have been skateboarding since 1980. I
really love this sport and I am following its
development as much as possible. But as
skateboarding is not on the list of the official
sports here, we are not accepted as real
sportsmen and we face many difficulties.
Skateboarding appeared here, namely in
Estonia, probably in 1978 on the high wave
of the worldwide skateboarding boom. The
first skateboards were of U.S. or European
origin, our own skateboards appeared in the
next year. They were of quite poor quality but
still rideable. The first competitions were held
also in 1979 and skateboarding gained enor-
mous popularity in Estonia. The need of
skateboards was much bigger than the
manufacturer was able to produce. For many
young people skateboarding was simply
being fashionable and better than others.
Some years later skateboards were freely on
sale and the majority of former skaters left
the whole thing because "every last fool had
a possibility to buy a skateboard."
In about 1982-1983 skateboarding began
to spread to the other cities of the U.S.S.R.
Back then, the majority of the skateboards
were of Estonian origin. Nowadays there are
several producers of skateboards in different
parts of the U.S.S.R.
On these days the boom has gone over
Leningrad, Moscow, Riga, Vilnius and
reached the Volga River and Ukraine. The
most far skateboarding cities are Krasno-
yarsk, Yerevan and Alma-Ata. The level of the
skateboarders is highest in Latvia (cities of
Riga and Liepaja), Leningrad, Moscow,
Lithuania (cities of Vilnius and Panevežys)
and Estonia. But rapid development is going
on elsewhere too.
In spite of the absence of official support,
competitions are held every year, some five
to seven of them are of countrywide impor-
tance. In several cities skateboarders are
united to hobby clubs. Many guys are
working really hard.
On February 20-21 1988, there was an all
Union conference of skateboarders in Mos-
cow at which several important topics were
discussed. The main results were: all com-
petitions of countrywide importance are to
be held according to the European Skate-
boarding Association rules and we deman-
ded official acceptance of skateboarding.
Mainly we deal with slalom; I appreciate
it most of all. Then comes freestyle and high
jump. The unofficial record of the Soviet
Union is 1 meter and 46 centimeters (57.48
inches). We have no pools, ramps, tubes,
64
bowls, no skateparks. Nobody except skate-
boarders is interested in building them.
Climate plays a role in this problem too. We
have cold winters with a lot of snow. Only the
most southern republics have warm climates.
But still we live in hope that our skate-
boarding scene will get better some day.
Several big competitions will be held this
year. The main events will be parallel slalom,
special slalom, high jump and freestyle,
maybe some extra events too.
I would like to have some personal con-
tacts with U.S. skateboarders and I am ask-
ing for your help in it. You may put my name
and address into your magazine. One such
guy can be David Reichel from Napa, CA.
whose letter, titled "SKB In The U.S.S.R.,"
was in the Mail Drop in Dec. 1987. If it is pos-
sible, please give my wish to him.
By the way, what are the newest and best
wheels and trucks for slalom? Personally, I
ride one of the very few non-Soviet skate-
boards here, that consists of self-widened
Lazer Slalom trucks and Road Rider No. 6
wheels (real relics both!) and a self-made
fiberglass sandwich board. It is important to
note the Soviet Union does not import
skateboards or the parts of them. Also I have
made some trucks myself (according to my
personal designs).
In hope for successful collaboration,
Sincerely Yours,
Erik Raitvir
Kalevipoja 3-17
Tallinn 200036
Estonia, U.S.S.R.
MUSCOVITE SHEDS LIGHT
I'm Sergei Ruskin, 22, from Moscow
Skateboard Club "Olymp." First of all, sorry
for my English. Hope it's understandable. I
took part in Radio Moscow's program about
Soviet skateboarding and we are very glad
that our information reached you. Thank you
for the issues of THRASHER 'cause it's very
difficult to get any information here in the S.U.
The real explosion of skateboarding fashion.
was about 1982-1983. Now it's not so popular
(I mean like fashion) but rather popular like
sport. The ski factory of this town released
the first skateboards in the S.U. Now we have
connections with all the cities where
skateboarding is popular and we have
several big competitions every year. All our
competitions are half-official 'cause the Com-
mittee of Sports still doesn't consider skate-
boarding to be a real sport. But we are strug-
gling! The most important thing where we are
far behind your skateboarders is ramp
skateboarding. We still have no ramps in the
S.U.! The problem is that it's very hard to get
an official sponsor who can help in building
the ramp and there's no possibility to do this
in an unofficial way. Our pools as a whole
have the square configuration. But this year
things have changed a little. Here in Moscow
we found sponsors at the "Olympiisky"
stadium. And our club here exists about two
years. If you can help us in developing)
skateboards here, please do it. There is a
lack of information about how to build the
ramp, it's size, technology, etc. We read your
magazine and of course it's not a serious
sport magazine, but still maybe you can help
us with information about what kind of com-
petitions you have. How about boards? Some
of our factories released skateboards but
their quality is awful. We have to make good
skateboards by our hands. The same thing
with trucks and wheels. We need some infor-
mation about decks and trucks, the width of
decks, the width of trucks, the distance
between the trucks, etc.
By the way, we read in the December issue
the letter by David Reichel (Napa, CA). He
was in Moscow, Yerevan and Kiev and found
skateboarders only in Yerevan. I wonder what
did he do in Moscow? These guys in Yerevan
know nothing about skateboarding. Come
back to Moscow, David. We'll show you real
Soviet skateboarders! You think we have no
problems with police. We do, David. We've
got the same kicks in the center of the city.
like you from your police. Fortunately, now
we found some secure places.
Hope next time I can send you some
photos for your "Photograffiti."" Write to me
at Radio Moscow North American Service,
(Ruskin Sergei, Skateboard Club). Give our
greeting to all the people who live in the Wild
World of Skateboarding!
Truly Yours,
Sergei Ruskin
Moscow
THE CLUB SCENE
Radio Moscow Broadcasting Service
asked me to answer on your letter.
My name is Emma Tsukrova, I work in
Sportcomplex "Olympiisky" as a swimming.
coach. Also I'm a secretary of the
Young Communist League Organi-
zation of that complex. There are
many different sport groups here.
and one of them is the Amateur
Skateboard Club "Olymp." I have
managed this skateboard club for
about three years.
Nowadays there are 30 amateur
clubs cultivating skateboarding in
different regions of the country.
Unfortunately, we haven't an all-
Union skateboard association,
which would unite all the clubs and
non-organized skateboarders, but
we do our best to keep and hold
contact with most parts of them.
Maybe you know that we haven't
any special skateboard magazines; thus,
there is practically no publicity of the sport
and just a bit in mass media on the whole.
I want to tell you about the Moscow club
of skateboarders "Olymp," which already.
has a high authority in Soviet skateboard
circles. "Olymp" was organized at the Sport-
complex "Olympiisky" with municipal YCL
organization help.
The Sportcomplex gives us an opportunity
to skateboard all the year. (We have much
snow in winter. Moscow's climate is much
colder than California's.)
The Dzerdzhinsky district YCL Comittee
of Moscow is our sponsor. The best sports-
men take part in competitions in different
cities. All the trips and holding the competi-
tions costs money, and the District Com-
somol Organization helps up greatly.
The base of the club are 7-8 young men
from 22 till 30, who have experience in this
sport. Practically all of them came to
skateboarding from Alpine skiing. They also
experiment with freestyle skiing and
snowboarding. (There is a club in Moscow
which has cultivated snowboarding for about
ten years.) We have about 30 members in
the club now. Every year some teenagers
come to the club for skateboard training. If
it's clear that this guy (or girl) is serious about.
skateboarding during more than 10 trainings,
he (or she) becomes a member of the club.
Opposite page, Center: Militia members
(Soviet police) walk past a young cruiser
on a Sunday afternoon outside Lenin
Stadium. For the most part, the militia
don't seem to mind or bother the Moscow
skaters who hang out here regularly.
Opposite Page, Above Right: A young
Soviet holds his cigarette and skateboard
next to his youth medallion. Pins and
medals are a big thing in communist
countries and young hipsters can often
be found sporting them.
Above: An unidentified skater shoots the
slope at the Sportscomplex Olymplisky
with a stylish Shoo-Fly Christie.
Left: The Sportscomplex locals pose for
a group portrait during a late afternoon
session. Note the steel and clay wheels.
homemade decks and narrow trucks-
the equipment may be outdated, but the
spirit is universal. These rolling comrades
still crove pure speed, individual expres-
sion and-yes-sponsors!
Although Sportcomplex bought some.
Soviet boards, they aren't good for modern
sport, so most guys make their decks by
themselves. There are a few amateur clubs
in Moscow: In Luzhniki Stadium, in Gorky
Park and in some city districts. It's a pity we
haven't a full picture in our minds of the pre-
sent situation on the worldwide skateboard
scene. Maybe thanks to the exchange of let-
ters, we can know each other better.
Sincerely Yours,
Emma Tzukrova
Houst of Sports
Sportcomplex "Olympiisky"
16, Olympiisky Prospect
Moscow 129090 U.S.S.R
63