ALAN
Ander
Alan Petersen, 18, of Fresno,
CA, is yet another fresh young
talent from the central Call val
ley. Although Al has skated in
that "burb for a while, many
readers first learned of his tal-
ents when he almost took down
Hawk at the S.F. Back to the
City contest.
Why are there such hot guys
coming out of places like Fresno
and Visalia right now?
No one really comes into the
small towns. There might be one
skate shop there and no one
really pays attention to them. We
can skate in packs. Our towns
are so small that everybody goes
to a skate spot and skates all
together and tries to have fun.
Any influences?
Probably Tony Hawk, because his
girlfriend is from Fresno and we
were skating a launch ramp and
he came over and started skat-
ing with us. He was fully doing
the raddest tricks. This was my
freshman year in high school.
That would've been about four
years ago. Jim Thiebaud has
helped me along a lot. I like
Natas' style, too.
What's your favorite type of ter-
rain and type of session?
Cement. I like lipslide places.
really high planters where you
have to ollie really high to get
onto it. There's a warehouse that
closed down and it has a big
fountain that's just huge, with
corners and banks. It has a two-
foot wall that sits on it. You can
go up the bank to the two-foot
wall and grind and do whatever
you want on it.
What do you think are the hard-
est, raddest tricks?
I just saw Tony Hawk do a tail
grab 540. On street, it would
probably be a nollie onto a
four-foot high bench, which
Natas does by his house.
And Natas did a nollie-
to-50-50 down a handrail.
What new tricks have you been
working on lately?
A lot of new mini-ramp tricks
and skating a lot of vert, because
I want to enter vert contests.
There's only one vert ramp in
Fresno, the Ark. We built a mini-
ramp behind it, too.
Who are the hottest young guys
today in your opinion?
Omar Hassan and Eric Britton.
Has anything changed now that
you're a pro?
Well, my parents have been with
me the whole time but for awhile
they were doubting me about
skating and suggesting what I
should do with my life. The S.F.
contest changed everything at
home and with a lot of people.
Why do you skate?
Because you can learn so many
different tricks. It's not always
going to be the same thing. You
can just go on with it: the boards
change. the wheels change.
You're not going to travel to one
place and have it be the same as
where you live. It's not like foot-
ball fields where they're all the
same length.
What do you do besides skate?
I do a lot of stuff. I'm a very ath-
letic person. When I was in sev
enth grade. I went to the Junior
Olympics in the high jump and
the 880 meter run. And I snow-
board and I water ski.
Any non-skaters you respect?
Mom and Pop.
Any message for mankind?
Stay out of drugs and skate a
lot.
HOT
SHOES