Skater for Life

Jan 15,2013 / By Capn Old Ballz / No Comment

How long do you plan on skateboarding? I always used to say to my friends “I’m going to skate forever”. I still truly believe that as long as I can stand up and my balance isn’t screwed, I’m going to be riding a skateboard. In my opinion skateboarding is the the most fun thing to do, it’s just satisfying on so many levels. When I see dudes I used to look up to still ripping I get super stoked, because I know as long as I want to go skateboarding, I will. Check my man Ron Allen at 50 years old. That’s no typo…. He’s fifty! Then go look up what H-street is all about.

Later.

[youtube id=”_6t63QW1618″ width=”620″ height=”360″]

A Cold Summer Day at Chuck Bailey

Jan 14,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Last Friday Dave Stevens came out to Chuck Bailey Skate Park to do a little of what he does best – film and edit a montage with some of the locals. Francois LeBlanc, Calvin Dignard, Jordan Zazula, Magnus Hansen, Hippie Mike and Kory Laan all represent in style utilizing the majority of the skate park. The day was gorgeous and you would actually believe it was the middle of summer if everyone wasn’t decked out in toques and winter jackets. It was actually -2 degrees out there, which in this neighbourhood is extremely cold and definitely takes away your desire to really go for stuff. But shit went down, like always. Kory Laan even shut the session down with a couple banger bigspins over the big gap.

Check it out

M-I-C-K-Y P-A-P-eh?

Jan 10,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

M-I-C-K-Y P-A-P-eh?

Micky Papa, what can you say? A natural born skateboarder. Glad he’s Canadian so he can represent us all in the next decade of destruction that he’s about to throw down.

I remember Micky from back when the RDS Indoor Skate Park was open in the early 2000’s and even back then at a very young age, he was throwing down. I actually have footage somewhere of him shifty kickflipping Secret 10 when he was like 12-13 years old and you’re guaranteed it was butter. And ever since Poco’s Railside Park opened up Micky has been the legend there. And what about the Varial Heelflip over Black Ice??

Micky’s had a solid year placing in Top Positions at some high end contests across North America, which is not easy to do in this day and age. He invested some of his winnings in opening a One Love Skate Shop in Maple Ridge with Dan Pageau and success is starting to hunt him down. Looks to me like Micky Papa might be the next Canadian Icon of Skateboarding.

This Friday – 1-11-13 – Thrasher Magazine will drop a big video part of Micky Papa

Here’s a small taste of what’s to come

[youtube id=”JG6ILzQZ1yY” width=”620″ height=”360″]

Each day this week Thrasher will release something new featuring Micky Papa so tune in and when Friday hits, chaos strikes…

Won’t you help me sing these Songs of Freedom?

Jan 7,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Some days are such a struggle, you always go to bed at night with hope that the next day will be awesome, only to be let down by some mind crushing experience. It was a hilarious start to the New Year 2013, good thing I have a sick sense of humour. 2012 was a terrible year for me mentally with so much death and pain that i just wanted it to be over. We had a great time on New Year’s Eve as a family hanging out and playing pool with our neighbours and was glad to see the year finally come to a close. The last thing I said to myself before sleep was “please let this next year be better…”

So the day, and New Year 2013, began with me waking up to the distant sound of 3 year old Kaelen calling my name, “Daddy, Daaaaddy.” I got up and found him locked in the bathroom and couldn’t get out. I told him how to unlock the door and he did it no problem and opened it up only for me to be surprised by him standing there naked with poop all over his legs and smeared all over the bathroom. I asked him what the heck happened and he told me that he couldn’t get his jammies off in time because of the button at the top and he pooped his pants, then tried to clean it up by himself by taking baby wipes and wiping up the poop. It was definitely a classic start to the New Year.

The funny part about it was I was hardly fazed at all by it, just more concerned about why it happened and whether or not he was okay. I woke up Carrie as I walked by our bedroom with my poo covered son to go downstairs to the bathtub and told her she needed to get up right away and there was a mess to clean. Happy New Year!

The morale of this story is that no matter how bad it is, we’re still alive. We still have our health and our happiness as a family, and we can laugh about most situations. I didn’t look at this as a bad start to the new year, but more as a sign that we are going to be spending this next year cleaning up all the shit that happened in 2012.

This month’s quote from Bob Marley is from one of his most well known songs – Redemption Song –

“But my hand was made strong by the hand of the Almighty. We forward in this generation, triumphantly;

Won’t you help to sing these songs of freedom?”

We all have someone or something we look up to and pray to, whether it’s God or Religion or just some imaginary structure, and that is our Almighty. And as a group in this world we learn how to overcome sad, painful and depressing situations, and together we can find our Freedom.

So next time the shit hits the fan in your life, or the bathroom floor for that matter, don’t worry about it. Just sit back, relax and think of the humour that comes with it. Remember your strengths and stand up tall. We will overcome, we will have our redemption, and we will find our freedom – together…

[youtube id=”6dNt1svsnak” width=”620″ height=”360″]

David Martin

Jan 5,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

David Martin is a young kid from Surrey that skates at Chuck Bailey and Fleetwood Skate Parks a lot. He hasn’t been skating very long but I’ve gotten to know him pretty good. He comes to my Skateboard Competitions and has been in a few of the Camps in the past couple summers. He’s one of those kids that loves to learn new tricks but isn’t really worried about being the best. He’s a fast learner and tends to be consistent with his tricks. Once he learns a new one, he’s on it. I’m sure if he sticks with it, he’s most likely gonna be really good in about 2 more years.

Here’s a little video David sent me of him rippin’ up Fleetwood Skate Park

Check it

[youtube id=”Qxr4QyYGtFo” width=”620″ height=”360″]

Local Boyz gettin’ Buck!

Jan 5,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

I think that’s a saying that the cool kids now a days might say, but who am I to know? I’m not gangster…

Here’s some of the younger Surrey/Langley Loc’s throwing down some solid tricks filmed yesterday at Skate Plaza, Chuck Bailey and some random street. Props for being out there filming in these icy-assed conditions.

Kory Laan, William Savage and Mathew McCauley – 3 young rippers that all love street style skateboarding, and all like to land bolts on every trick they try…

Give ’em props

Andy Anderson in Cloverdale

Jan 3,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Andy Anderson, one of the most talented on the Protest Skateboards Team spends a day at the infamous Cloverdale Skate Park located on the Country Side of Surrey. This park is rough and tough, and is actually going to be removed next year once the New Cloverdale Skate Park is fully constructed and opened. The old park has been around since about the year 2000 and has always been a bit of a hit and miss spot. Some of the obstacles are really awesome and taught lots of today’s top amateurs, and even some of the local pros quite a few tricks, and then there’s the other obstacles that you look at, shake your head a bit and say, “What the F were they doing??”

Of course Andy Anderson picks all of those obstacles to skate so it’s pretty sick to see how he rips them up.

Andy Anderson – Old Cloverdale

Ollie North welcomes 2013

Jan 3,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Some of Cloverdale’s Ollie North Skate Shop team showed up at Surrey’s best skate park Chuck Bailey to ring in the New Year on January 1^st, 2013 with a cold and nasty night session. The air was thick, the ground was slick, and the boys were layin’ down tricks.

Jordan Strong, Ryan Barron, Matt Cook, Shawn Beaupre, Mitch Salter and Shawn J – representin’!!

Coastal Riders Holiday

Jan 3,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

David-Wayne Stevens and 116^th Productions released this awesome recap of some footage from some of the Coastal Riders Crew from 2012. The team is overly stacked so getting footage with these guys is easy, and add in Dave’s sick filming and editing skills, it makes for some quality viewing. Check out Mike Schulze, Dustin Locke, Andrew Classon, Magnus Hansen, Tommy Gudmunson, Scotty Tyson, Jordan Zazula, and more as they terrorize the streets of the Lower Mainland. Switch 360’s, huge kickflips, and some ledge tricks that are tough to name properly – give it a watch…

[youtube id=”wXbzSUXh9QU” width=”620″ height=”360″]

Ty Williamson – Best of 2012

Jan 1,2013 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

It takes a lot of patience, dedication, and time to be a good filmer. Ty Williamson has been pumping out video edits all year and has come out with this compilation featuring some of his favourite clips from last year. A good filmer needs good people to film and he has that part taken care of. Then all it is is practise and experimentation. Everything that I’ve seen from him this year was worthy, can’t wait to see how he steps it up in 2013.

Here’s his Best of 2012 video featuring Gilbert Turenne, Adam Tickner, Blair Higginson, Keenan Hargrove, Andre Tsougrianis, Michael Segers, Ryan Prasad, Michael Nguyen, Brad Komar, Jason Wilson, Daniel Ruiz, Dylan Boyer, Casey Grainge, Ben MacDonald, Derek Oye, Tony Phan, Jordan Smail, Jackson Wakabyashi, Adrian Wnorowski, Dan Pageau, Dylan Ackimenko, Myself, James Benson, Michael James, Matt Latham, River Tavis, Dave Jonsson, Tom Korop, Lanny DeBoer, Jesse Holland, and Micky Papa.