There's a lot about the riders that make up the pro division of the Pool Party that I think is worth talking a little bit about. It all really starts when you look at the age range of the guys skating the pro division:
Bucky Lasek: 38
Rune Glifberg: 36
Omar Hassan: 38
Pedro Barros: 16
Bob Burnquist: 34
Alex Perelson: 20
Josh Borden: 20
Lincoln Ueda: 37 (as of last Tuesday, Happy Belated!)
Benji Galloway: 33
Nolan Munroe: 18
Ben Raybourn: 18
Zach Miller "Lite": 21
Bruno Passos: 35
Michael Brookman: 18
Sky Siljeg: 16
Bennett Harada: 32
Matt Boyster: 21
Andy MacDonald: 37
Anthony Furlong: 32
Joshua Rodriguez: 20
Now, for me, I can't help but notice the staggering eleven-year jump in ages from the oldest of the young guys (Miller and Boyster) to the youngest of the old guys (Furlong and Harada). While I am perfectly aware of the fact that this gap is indicative of vert skating's so-called "Dead Years", it is genuinely interesting to have watched, in the last few years or so, this sudden surge of young, fresh-faced vert riders burst into the ranks of professional competition; ranks that, since about the mid-nineties, had remained largely unchanged. Speaking as someone who started skateboarding during the utmost height of street skating's popularity, I went through the whole of the 2000s seeing, on the street side of things, a handful of new guys popping up every year or so, and maybe a handful retiring their pro models, or at the very least just kind of fading away from mainstream coverage. There seemed to kind of be this natural flow in mainstream street coverage, as opposed to the kind of generational dynasties that existed through the 70s and 80s, these groups of pros that kind of cornered the market, the mags, and the competition standings for maybe five years or so until the next dynasty cropped up.
The thing is, vertical skating is not easy to delve into wholeheartedly. You can maybe chalk this up to accessibility and intimidation. For one thing, proper vertical ramps and bowls have been, for the last couple of decades, notoriously hard to come by; a trend that has only recently started to change. Second, for anyone who has never skated vert before, it is really, really difficult. Learning even a basic trick can be the equivalent of trying to learn a basic street trick down a set of eight stairs before even trying it on flat ground. There is no middle ground with vert, which is why it isn't surprising that there is a seeming decade full of stories of Tom Grom who, when given the option of 1) missioning at least two hours to the nearest vert ramp to spend a month learning how to do airs, or 2) waxing the curb out front of the local 7-11, the choice was a no-brainer.
However, then came the 2000s, replete with the X-Games, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise, and the North American
Now, not only were kids being marketed vert and street skating on a more equal footing than ever since around 1992 or so, but with an increased frequency of high-quality
Now, shake well, fast forward five to ten years, and you have this aforementioned sudden explosion of vertical talent; kids who probably got into skateboarding because of the THPS games, and now find themselves hurling 540s alongside many of the guys they probably spent countless ours skating as in front of their TVs. With many of the older guys of the batch pushing up near the qualifying age for the Masters' division, there's really only a scant few years in which we can really observe this phenomenon of two generations of professional skaters in the process of passing the torch from the old guard to the young blood, and there's something really special about that.
And on a related note, I can't wait to see what happens in 2013 when Bucky and Omar start competing in the Masters' contest - Lance's going to have to relearn his 540s...
Stay tuned for part 3 on Friday, when I'll talk about why skateboarding needs the Pro-Tec Pool Party.
No comments:
Post a Comment