Wednesday, May 6, 2009

skaters sans frontieres

A few blogs back I mentioned a skatepark here in Uganda (thanks to flynn and hp and skatedaily). I showed up at a skatepark in a "developing" country and figured I would show them how to ollie and be a hero. While I was warming up ('cause I'm old) I'm checking out some pretty well made quarter pipes and flat banks. As I'm flopping and flailing all over myself, about 5 local kids pump through the whole park super fast.... so I won't be showing them that. In short, these kids KILL this park. I could only watch--my mind was blown!
These pics are from what was scheduled to be a competition sponsored by Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew had lots of great ideas and promised to kick in lotsa cash but pulled out the day before. It will henceforth be known as Mt. Poo.
Sponsorship or not these kids had a ball. Me and this guy Shawn were asked to put on a mini demo and I don't think either one of us landed a trick--li'l embarrassing.

The crew. OK one banner but I'm not sure why--Tony Hawk Foundation had nothing to do with this.

The boneless one!

He powered this front lip across the whole quarter. I used my dope filming skills to capture the action!

A kid, a kid, and a board.

After seeing these kids this shirt is only half true on me.

He didn't land this but he landed the next one. Another kid did a frontside grab off the 7' extension and had to have been about 3' above it.

CLOWNIN!

All I could do was hold my board and smile.

Click this link to see more about skating in Uganda, watch the videos, write an email and tell them how amazed you are.
www.ugandaskateboardunion.org

2 comments:

Chris Flynn said...

I am pumped to see this. I knew all my internet lurking would one day pay off. Digging that shirt you got Bansky. Skateboarding definitely changed my life. Keep your rig tight.

HP said...

I wish I was there for that session.
I'm super glad that you connected with what is happening with the scene there.
We're still trying to get the shops here in Jerz to help out too.