Chicas Riders on Mexican TV

Chica Riders

Girls get no respect skateboarding. Whether it’s some sleazy businessman making cheesy adverts (or some sleazy web site editor reposting them!) or Fuel TV running jiggle girls on top of the airing of the Skate Girl documentary. What happens when they end up on Mexican TV? Well, they get introduced by cast full of Cuchi Cuchi girls bouncing up and down in their seats like Charo. And of course, the closing set has the cast doing some lame sidewalk surfing in place. Chica Rider is a Mexican organization devoted to girls who skate. They were profiled on some sort of entertainment show on Mexican TV.

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GVK Photo Kontest tease

GVK photo kontest still wide open

Come on people. We still need your GVK Photo Kontest entries. This shot above is not an entry, just a composite to get you stoked. Mummified Grover is an out take from an old print issue cover shoot. There will be one deck from an undecided manufacturer in the prize package. I’ve compiled some of the entries so far after the jump. It ends June 8th, so lets get going!

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Independent UK vert series

Vert is dead/not dead, etc…

The M.E.S.S. guys will tell you backyard contests are (were) what it’s all about. Are there any vert contests beside the televised marketing vehicles of the X-Games and the AST Dew Tour? Well, in the U.K. there is the, uhm, U.K. Independent Vert Series, that looks like it’s just an excuse for vert riders to get together and skate with other vert riders in different areas. There’s a point ranking and a paltry purse at the end of the year. The editor of Europeskate (Jonathan Young) says there’s a small but dedicated scene of vert riders, although he didn’t say whether or not they still make fun of freestylers. There’s some video from something called the Blackpool Seaside Session contest which was at some undisclosed date in 2008. Watch Sean Goff take some hard slams after the jump.

[Source: Europeskate]

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SOTW-6-2-08 - Fritz Mead

SOTW 6-02-08: Fritz Mead at Attleboro

I can’t believe I’m actually getting this one up in time, but this week’s Shot of the Week also marks the start of the second year of actually updating the shots once a week. Before that there was just the showcase gallery that would sometimes (OK, usually) stay unchanged for over a month.

This week’s Shot of the Week is a Xeno photo of Fritz Mead. I originally wanted to use a photo I found on the Saturday Skateboards web site, but Xeno pointed it out that it was pretty old and had already run in Focus. I don’t care about that so much, but I did like this photo a lot. It’s a 2008 shot from a place called Attleboro, which I’m guessing is in Massachusetts. This photo is actually a little misleading in terms of the scale of the skate structure. There’s a shot after the jump that will put it into perspective.

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skateboards for needy kids

Give it back

There are several organizations out there for giving skateboards to needy and/or at-risk youth. Some of them are in Africa, some are closer to home. The newest one, Board Rescue, seems to be the most organized option. They are a non-profit corporation with a (skate)board of directors that has some industry ties. I ‘m pretty sure the directors are all unpaid volunteers. Board Rescue’s Mission is “to provide free skateboards and safety equipment to children, targeting low-income and at-risk youth.” There’s also an informal group called United Skates Alliance that was started by Randy at Flood Kontrol. The United Skate Alliance’s mission is “To UNITE underprivileged kids with skateboards and supplies.” It looks like he is literally just taking old and new equipment and giving it to kids. So while they might not be able to provide the tax receipt, the gear probably gets disseminated quicker. It looks like both organizations accept new gear. Used, but still useful gear might find a better home at United Skate Alliance. Board Rescue also accepts monetary donations.

– Thanks to Judi Oyama and Chris Stephens for the tip.

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