ASR Blog

NSSA attacks Lower's

The NSSA Nationals are running wild at Lower Trestles. The event has been running since Tuesday, with the championships taking place tomorrow. If you’ve never been to Nationals, you should really try to make it down. It’s a circus—the sponsor’s tents are set up running down the beach for what seems like miles and each company tries to outdo the other with the coolest activities for the kids in between heats. Foosball tables are brought down, there are full on BBQ set-ups with team managers cooking lunch for their team, and games (the wackier the better) are in full force. The beach gets crowded with parents, photographers, media and lots of umbrellas, so claim your sand early. You can try and get a surf in at Middle’s—try meaning you hope a grom (who out surfs you even though they are more than half your age) doesn’t snake you. It is a great time and it will take your breath away to see these kids perform on the waves.

For more NSSA Nationals info, click here.
To see the event live, click here.

Skateboarding in China

I posted a story in Industry News about the growth of skateboarding in China. The article states that skateboarding is becoming less underground and more mainstream--Chinese skate brands are popping up, making buying a board affordable, and companies such as Quiksilver and DC Shoes are now distributing their product in the country. There'€™s also an Asian X-Games, which, according to the article, was put in place in order to scout new Asian talent. China also boasts the largest skatepark in the world. The article reads, ". . . SMP International, an Australian-owned skateboarding company, finished construction on the world's largest skatepark, located in New Jiangwan City outside Shanghai. More than 12,000 square meters in size, the park features the world's biggest vert ramp, the world's largest concrete skate bowl, and a 5,000-seat stadium."

Obviously, China's potential as a contributor to action sports and consumerism is still largely untapped, and these signs show that it will explode one day soon. Raph Cooper, creator of She Hui (Society) Skateboards, the first domestic Chinese skateboarding company, hits the nail on the head when he says,€œ"If we can keep it hyped up in China, if we can keep the business going well enough to be able to feed the scene for competitions or for demos, then we could really see China putting a big impact on skating as whole."

What do you think of this? Does the company you work for sell it's product in China?

Go Skateboarding Day

You have a little over two days to figure out what you’re going to do for Go Skateboarding Day, which is this Saturday, June 21. Created by the International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC) in 2004, the event “originated as the day for skateboarders to have fun, to raise awareness about the issues we face, to show the world what skateboarding is really all about, to reclaim our culture and to define skateboarding as the rebellious, creative celebration of independence it continues to be.” Since that first day on June 21, 2004, thousands of people have responded and have either put on or participated in skate events, just rolled around with their friends, or even stopped by their local skate retailer to say hi. If you haven’t decided what you’re going to do to celebrate, check out the IASC site for some ideas. And, Go Skateboarding!

Surfing out of X Games

It was announced yesterday that after five years, surfing won’t be a part of this summer’s X Games. According to X Games surfing organizer Brad Gerlach, “They were having a hard time finding sponsorship because it’s the only part of the X Games that’s not live… They wanted to pull back and take a fresh look at it all for next year.” It’s too bad—surfing has always been fighting to enter the Olympics as a sport, so being an event at the X Games was the closest thing it had. Originally, surfing was held at Huntington Beach and ran in conjunction with the X Games, but, the waves never panned out and were usually crap. As a result, it was held in Mexico the past couple years, and ran in a time period where swell was supposed to hit. Since it wasn’t live, it was a bit anti-climatic to watch it on TV, because you usually knew who won. Thus, it gets pulled from the roster.

These are all the same reasons why surfing isn’t part of the Olympics—there are too many elements to the sport that we must count on to make it a viewable event. Maybe a wave pool is the answer?

On the Extreme 365 website, 60% of the users say it’s no big deal that surfing was pulled—how do you feel?

Nike 6.0 on the scene

Back in April, I had written about Nike 6.0 sponsoring the WQS surf contest, the Lower’s Pro, formerly known as the Body Glove Surfabout. Only one of three contests that are held at Lower Trestles each year, I was surprised that a endemic brand wouldn’t want to get their hands on the title sponsorship—with the marketing that comes with it—for one of the best surf breaks in the United States.

Well, it looks like Nike 6.0 isn’t going to let go—it was announced earlier this week that they have signed on as an associate sponsor for the AST Dew Tour and AST Winter Dew Tour. I’ve never been to a Dew Tour event, but from reading the press it gets, and seeing the television coverage, it seems to be the next big thing after the X-Games. If Nike now has a hold of that, what are they going to go for next? A new WCT contest in some exotic location? It’ll be interesting to watch and see.