pinkcrack4life!

dear manuel reverto....

What We Do Is Real.....

Just wanna' share with you, what we've been doing besides skating all the time, and sucking the marrow out of life. We came here with the prime objective to get family in order, and help get our daughter into the local college. We knew we'd only be here a short while, and we were extremely reluctant to uproot our lives, but for family, we'll do anything.. 

 We had known ahead of time, that the place we were moving to had little to no skateparks. There were a couple, but they are 7 hours away from each other, and we don't really care for pre-fab. There was one in the town we were moving to, due to the hard work and steady efforts of my girl and some quality folks here in Oxford. (That's how I met her, but that's a different story..) But it's not much of a cruise and have fun park. It's gnarly rough, and steep, with 'noping' on most of it. So we decided to help get things built in this state, and do what we can in this short period we'd be here, to get parks built and teach others how to do it for themselves...

 It has been some what of a success, a bitter battle sometimes. People really get offended if you disagree with them out here. I've been told by the locals here, " it's just Southern Pride", and it's "just how things are." That's cool if it works for them, but it makes getting on the same page really hard sometimes. And if you've ever been a contruction foreman, you know communication is vital... And if something isn't right, I'll say something..

 During our 2 year extent, we've done what we can, spoke up when needed, and did what we could to get these things done, and help educate some on how to do it. There's always drama and egos that get stepped on when you step up, and be a beacon, but I guess that's the price of shining and being the ball in this game. But you know what? The bottom line is the agenda at hand comes first. If it's not accepted, move on to the next one.. And the moves we've made, and the things we've accomplished in this short stay, are real, and set in stone!! Long after the egos, skate drama, and competition to be the coolest and most 'hardcore' have all faded away, the good things we've done will still be there. They'll  still be skated on, stoking skaters, making an opening for new friendships, and giving an opportunity to escape poverty. These structures will give many pride in the accomplisments they've made, and give the stoke of concrete building to others. They'll teach discipline, commitment, and The pride of hard work paying off in riding away clean...

   We've spent 2 Summers and a Winter building a DIY spot, and teaching the locals what tools they need, and how to use them. Hopefully a couple of them have listened, and will pass it on to the next ambiguous skater.. Even if just that alone, happens, then we've done well to give back to what has given us everything...

 I wish we could have done more, but like every park, ramp, bowl, or quarter pipe, everyone wants to be chief. But the one's that make it hard to build a solid scene, and quality place to ride due to egos and drama,  are only hurting their own scene by acting like a thorn to the ones providing. It's not too often a park builder moves near your town and want to give you all the knowledge it's taken him15 years of skatepark construction to acquire. "Especially one that has ties to the industry and lives to help good kids catch a break..." It pains me to think about how much we could have done, if it wasn't for a few personal issues, and came together as a scene, and a family to builas much as possible...... We'd have a snakerun to every town..

inspirer!

lizzie armanto was the only female that entered the bowlarama held in australia over the past two weekends. she qualified 15th and landed in heat 4 with the pros. her runs were consistent and she held her own against the dudes!

the best of the best

Vans BOWL-A-RAMA Bondi 2013 --- The Highlight Reel from Boardworld on Vimeo.