For The Price of a Cup of Coffee You Can Send a Needy Skateboarder to Tampa Am
Logan Summers was having so much fun at Damn Am Woodward West this past October that he forgot to skate well enough to make the cut. At least that’s what it looked like. After waiting for his music requests to come on, he literally danced his runs away. That’s his deal. What is also his deal is crowd-funding his trip to Tampa Am.
First we melon... and then we dance! – Photo by Zitzer
This crowdsourcing idea has picked up steam all over, skateboarding being no exception. Clint Walker did it to support his year long RV tour. Others have used it to help pay medical bills for uninsured friends who’ve been broken off. Then there are magazines, art shows, video projects; all crowd-funded. But when I first saw Logan’s Instagram plea for help getting to Tampa I thought, “This is a new one.” You know what though? It’s working. I’m looking at his Go Fund Me page as we speak and he’s raked in $525 so far, over halfway to his $1000 goal.
With all of the changes happening in skateboarding, could THIS be the new sponsorship model? Forget Plan B, Nike, LRG, they have finite resources after all; the crowd on the other hand, is nearly limitless in its capacity to fork it over. If they want to. You just need to know how to pitch it to them. In place of sending TMs the traditional link to your video footage, crowd-funding is all about appealing to their sense of humanity. Logan gets it. See paragraph below.
If it sounds like I’m making fun of any of this, I’m not. Well maybe I am a little. But Logan is a ripping kid who just wants to shred, not some slacker who’d rather beg than do a little work. He has two jobs, one at BC Surf and Sport, the other at a restaurant. He rips on the board too, and in addition to BC’s support, he’s also hooked up by Waters & Army, Bones and others. So why is he asking us to pay for his trip? “Because it’s expensive,” he says. “And there are other skate trips throughout the year, like the Woodward West Damn Am, and other things you need funds for.”
When Logan isn’t trying to raise money, he’s out backside tailsliding in the SLC. – Photo by Weston Colton
This year will be Logan’s third trip to the Am. He has yet to get the results he’s after. I asked if he feels obligated to do better for his supporters this year. “Yes,” he says. “But at the same time, I’ve supported lots of people along the way, and now it’s my chance to receive a little bit. I’ve never been very good at taking from others, just giving a bunch, you know? In this case, it’s something I’ve always enjoyed doing, so if I do well...great. If I don’t, they’ll understand. If I do well in life and skating in general, I feel like they’re pleased about that, that’s why they’re supporting me in the first place.”
Logan is putting himself out there to fulfill the dream, and I’m backing him. Using donated funds, he’s already bought his plane ticket, so he’s going to be in Tampa whether he brings in enough for a hotel room or not, which raises the possibility of his sleeping under the bowl.
Leave your comments of support below, then throw him a bone at
www.GoFundMe.com/LoganSummers
- Paul Zitzer
