SPoT Road Trip: adidas Skate Copa

Posted on Tuesday, May 19, 2015 by Chris

Adidas Skate Copa is a shop vs. shop contest held in different regions around the U.S. where shops battle head to head for their chance to get an all expense paid trip to the finals in LA at The Berrics. This year, we returned as the defending champions of the Southeast regionals at Kennesaw Skatepark in Atlanta. The Van carried SPoT’s very own Eric McKenney, Jack Loktu, Uncle Sam Bellipanni, Dylan Perry, Derick Wynn, Robby Kirkland, Alejandro Burnell, Cameron Hunt, Markus Jalaber and Marino Nicastro. We headed out at sunrise on Friday morning with a weary 8 hour drive to Kennesaw. After a couple of stops to use the bathroom, eat, and of course some participate in some shenanigans, the van made it to the Kennesaw Skatepark with a few hours of daylight to spare for practice.

The next day was an early start; the contest started at noon, so we made it out there early to set up the SPoT Tent for shade get our riders warmed up and ready to destroy. Each shop was only allowed 4 skaters; naturally we chose Alejandro, Uncle Sam, Markus and Dylan to put on for our city. They killed it in the qualifiers squashing all competition, and made the cut to the finals where 27 shops were cut to just 8. The Finals are head to head battles where only the winning team moves on. The SPoT team put in work, but we got bumped out of the first round of the Finals by Ambush Skateshop; which is okay - GA locals Travis Glover & Zeke Logan really put on a show for the crowd. Plus Skateshop, the team we went to war with in the Finals last year, came back with a vengeance and took home first place. Congrats Chris Blake, Rob Wooten, and the other guys at Plus! Immediately following the contest the adidas crew set up a Boost Bump to Bar Best Trick that they bring with them to every Skate Copa stop to hand out cash for tricks. Eric, Markus and Sam came up on some cash with a few moves to put some money in their pockets.
Great trip, good friends, fun times; what more could you ask for? Join us on our next adventure, wherever that might be! SPoT Squad - over and out!

Photos by Marino Nicastro.
Words by Eric McKenney and Marino Nicastro

Dylan

7am. Everyone's hyped because we're heading to the adidas Skate Copa comp in ATL!

Robby

Robby had us held down on security for the trip. I was scared.

Marino

Jim and Jack were not planning on coming on this trip but someone brought them along and we made room for them in the van.

Alejandro

The Squad for the weekend (not including myself): Alejandro, Dylan, Markus, Robby, Uncle Sam, Cameron, Eric and Jack. Excitement was an understatement.

Eric

Cracker Barrel was the first stop on our trip. Can’t skate or drive on an empty stomach.

Marino

With 8 hours behind us, we finally made it to Kennesaw Skatepark. Needless to say, next thing on our agenda...SKATE.

Alejandro

Alejandro - BS Nosepick.

Dylan

Dylan Perry following up Alejandro with a FS Nose Grind.

Eric

Eric McKenney.

Alejandro

Alejandro - FS Pivot in the over vert shell.

Cameron

Cameron Hunt - BS Flip. For someone who wasn’t skating the contest the following day, he was killing it.

Markus

Markus - Fakie Flip. He was dialing these in warming up that day.

Cameron

Cameron lofting a nice Kickflip over the bump to stairs.

Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam! FS Feeble like its his job.

Jack

The morning of the contest, everyone was ready to get up, surprisingly.

Yonis

Westside Skateshop was there this weekend. Another great Florida shop, and most of these guys come out and skate our SPoT Contests…and of course you know Yonis.

Derick

After arriving at the skatepark, we set up our tent and got comfortable. There were 27 shops and a long day ahead of us.

Uncle Sam

Sam starting off our first jam with a Switch BS Disaster.

Alejandro

Alejandro - Fast Plant.

Markus

Markus - Back Lip.

Dylan

Dylan - Gap 5-0.

Zeke

Ambush Skate Shop killed it and really put on a show. Zeke Logan blasting these FS Flips all day.

Travis

Travis Glover also rides for Ambush. He’s been a part of the SPoT Family through years of connections and always shows us around Atlanta when we come to visit. Here he shows us how to FS Feeble into the Bank.