Skatepark of Tampa and SPoT Events welcomes Paul Zitzer as the newest official addition to our crew. As SPoT Events Operations / Public Relations he’ll be at the helm of Damn Am, Tampa Am, Tampa Pro, and whatever other events you want to throw at him. You will catch his writing skills and photos throughout our blog as well. After skating with Paul for over 23 years, he couldn’t be more fit to be your host locally and abroad. We are stoked to have him on board. Words by Brian Schaefer

Words From Paul Zitzer

Despite the amazing times I had with the vert bros preceding the local riffraff’s attempt to burn down my halfpipe back in 1992, I gotta admit their effort to get rid of us was probably the single best thing possible for the future of Florida skateboarding. I’ll save the details for my memoirs, but long story short, a month or so later our landlord kicked us out of his warehouse complex once and for all. From there we sadly dismantled the only mildly charred 32’ wide 12’ tall ramp and abandoned the pieces in a Tampa field for what I assumed would be the rest of my lifetime. Fortunately I overestimated by a few years. The story has been told before, but three short months later Schaefer was handed the keys to a newly rented warehouse which he decided to call Skatepark of Tampa, where we went on to resurrect our beloved vert ramp and, almost incidentally really, changed [at least some of] the course of skateboarding. So thanks to those bums for not having our backs, but most of all to Brian for sticking with it the last 21 years. It’s great to be back. Photo by Bart Jones Paul Zitzer SPoT Events Operations / Public Relations Insta: @paulzitzer paul@skateparkoftampa.com