Tampa Am 2011 Saturday and SB Chronicles Premiere
Posted
on
on Wednesday, December 07, 2011
by Rob
Saturday at Tampa Am was another 117 people in the Qualifiers and the premiere of Volume One of the Nike SB Chronicles.
By Rob Meronek
| Leo Heinert is one of the nicest dudes out there. I don't know if anyone should be doing skateboard stunts like this prior to the age of 40, though. |
| These young ladies held down this spot by the stairs all weekend. I think we need a special Moat Race for girls. Maybe next year someone can send some Dylan Rieder purses for prizes. |
| Skateboarding's rawest named trick is the crunt and Ethan Loy has it on lock. |
| Damn, I can't remember who this king sized snapper is going over and into the rail. |
| DJ Wade has a sinus problem. |
| Justin Vinson is part of the Southside Skatepark crew. They were rolling deep this weekend. That's a nollie front board. |
| Kevin Heger killed it on Friday and ended up in 2nd out of 177 people that skated. Nice new ink, Kevin. See you next year. |
| Luke Hampton barely made it into the Finals cut on Sunday, killed it in his second run, and ended up 2nd overall. Luke's sister here is there for the full support. |
| This is long time SPoT local Molly getting a SPoT Life tattoo. You'll be seeing a lot of this next year, but that's a story for another time. |
| Wow, look at that back foot on Nick Tucker's switch heelflip. From what I heard, a lot of people had him down to win it. |
| Wang Ming Jun is here all the way from China with a crew of homies. We met earlier this year in Shanghai. The world is getting smaller and smaller for skateboarding. |
| That Maloof Contest in South Africa was open to certain ams and locals that qualified or were invited. It was not a pro contest like Tampa Pro or Copenhagen Pro. Tommy killed it there and did the same this weekend at Tampa Am. I was hoping he'd be one that would win it. Maybe next year if he's not pro by then. Only Stereo can turn Tommy Fynn pro, not some contest or a dollar bill. |
| Prior to this backside noseblunt slide, Dylan Perry had a collision right here where someone's kneecap went right into his temple. He was briefly knocked out then stood up and was stumbling around like he was in his own personal earthquake. That was scary, but he's okay now. |
| Apparently this kid had his own supply of some kind of alcoholic sauce. When I came out, he was in this state with the police taking a report and his parents on the way. Think kids, just stop and think. You have your whole old ass life to drink. No need to jump the gun. |
| Thie photo reminds me of The Tempster on Instagram. I wish he didn't get kicked off. |
| This was Shawn Turner's first Tampa Am experience and he got a piece of it all from the skating to the nightlife to the new friends to the fresh ink. |
| Former Powell pro Lance Conklin was marking up skin at the Atomic tent all weekend. I remember way back in the day when he won what was basically the Tampa Am of the time, the NSA Finals, and turned pro shortly after. That was back when contests could turn you pro. Even with being partially in the contest business these days, I still think contests shouldn't be that important and I'm glad they aren't. Just take them as a good time and great excuse to get together with friends. If you're into a challenge, put some effort into doing well. If it works out, great. Otherwise, it’s whatever. Put the real work and creativity into your video part where it belongs. |
| Shawn Turner is another recipient of the SPoT Life tattoo. |
| It's now time for the SB Chronicles Premiere at The Bricks. |
| SPoT Skate Shop Ybor was looking extra club style fancy. |
| Dan Drehobl got a Just for Showing Up Award for the weekend. Donny Barley got one also, but he was out front when a car went into The Moat. So, he ended up not showing up to get his Just for Showing Up Award. Oh well. Thanks for being around all weekend. |
| Guess which mystery roller here cleaned Porpe out of his fiercely flaunted stack of gambling cash. |
| Andy Henrie, we hope to still see you at future events event though you're moving on. |
| Joey from Nike SB. |
| Swoosh co-workers Bob and Oliver with Bones Ripper sidekick. |
| Justin Brock and Connor Champion. Justin shouldn't be drinking as you can see in my minute of footage from the Premiere. |
| Youness opened up the video with an amazing part as expected. Daniel Shimizu followed up. |
| Rodent, Lewis Marnell, Chet Childress, and Bryan Herman under the Shake Junt light in the back. |
| It's looking very Hipster Tampa in the back. |
| Kid Will is kicking it with the Swoosh these days. Good to see you back in Tampa! |
| Kid Will is loyal to Polk County. |
| The kitchen in The Bricks was cranking out the meals. |
| The place was packed. I wonder if people like Nassim there are confused when they realize paranoid America doesn't let you have a drink until you're 21 years of age. |
| Crap, forgetting names again. That's Oliver with another Nike SB guy that I hung out with in Barcelona this summer. Update: It's Damian! |
| Another friend from Nike SB whose name I should be able to remember, but my head is fried right now. Thanks for the new shoe wall in the Shop. |
| The light in The Bricks is so red sometimes it's just better to turn it black and white instead of trying to fix it. Omar, thanks for coming to Tampa Am. |
| Was Bob just in the desert or something? That's a crowd of hard lurkers right there. |
| Looks like the drink server to drink consumer ratio is a little off. |
| Body right there probably has a Kush Pop. |
| The place erupted after Grant Taylor's part. Check a minute of footage from the Premiere here. |
| Stefan and his girl Jessica made a couple's weekend out of Tampa Am. |
| I had the pleasure of hanging out with Rob Sissi in Barcelona this summer, too. Thanks for coming to our crusty town for the skateboard shindig, Rob. |
| Crowd reaction to Clark Hassler's part was pretty good, too. |
| After the video, it was Q&A with the SB team and the video creator, Jason Hernandez. |
| Pause for an involuntary foot fetish with the SB team. Black and white is where it's at these days. |
| Grant Taylor on a thin crowd surf. |
| Thanks everyone for coming out for the Premiere. What a night. |
| Champions of bid'niss at Nike SB, Hunter and Darin. |
| Just a minor street altercation among bid'niss pals. |
| "SPoTed" more ink. |
| P-Stone was here all weekend taking people to my local spot that's down the street from where I live. I was so jealous of them skating there while I had to work 16 hour days at Tampa Am the whole time. |
| Luke Hampton and family are having a good time this weekend with Luke skating good and in the cut for the Semi-Finals. His hometown is under a blanket of snow right now, so the weather is another damn good thing for this trip, too. |
| That's the end of my nightlife for tonight. I'm going home at the same time as these two responsible grow'd ups here, Paul Zitzer and Ryan Clements. |
