The 2012 Street League DC Pro Tour Fueled by Monster Energy kicks off in just 9 days with the first stop returning to Kansas City, MO. Kansas City may not be a new destination for Street League but fans of Street League can expect some new faces and format changes for 2012 to be rolled out at the Sprint Center. In addition to the 6 new pros that will be joining the League there are also some new format changes and as a result, a new course layout that are being implemented for the 2012 series.
The first and probably biggest format change for 2012 is the “Run Section” which will consist of the pros having a 45 second open run on the entire course in which to put together their best line or combination of tricks. This will allow for much more open, flowing and creative skating on each course. When asked about the new Run Section in an ESPN.go interview, Street League founder Rob Dyrdek was quoted as saying, “Flowing is the soul of skateboarding; we tried it without flow and it doesn’t feel good.” Also new will be the format of the Big Section, the pros will be given 6 attempts on the Big Section and only their top 4 scores will be counted. This system will allow for even harder, more amazing tricks to go down at each stop of the series.
As in years past, Day 1 of each stop will be a Preliminary Qualifying day where all 24 pros will compete for a spot in the Finals. The pros will be broken up into four heats of 6 skaters each for Qualifying. However, this year the Qualifying will consist of 2 sections as opposed to the usual 3. The new “Run Section” where each skater will be given two 45 second runs. The highest of the 2 scores will be counted for each pro. Next will the “Big Section”, where each pro will have 6 attempts and their top 4 scores will be counted. The single Run Section score and the 4 Big Section scores are combined to determine an overall score. The 5 pros with the highest overall scores will go directly to the Finals. Pros in 6-12th places at the end of Qualifying will go to the Semifinals which will take place the on Day 2 before the Finals.
Day 2 will begin with the Semifinals which will be one heat of 7 skaters, those who qualified ranked 6-12 in Qualifying. The Semifinals will consist of one 45 second Run Section attempt. The 3 pros with the highest scores move on to the Finals. The remaining 4 are eliminated.
The Finals in 2012 will consist of 8 pros as opposed to 2011 where 10 pros skated. These top 8 pros will skate all 3 sections of the course, the Run Section, Best Trick Section and the Big Section. In the Run Section each skater will be given Two 45 second runs, the highest single score will be counted. The pro with the lowest score at the end of the Run Section will be eliminated. Next up is the Best Trick Section which will be very similar to 2011, 5 attempts and \ the highest single score counts for each pro. The difference this year is that for the Best Trick Section the pros can skate anywhere on the course excluding the Big Section. This one score is combined with each pro’s Run Section score and the top 6 move on to the Big Section. In the Big Section each pro will be given 6 attempts and their 4 highest scores will be counted. The pros’ Final score will consist of their top Run Section score plus their top Best Trick Section score plus their top 4 Big Section score. The skater with the highest cumulative score will be the winner.
The addition of the Run Section for 2012 has lead to Street League and California Skateparkschanging the way courses and individual obstacles are designed. In years past Street League course designs have been one directional and divided in to “lanes”. For 2012 every course design will feature more obstacles and will be skatable in several different directions and styles. On the brand new Kansas City design this can be most easily seen in the large center piece of course. This new design approach will allow the pros to skate continuous lines through the course to put together their 45 second runs as well accommodate the more open format in the Best Trick section. This year the pros will have more opportunity to determine their own unique lines through each course instead of being funneled down individual lanes like in the past. These new format changes and course layouts will provide a better opportunity for each skater’s creativity and individual style to shine through which will make for an over all more exciting contest series.
Coleman Oval Skatepark, on the border between Manhattan’s Chinatown and Lower East Side, bounded by Market, Pike, Cherry, and Monroe Streets, and is one block west of the FDR parkway and the East River under the Manhattan Bridge. Design lead, Steve Rodriguez, has been working with CA Skateparks to design and build this new landmark skate spot in New York which has been largely funded by GameChangers, Nike, and Architect for Humanity. More updates on the way.
California Skateparks just finished building an indoor warehouse in Minneapolis with Familia Skate Shop. The Familia Headquarters opened to the public on April 7th. California Skateparks designer, Mike Robeke, collaborated with Steve Nesser on the design of this indoor wood and concrete park. The clean and simple design offers options for all skill levels of skateboarders to learn and progress. If you ever in the area, this is definitely a spot to skate!
Skateboarders from beginner to pro will have a safe place to skate as part of an AMOS (A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy) led effort to build one of the largest skateparks in the United States along the West bank of the Des Moines River. A “sneak peek” of the plan design will be revealed at 1:00 p.m. March 31, 2012 at Subsect Skate Shop, 309 E. Walnut in the East Village.
“This will put Greater Des Moines on the national map for this growing sport. In addition to providing a new recreational resource, the Des Moines Regional Skatepark is expected to become a key venue for regional and national skateboarding exhibitions and competitions, as well as a tourist attraction,” said Jan Hill, skateboard parent and Des Moines Regional Skatepark Steering Committee chair.
Phase one for Des Moines Regional Skatepark is set to begin late 2012. The park will be located east of Wells Fargo Arena, on the west bank of the Des Moines River, north of the pedestrian bridge connecting to the Riverwalk Trail. The 65,000 square-foot project will be one of the largest skate parks in the United States.
Pro skateboarder’s Lance Mountain and Colby Carter of California Skateparks are involved in the design of the park. California Skateparks is the leader in the industry and produces the highest quality concrete skate parks while utilizing innovative state of the art construction methods and techniques.
The Des Moines Regional Skateboard Steering Committee was formed almost eight years ago through AMOS, and is comprised of youth and adult skateboarders, community members, and representatives from Des Moines Parks and Recreation. In conjunction with national Go Skateboarding Day, the Committee is planning a fundraising “kick-off event” showcasing the final plan design of the park on June 21, 2012.
Los Angeles, CA (March 27, 2012) – As excitement continues to build for the 2012 season, Street League announced today that the final six spots of the 24-skater roster will be selected via an all-new qualifier series: The Selection. The Selection will consist of two separate qualifiers during the month of April, one domestic and one European. Five of the six Street League openings will be awarded through the U.S. qualifier through a video contest featuring brand new footage from 10 of the most respected American pros released on The Berrics during the first week of April. These short edits will go through a three-pronged voting process with equal weight given to the fans, Street League judges, and the current Street League pros. The contenders in The Selection represent some of the most respected names in skateboarding:
Ishod Wair
Austyn Gillete
Ryan Decenzo
Tom Asta
Matt Miller
Jack Curtin
Vincent Alvarez
Chima Ferguson
Jordan Hoffart
Jimmy Carlin
The never before seen footage of the ten pros will debut the first week of April on The Berrics website (www.theberrics.com) with additional coverage at www.streetleague.com. Shortly after the domestic contest wraps up, the European qualifier will commence. This contest will produce the final roster spot for the 2012 season. Like its American counterpart – the fans, Street League judges, and the Street League pros will each make up a third of the total votes. Each invited European skater will be given one day at the DC Embassy skate park in Barcelona, Spain to film a part that will be released on the DC Embassy website (www.thedcembassy.com). The contenders for the DC Embassy contest include some of the top pros from around the world:
Chris Pfanner
Albert Nyberg
Jani Laitala
Javier Sarmiento
Josef Scott
Michael Mackrodt
Manuel Margreitter
Wieger Van Wageningen
Roberto Aleman
Max Genin
Chris Oliver
Neil Smith
Bastien Salabanzi
Thomas Skejkal
“We’ve created The Selection to ensure that up-and-coming pros have an opportunity to win their way into Street League and compete with the World’s best, and that fans’ voices are heard,” says founder Rob Dyrdek. “The six new rookie pros in the league will make for an even more exciting 2012 tour.” This is the first time in Street League history that new skaters have been invited to join the most elite roster in professional skateboarding. Once selected, the six skaters will join the top 18 returning Street League pros for the 2012 season, a list that includes stars like Nyjah Huston, Chris Cole, Ryan Sheckler, Torey Pudwill, Paul Rodriguez and last year’s Street League Champion, Sean Malto. Tickets for the Street League DC Pro Tour Fueled by Monster Energy will go on sale April 2nd atwww.streetleague.com. The series will be available live on ESPN2, ESPN3, Street League’s official Facebook Page, and distributed to over 198 countries via the ESPN family of channels.
Lance Mountain independently produced and directed this new NIkeSB “Pool Service” clip in which he and his construction crew including Grant Taylor, Peter Hewitt, Al Partanen and Alex Olson, and California Skateparks built this rad backyard bowl. The bowl includes coping by Golden State Coping.
Kansas City is eagerly anticipating their new Penn Valley Skatepark coming in month! This project has an estimated start date of April 1st and the skatepark will be getting the 7 exclusive Street League features from the Kansas City Street League course in 2011. This will be a rare opportunity for the Kansas City youth to skate and test their skills on the very same features the pros competed on. The donated features by CA Skateparks will be repainted and re-filled to be sure they are in excellent condition for the skating community. The city is excited about the Rob Dyrdek Foundation involvement and their substantial donation of $50,000 for design services and the $35,000 for construction to finish the phase II addition / renovation of the park. The partnership with CA skateparks to give back to the skateboarding community and offer solutions for cities to see park projects is an opportunity CA Skateparks enjoys doing the most. More updates to come!
Since 2010, California Skateparks has been working with Street League to design courses in every city for the tour. These one-of-a-kind plazas have brought obstacle design and competitive street skateboarding to the next level. Founder and President, Joe Ciaglia is personally involved with all aspects of the process from designing the courses to overseeing the construction to pouring the cement and demolition. California Skateparks has built hundreds of public skateparks around the globe, from Canada to China as well as designing and building many private facilities for some of the top pro skateboarders in the world. Joe and Rob Dyrdek’s relationship began years before Street League Skateboarding became a reality; they both worked together on Rob’s Fantasy Factory, the Rob Dyrdek Foundation Safe Spot Skate Spots, the World’s Largest Skateboard, and much more. With a similar drive and enthusiasm for value in each project, Joe and Rob are the perfect partners in designing and building the best courses at each stop of the amazing series.
The first Street League Skateboarding course was built in an airplane hangar located in Van Nuys, California. This test facility was where the new Street League contest and course formats were tested and refined before the 2010 series began in arenas. Each Street League course has a one week window in which it is built, skated, and torn out which needless to say in no easy feat. Making sure the obstacles do not go to waste, Street League’s Course Donation Program was created in coordination with the Rob Dyrdek Foundation to donate obstacles from each Street League to the cities where the events are held to create new public skateparks for the community.
SLS: Did anything in particular inspire the SLS skate parks?
Joe C: I close my eyes and imagine if I had no budget and no limitations, what would I design? A colorful plaza with artistic skateable features, incorporating landscaping into a sick ass plaza that would challenge the top 24 pros in the world.
SLS: So Joe C, how does the skatepark design process begin?
Joe C: Initially the design process starts by bringing my team of designers together. We evaluate the prior event and see what worked well and what we can improve on. I’m fortunate to be able to be around the pros when their skating the courses and hear their input which can sometimes be very helpful when designing the next course.
SLS: Do you have a favorite Street League course?
Joe C: I like all of the courses so it’s hard to say, but if I had to choose I would say Glendale Arizona 2010 because it was my first course.
Glendale AZ 2010
SLS: Are some courses easier to build than others?
JOE C: No they are all the same. Obviously hurricanes don’t help us, but I have a passionate crew that travels and works on all the Street League events and they always do whatever it takes to get the job done. They look forward to watching the events and admiring their work.
SLS: Are the parks that you leave behind the exact same as the official SLS courses?
JOE C: No. Most of the skateparks are designed into existing park so we have to evaluate the existing site conditions and come up with a new design that also incorporates the official SLS features. A perfect example is the park we designed and built in Arizona, Cesar Chavez Skatespot.
SLS: I see. Is it any different designing an outdoor skatepark versus building a Street League course?
JOE C: The difference is that with the Street League courses, you’re starting with a limited space with one flat level elevation. You don’t have the ability to go down in the ground because you are infact indoors and building from the floor, up. And you have to be able to build it in 3 DAYS. The short time window in which we have to build a world class concrete plaza is probably the greatest difference. And of course, it’s the only time that we then take out the sledge hammer only to destroy the skate park – all within the same week. Traditionally after the event we grab the sledge hammer and see who gets to swing for the first crack. Some of the skaters like to get involved and grab pieces of the park in particular Chris Cole and his son.
SLS: It seems like you and Rob Dyrdek work very closely on designing the Street League skateparks. Can you tell us a little bit about your partnership and the working relationship?
JOE C: Rob’s energy and understanding of skateboarding help take the design to the next level. He is an integral part of the design process for every one of the Street League courses. Our design process includes the California Skateparks design team, Rob and myself. Once we get on a roll we all feed off each other with positive energy.
SLS: How precise and scientific is it the process – it seems like a creative process but how much of it is mathematical?
JOE C: Everything is very precise. Every detail is checked and double checked for the height of where you get on the rails and ledges to the height of where you get off. We measure the run up to stair sets, and spacing between features down to the inches. The degree of every angle is needed to be exact, from the way the patterns layout in relation to the features, to the landscaping and the overall look of the finished product.
SLS: Are there any rituals you have at in building the Street League courses?
JOE C: The most memorable moment is when Rob and I take a moment to admire our work. This normally occurs the morning before the event. We sit in the same spot in each arena and are amazed at what we created.
SLS: That’s really cool I must say. Any last words you’d like to leave with our readers?
JOE C: I am blessed to have the opportunity to be involved in this amazing event. Having the chance to be creative and design and build features for the top pros in the world to ride is awesome. I love seeing the kids’ faces when the pros are throwing down their best.
Check out the sneak peak of the design for the new Coleman Oval Skatepark to be located under the Manhattan Bridge in NYC! The park is getting a complete concrete makeover in the near future thanks to California Skateparks, Architecture for Humanity, and Steve Rodriguez of New York City.
Glendale AZ 2010
