2007 Vans ProTec Pool Party Media Challenge division wrap-up
Posted 05/14/2007 08:12:00 by i am vans
Each year at the Pool Party, a media challenge event is held before the gates are open to the public and general admission audience. This is an opportunity for the various magazines, websites, and video outlets to throw an employee of their choice into the inferno of the Combi to compete for bragging rights and claim media superiority over their counterparts for a full year.
Last year's victor, Skateboarder Magazine's Scott Taylor showed up looking ready to rock. He recently left Skateboarder, but since he spent 11 1/2 months of the last year working there, his entry was legitimate. I jokingly told him that he was "cheating", to which he simply responded "whatever." Scott then went on to express his doubts about repeating his 2006 victory, something about him being told repeatedly by numerous people that he would have to beat a mysterious figure only known as NAKA. Apparently, Scott had never witnessed Garrett Shigenaka's mastery of the Combi, but enough talk had been relayed to him that he took the threat seriously. Knowing NAKA, I decided to let ST find out for himself. Brian Fick had been looking super solid in the days leading up to the event. Fick rips, and he looked to have a shot at the top spot as well. The rest of the media field was rounded out by the always tough Jim Murphy, Buddy Carr, Mike Cottrell, John Fudala, and theSKATEBOARDmag's very own editor, Dave Swift. Swift kills it in big bowls, and he was thrust into the driver's seat against his will by an absent Kevin Wilkins.
It's really too bad that the general public isn't allowed in to watch the media challenge event, because the skateboarding is impressive to say the least, and the competition gets hot. Also, as a matter of record, it reads like a secondary Master's Division final, with Fick and Taylor being the young guns at 33 and 31 years of age respectively, and the rest of the field clocking in at 37 and up.
The music got cranked up and the first event of the day was underway with Duncan calling the play by play. Fudala, who sported clown attire last year, appeared in full comic Elvis garb and kept everyone guessing as to whether the was or wasn't a helmet underneath his massively coiffed pompadour. Mike Cottrell started things off with a few conservative, clean runs to get warm, then he just went ballistic with airs, inverts, and long grinds. Swift was chilling, putting together some solid lines and looking comfortable on the new coping. Buddy Carr skated with good speed and a smooth approach, laying deep into some back smiths and other assorted lip attacks. Murphy kept it hot. Jim cracked off bonelesses, huge Texas plants, big airs, and all with a great deal of power and finesse. Scott Taylor brought his usual high powered game to the Combi, and Oakland's native son just exploded during his high speed runs, big frontside transfers and airs, abusive grinds and overall lip wizardy were in ST's bag. Last year Brian Fick made an impressive showing, and had he been a bit more consistent, he could have taken it all. This year, Brian was getting it done with a vengeance, with feeble fakies through the corner, toey and fluid ollies, and an alley oop switch grind through the corner which nearly brought the house down. Please allow me to introduce to you Mr. Garrett Shigenaka, or just plain NAKA. Garrett is a photog of some repute and his website SK8SESSION.COM is one of the cooler skate outlets anywhere. NAKA gets around to so many sessions, and he documents them and shares them with the world. Pros, Ams, somebodies, and nobodies alike all can be found on Garrett's site. The beauty of it is, he lives for skateboarding and this fact shines through in his photos, on his website, and most of all through his powerful skateboarding ability. NAKA held off both Fick and Scott Taylor to take home the big plaque. As a brand-new dad, he one day will be able to tell his offspring about what that means, likely in a most humble fashion, as his personality dictates. I'll brag a bit on his behalf. NAKA threw down some of the most unique lines seen in the media event, and combined airs with a huge salvo of massive smith grind variations, tail grabs, stale grabs, etc... and he stayed on top of them longer than humanly possible. Garrett's style, flow, and power, delivered him the victory, but I think he probably derived as much pleasure from simply being in the contest as he did in winning it. One of the nicest guys you will ever meet, if you do indeed meet him, shake his hand, congratulate him, then watch him get embarrassed, yes, he's that humble.
Here's your final Media Challenge results:
Media division:
1: Garret Shigenaka-SK8Session.com
2: Brian Fick-Every magazine under the sun?
3 Scott Taylor-Skateboarder Magazine
4 Jim Murphy-Juice Magazine
5 Buddy Carr-ConcreteWave
6 Dave Swift-TheSkateboardMag
7 Mike Cottrell-SoCalSkateparks.com
8 John Fudala-Fork Burns
Media division:
Last year's victor, Skateboarder Magazine's Scott Taylor showed up looking ready to rock. He recently left Skateboarder, but since he spent 11 1/2 months of the last year working there, his entry was legitimate. I jokingly told him that he was "cheating", to which he simply responded "whatever." Scott then went on to express his doubts about repeating his 2006 victory, something about him being told repeatedly by numerous people that he would have to beat a mysterious figure only known as NAKA. Apparently, Scott had never witnessed Garrett Shigenaka's mastery of the Combi, but enough talk had been relayed to him that he took the threat seriously. Knowing NAKA, I decided to let ST find out for himself. Brian Fick had been looking super solid in the days leading up to the event. Fick rips, and he looked to have a shot at the top spot as well. The rest of the media field was rounded out by the always tough Jim Murphy, Buddy Carr, Mike Cottrell, John Fudala, and theSKATEBOARDmag's very own editor, Dave Swift. Swift kills it in big bowls, and he was thrust into the driver's seat against his will by an absent Kevin Wilkins.
It's really too bad that the general public isn't allowed in to watch the media challenge event, because the skateboarding is impressive to say the least, and the competition gets hot. Also, as a matter of record, it reads like a secondary Master's Division final, with Fick and Taylor being the young guns at 33 and 31 years of age respectively, and the rest of the field clocking in at 37 and up.
The music got cranked up and the first event of the day was underway with Duncan calling the play by play. Fudala, who sported clown attire last year, appeared in full comic Elvis garb and kept everyone guessing as to whether the was or wasn't a helmet underneath his massively coiffed pompadour. Mike Cottrell started things off with a few conservative, clean runs to get warm, then he just went ballistic with airs, inverts, and long grinds. Swift was chilling, putting together some solid lines and looking comfortable on the new coping. Buddy Carr skated with good speed and a smooth approach, laying deep into some back smiths and other assorted lip attacks. Murphy kept it hot. Jim cracked off bonelesses, huge Texas plants, big airs, and all with a great deal of power and finesse. Scott Taylor brought his usual high powered game to the Combi, and Oakland's native son just exploded during his high speed runs, big frontside transfers and airs, abusive grinds and overall lip wizardy were in ST's bag. Last year Brian Fick made an impressive showing, and had he been a bit more consistent, he could have taken it all. This year, Brian was getting it done with a vengeance, with feeble fakies through the corner, toey and fluid ollies, and an alley oop switch grind through the corner which nearly brought the house down. Please allow me to introduce to you Mr. Garrett Shigenaka, or just plain NAKA. Garrett is a photog of some repute and his website SK8SESSION.COM is one of the cooler skate outlets anywhere. NAKA gets around to so many sessions, and he documents them and shares them with the world. Pros, Ams, somebodies, and nobodies alike all can be found on Garrett's site. The beauty of it is, he lives for skateboarding and this fact shines through in his photos, on his website, and most of all through his powerful skateboarding ability. NAKA held off both Fick and Scott Taylor to take home the big plaque. As a brand-new dad, he one day will be able to tell his offspring about what that means, likely in a most humble fashion, as his personality dictates. I'll brag a bit on his behalf. NAKA threw down some of the most unique lines seen in the media event, and combined airs with a huge salvo of massive smith grind variations, tail grabs, stale grabs, etc... and he stayed on top of them longer than humanly possible. Garrett's style, flow, and power, delivered him the victory, but I think he probably derived as much pleasure from simply being in the contest as he did in winning it. One of the nicest guys you will ever meet, if you do indeed meet him, shake his hand, congratulate him, then watch him get embarrassed, yes, he's that humble.
Here's your final Media Challenge results:
Media division:
1: Garret Shigenaka-SK8Session.com
2: Brian Fick-Every magazine under the sun?
3 Scott Taylor-Skateboarder Magazine
4 Jim Murphy-Juice Magazine
5 Buddy Carr-ConcreteWave
6 Dave Swift-TheSkateboardMag
7 Mike Cottrell-SoCalSkateparks.com
8 John Fudala-Fork Burns
Media division: