Skateboarders compete over weekend

By Jenna Youngs

Published Sept. 30, 2003

On a crisp fall day, a skateboarder soars above ramps and rushes past the other teens to land another trick at a skateboarding competition in Cosmopolitan Park.

However, this is one "Sk8r Boi" Avril Lavigne won't be hitting on. Only 10 years old, Alex Pattillo participated in his first competition at the skate park on Saturday.

"I thought I would be a lot more nervous than I was," he said after the competition.

Dream Catchers, a local store, spent two months planning the competition and will sponsor another competition in Fulton on Oct. 25.

"It was the best one we've ever done," general manager Shane Stander said. "We were more organized. I was worried we would get rained out, but it was a gorgeous day. We only got sprinkled on once."

At the competition in Cosmo Park's skate park, approximately 300 skaters showed up throughout the day to participate in one of three levels of competition: beginner, intermediate and advanced. The skaters were broken up into the categories by experience.

Alex entered the beginner's competition. He started skating three or four years ago when his dad introduced him to the sport.

"I like getting a lot of speed," he said. "I'm going to be doing a lot of big jumps because I know the judges like them."

Alex's mother, Christy Stone, said she enjoys watching him skateboard.

"It makes me nervous, but if he likes it, I want him to be happy," she said. "I'm excited. I hope he does well, but I don't know what to expect."

Skateboarders warmed up by grinding the lips of various obstacles and attempting ollies off the launch ramps.

The skateboarders also spent time watching each other to see what tricks would be attempted in competition.

In each level of competition, skaters had to go through a qualification round in which they were grouped with five other skaters and were given five minutes to show off their best tricks.

The top three skaters from each section moved on and got to skate two one-minute runs. During the runs, four judges ranked skateboarders on consistency, difficulty, style and effort, Stander said.

Before his qualification round, Alex mingled with other skaters and the judges.

He told the judges to watch all the "air" he would get, then took his place for the start of qualification.

During the five-minute qualification round, he landed an "ollie off the spine," which was his favorite trick and helped him advance to the final rounds.

"Every time I landed a trick, the judges were like &#39awww!'" he said. "It was awesome."

Alex continued attempting ollies in his individual one-minute runs. He slammed hard into the ground after a few jumps, but got back on his board to complete his ride.

"The judges gave me points for effort," he said. "One of them called me the eye of the tiger."

When the judges announced the final winners, Alex was sad to hear he did not place.

He is not done with skateboarding, however. He said he plans to enter the competition in Fulton.

"I'm learning a lot from other people," he said. "So I'm enjoying it."