Southside Skatepark Team Attends SPOT Clash of the Crews presented by VANS

Just arrived home from a Skatepark of Tampa's Clash of the Crews presented by Vans with David Langston, Tate Malpass, Ty'rae Carter, and John Bermea in Tampa, Florida. Once again Skatepark of Tampa continues to be one of the most welcoming places on earth for skateboards and fans of skateboarding alike. We had a great time, and primarily attempted to document the adventure through a VLOG that we hope you enjoy at the Southside Skatepark Youtube channel.

The weekend was a blast, the Southside Skatepark team flew in Friday. Upon arrival, we went straight to The Boardr where we ran into none other than Ryan Clements, Rob Meronek, Nick Halkias, and even Heath Moe Brinkley. Due to the lack of trade shows, we have not seen some of these guys for the past few years. So just to stand there and have a conversation and see what they have been up to really was inspiring. These guys are in skateboarding's corner and are doing the work within skateboarding that not a lot of people are capable of or even understand. That back end of skateboarding is necessary to keep the fires stoked and engaging new entrants and letting them know, you have a place here with us. Anyway, just a huge fan of all these guys and how they continue to give their lives to skateboarding.

We made our way to Skatepark of Tampa and checked in with SPOT staff for Van's Clash of the Crews. They shot some new headshots, gave us wristbands, and six tickets to accommodate food and beverage needs to get us started. Talk about feeling like you were meant to be there, they were even feeding us which was great. The Southside Skatepark team made their way onto the street course and started to roll around during Friday afternoon warm-up. After some time we went to the hotel, checked in, and then back to SPOT for the Deathrace and Bowl Jam. Ty'rae Carter skated both events and made it to the finals of the Deathrace. Bowl jam was really sick to watch and when you watch the VLOG keep an eye out for Florida legend Mike Peterson of The Block Skateshop.

Arriving around 11:30 am the team felt like we were running a little bit late but the contest start time was pushed to 1 pm which worked out perfectly. So we had ourselves a roll-around warm-up on the mini-ramp to get the legs going. Then once everyone felt ready we made our way onto the street course and continued to feel everything out. There were 23 shop teams in attendance and the top 4 would make semi finals. Those top four would skate again to create a final two to then skate one more time to determine the overall contest winner. Our team came up with ESG Sailin' the South as our music to skate to during qualification and we skated last in that 23rd spot. So it was a pretty long waiting game for us but hyped to hear that we had qualified into semi-finals in 3rd Place. Yes, the Southside Skatepark team was Swangin' and Bangin'!

It was not a long wait as Southside Skatepark went from skateboarding last in qualifiers to skateboarding first in the Semi-Finals. We opted to skate to the sweet sounds of Lil' Keke's Southside to once again represent our beloved hometown of Houston, Texas and the skatepark that is our namesake Southside Skatepark.

Once we heard that we were in the Semi-Finals it was so nice because you feel like you've already won. You never know how the skateboarding and the judging will go on these kinds of trips so you just have to simply roll the dice. Everyone on the Southside team skated great and represented Houston, Texas for sure. We were happy to have our skateboarding recognized and have been invited by Vans to participate in Clash of the Crews this year. The team contest format helps because it's the average of the top skateboarders in your crew that gives you your placement. This way it is not all on one person and riding as a team at an event is fun and bonds you even further to your skateboarding family.