Skateboarding and BMX
Kelvin Hoefler's rise to fame
Even though I've been watching skateboarding for eight years, the name Kelvin Hoefler isn't one I'm too familiar with. I've heard of him before, but never really watched him or heard much about him or his skating. This summer was the first time I watched him compete, and I'm really glad I did! Kelvin has had a great competitive season this summer. He won street best session at Dew Tour Chicago, won streetstyle and street best session at Dew Tour LA, and qualified to the Street League Championships his first year on the tour. He's definitely one to watch out for in future competitions and is one of my new favorite skaters.
To watch Kelvin's winning run at Dew Tour LA for streetstyle, skip to 2:47.
Ryan Sheckler wins X Games bronze
Ryan Sheckler is my favorite action sports athlete, so I root for him whenever he's competing. He hasn't won an X Games medal in a few years, so I was hoping he'd win one this year, and he did. It wasn't his best skating, but it was nice to see him medal again after battling a few injuries in the past few years.
Chaz Ortiz wins X Games silver
When I first started watching skateboarding, Chaz Ortiz was just coming onto the contest scene and was doing great with Dew Tour and was always a contender. He was one of the youngest guys in these contests, was doing well, and is from Chicago, so I couldn't help but cheer for him! But then several years passed and I felt like he wasn't doing as well as before. Then injuries came, and he missed a few contests. So when Chaz won silver at the latest X Games when he wasn't even supposed to compete (he was an alternate), that was awesome! It was nice to see him competing again and excelling.
Luan Oliveira beats Nyjah Huston at Street League ... TWICE
Nyjah Huston is arguably the most dominant street skater right now; he's won the past six X Games street gold medals. So it hasn't been easy to beat him. Not a lot of people have done it in the past few years, so when Luan Oliveira beat Nyjah at Street League twice, I was very impressed. I always knew Luan was good enough to beat Nyjah. He's been close to doing it before. So it was great to see him finally do it.
Bob Burnquist wins Big Air again
When I was younger, I often played my older brother's Tony Hawk video games, in which Burnquist was a character you could play as, so he's one of the first skateboarders I heard of. And because of that, when I started watching action sports around 2007, I automatically rooted for him. Bob's been so dominant for such a long time, so it's awesome to see him still win contests and gold medals when there are younger guys competing against him. It's always a pleasure watching him compete, and though it's not surprising when he wins, it's still enjoyable to watch.
Big Air Doubles debut
As aforementioned, my interest in skateboarding stems from my brother's old interest. He once told me about how there used to be vert doubles at X Games, so when X Games announced there would be Big Air doubles, we thought it would be similar to that, even though that didn't seem plausible. It turned out to be nothing like that, but that's okay. It was still fun to watch some of the top athletes try some crazy tricks on a MegaRamp. And watching Bob Burnquist dominate and win another Big Air competition was nice, too.
Finally going to an action sports contest
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| My sister (right) and I with professional skaters Greg Lutzka (middle left) and Kelvin Hoefler |
I already wrote a blog post about going to an action sports contest for the first time, something that's been on my bucket list for around eight years, so I won't go into great detail about that here. It was just really fun to finally experience what I've been watching on TV for eight years, even if I didn't get to watch everything. Plus, I got to meet a few pro skaters, which was really cool!
Surfing
Julian Wilson shows his bravery for his countryman and friend
Even if you don't follow or watch surfing, you probably heard of the shark attack at the J-Bay Open in July. Australian surfer Mick Fanning was attacked by a shark during the final heat of the contest while he was competing against fellow Aussie Julian Wilson. Thankfully, both of them are fine and nothing happened. It was an emotional moment for both of them as well as their families and the entire World Surf League family.
Obviously, Mick getting attacked by a shark is not a happy moment. It's definitely not one of my favorite moments from the summer. What is, though, is how Julian reacted to the situation and tried to help his competitor and friend out. He tried to paddle towards Mick in an attempt to do something to help him from losing his life or a limb. In an interview shortly after the attack, Wilson got emotional and showed that even though action sports like surfing are an individual sport, there can be a strong camaraderie among the sport's athletes. Julian's my favorite surfer, and after I watched the interview, I just liked him even more. I just have so much respect for him and his act of bravery.
CJ Hobgood's perfect wave at the Billabong Pro
I haven't been watching surfing on a consistent basis for a very long time, so I'm not too familiar with many of the top guys, but CJ Hobgood is someone who I am familiar with. When I was watching this specific heat, I was cheering for Julian Wilson, because he's my favorite surfer, and the heat was going Wilson's way up until this point. And although I wasn't rooting for Hobgood, this wave was just too good not to cheer for. Plus, Hobgood's still a talented surfer despite his age. It was nice to see him do well on one of the biggest waves at the World Surf League contests, especially considering Hobgood's competitive career is coming to a close soon.
If you watch action sports, what were some of your favorite moments from the summer? If not, which of mine did you enjoy?
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