King of the Groms 2007
King of the Groms first took place in February 2003. At the time, 3rd lair was re-settling in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a little more than six months after moving into a new location, previously located in South Minneapolis for six years. Having left it’s former location, a bit of a rough and tumble neighborhood not always the friendliest environment for younger skaters, the park noticed an influx of young skateboarders, and recognized a need to cater more to this previously underrepresented crowd. Thus, the King of the Groms was born. Held in a single afternoon, the original King of the Groms consisted of 25 kids from the Twincities area, and was the very first contest at the new 3rd Lair.
Much has changed in a few short years. King of the Groms 2007 spanned a total of three days; an entire weekend to be exact. Friday February 23rd through Sunday the 25th brought more than 150 skaters from more than 24 states to 3rd Lair, in order to compete in essentially 9 different contests. In a huge demographic shift, out of towners almost outnumbered those from within Minnesota (a rough count shows 70 kids from out of state, 80 from within). The age of the youngest skater this time around, Seth Anderson, was three years old, meaning that King of the Groms has been around longer than him. No doubt, the contest will continue to grow, just as Seth will.
As of Friday around 12 o’clock noon, a good number of the competitors were checking into the contest, or were already out in the park figuring things out. Friday saw McTwists in the bowl by Phil Hansen, heated mini room sessions featuring more kids than that mini ramp has ever seen, and kids of all ages making older, even veteran skaters jealous at every turn (or kickflip, or backsmith, or bigspin boardslide, etc.). Kids and parents alike made new friends and caught up with old ones, and all in all, Friday, strictly a practice day, was a good one.
King of the Groms 2007 will be a memorable weekend, not only for what went on inside the skatepark, but also for what was going on outside 3rd Lair. During a winter that had produced very erratic weather, though very little snow, Mother Nature decided to switch things up for all the traveling parents and groms (some who would see snow for the very first time), by bringing on one of the biggest ongoing snowfalls in recent memory. There was much talk about the impending snow Friday afternoon, though, due to general distrust of meteorologists and their sometimes spotty predictions, no one knew for sure just what was going to happen.
Awaking Saturday morning, many noticed only a light dusting of a half snow, half ice mixture that, overall, meant very little to getting to the contest or what would go on Saturday. The contest opened with beginner bowl, which among a ton of other things, saw Abigail Krouth skating so well that she managed to make the cut to the finals, which she would also accomplish in beginner mini. Abigail was most definitely a judge and crowd favorite, and went on to being crowned the first ever Queen of the Groms, at the age of six. As long as Abigail keeps skating, she’ll go far. Other notables from beginner bowl include Aidan Nyblom, who “laid” out some rad runs with some of the judge’s favorite style.
Intermediate bowl notables include Micah Wu and Blake Janni, two very small skaters who skate well beyond their years (ages 9 and 7 respectively). Spencer Lau also skated spontaneously and non-chalantly. The expert bowl qualifiers could have rivaled any bowl contest ever held at 3rd Lair. Gregory DeHart handled the best kickflips to fakie out of anyone in the contest, while Mitchie Brusco did nollie shuvit heelflips to rock at will. Jammin’ Jay would be proud. Curren Caples made his presence more than known Saturday morning (in fact emblazoning it in many a judges minds’) by skating the bowl like a man, boosting the meanest frontside airs that that ramp has possibly ever seen. His only rival was Jordan Price, who could frontside stalefish like no 12 year old should be able to do.
Mini ramp qualifiers took place Saturday afternoon as the snow began to fall. Beginners Tommy Whitworth and Jackson Parrish (among others) were bumped from beginner to intermediate. In the Intermediate class, C.J. Kelly caught a tough one to the ribs attempting to get fancy off the mini room railing, and Andre Gutierrez put together a memorable run that definitely had the judges hyped. As for expert mini, the Pellegrinos dominate my memory (incidentally, no relation). Alex Pellegrino handled a varial heelflip to rock fakie (as well as an honorably mentioned best trick), and Joey Pellegrino, qualifying first in expert, did a frontside half-cab over the spine, which left the judging staff scratching their heads as to how one goes about doing that.
The street qualifiers started well after the snow had begun to fall. It was by far the biggest section of the contest. The beginner and intermediate sections skated in a jam format, judging happened in the form of choosing the top two skaters from each heat; picking them out during the tap-out round. The jams were borderline chaotic, with all the kids going all-out; with a handful of collisions, along with a whole ton of ripping. The expert street qualifiers were the time to shine for kids that don’t necessarily take to the bowl or mini ramp; Alex Pellegrino, Jack Olson, and Chazz Ortiz all killed it. When all was said and done Saturday night, some 150 skaters had been judged on more than 1000 runs (counting those in the jam format), and even though it was a long day, almost everyone left with a smile on their face.
Sunday morning at 3rd Lair was much different than Saturday’s morning. Many, many inches of snow had fallen, and people trickled in rather than the flood of folks that accompanied Friday and Saturday mornings. Beginner bowl was first, and Drake Perez won it with skating well beyond his six years of age. Micah Wu won intermediate bowl, skating precisely, doing lip tricks so properly that any frontside air was trumped. Expert bowl was again the time to shine for Curren Caples. He did the best trick of the contest in his second run, an unbelievable frontside air (picture the best nose-boned frontside air six feet out, accompanied by heavy metal, all the while done by a four and a half foot kid).
Trystan Kriesel took first place honors in beginner mini, kickflipping his way to first place. Drew Larson, one of two Minnesotans to get first place honors in any round, came as a dark horse to win intermediate mini. Expert mini was taken by Tyson Bowerbank, who got to skate without his helmet, which must have lightened the load in order for him to do more tricks in one run than anyone else was able to accomplish.
The beginner street winner was Griffin Chase. Being the second youngest finalist, at the age of seven, he managed to kickflip fakie his way past the rest of the field. Michael Rakos, one of the few Minnesotans to make the finals, managed to skate the bump to flat bar so well that he edged out Clint Beswick, who came in a close second. The expert street finals were tough. What with Jack Olson’s backside 180 late flips and bigspin frontside boardslides, Alex Pellegrino’s heelflip shuvits, Chaz Ortiz’s kickflip to anything, and Jordan Price’s use of everything, it was anyone’s guess as to who would win. In the end, Tyson Bowerbank won the expert street finals, and thus became the King of the Groms, with a combination of a head spinning number of tricks landed in his run (which was flawless), along with a level of difficulty which cannot be doubted. Tyson edged out Chazz, the 2006 King of the Groms, by a close margin, and found himself crowned, late on the afternoon of Sunday, February the 25th 2007, as the King of Groms.
In the end, King of the Groms 2007 would not have happened without a ton of peoples’ help. Thanks to World Industries, The Skateboard Mag, Termite, & Lake Owen, and all other 3rd Lair/King of the Groms sponsors: Roots, Zero Exposure, Grommie, Volcom, Duffs, Black Label, Alien Workshop, Volume, Ello, Freemont, NHS, Street Corner Dist., Blitz Dist., Phenom, Plan B, Crimson, Blind, Destructo, Transworld, Ninja, Little paw, Mystery, Globe, Grind King, Dogtown, Krew, Zero, Motto Grip, Famous Stars and Straps, Satori, Upful, Richoche T-Mints, Thrasher / Slap, 1031, L R G, 411, Birdhouse, Flip, Hubba, Ricta, Phantom, Unit, & Krux for making this unforgettable contest happen.
Thanks to Steve Gareri for being the indelible MC that he was, and Mark Muller, the skatepark owner, who could give it all up for skate photography anytime. Thanks to the 3rd Lair staff, Chris Thatcher, Ian Sherman, The Swamp Trog, Kevin Chartrand, Kyle Henkler, Tim Struffert, Austin McDowell, Tabari Cook, and Sam Parker. Mark Rodriguez cannot be forgotten, as shop dude, and heat sheet guy and scorekeeper. The judges cannot be left out, including John Muldoon, Jamiel Nowparvar, Patrick Dykstra, BJ Morrill, and myself. Most importantly, King of the Groms happens because of the young skateboarders involved, and their parents. A gigantic thank you goes out to every skater, and parent of said skater, who made King of the Groms 2007 possible. We’ll see you all next year.
-Mike Munzenrider, 3rd Lair Manager, KOG Judge, The Skateboard Mag contributor
