Takeover of the Groms! by Steve Gareri
This year was the 3rd year of the King of the Groms skateboard contest. If you didn’t know, this contest is for the youth. To compete you must be
12 years old or younger. We feel it’s important to give the next generation of skateboarders the spotlight for one big weekend contest a year.
The Tradition:
Year number one 2003, we had 40 kids compete.2003 King of the Groms: Kirian Stone
Year number two 2004, we grew to 60 kids.2004 King of the Groms: Cody Davis
This year we ended up with 95 kids competing. 2005 King of the Groms: Cody Davis (sweep)
The skaters:
For months the build up for this contest took place.The locals were here nearly everyday preparing. We started getting phone calls from all over the country 2 months ago. The energy level around the park was high. The Saturday before the contest was a full practice session. It was pretty cool. It was like a mini Damn Am. vibe around here. All the Groms were sizing each other up. Some of the out of towners started to roll into the session and all eyes were on them to see what they had. Being the 3rd year of the contest many of these kids knew each other, and you could for sure feel the next generation forming their crews.
The Parents:
With 95 kids in the contest you can imagine all the support that the parents gave. It is so great to see parents out there showing their support to their kids. Big cheering sections. In this day of skateboarding parents play such a big role. The Moms and Dads gave up their cheers not only to their Grom but all the Groms. Some drove over 13 hours to be here. The big thing I noticed this year was that a definite community is being forged. Parents and kids alike from all over the Country are all here under the umbrella of skateboarding. The Contest:
Cody Davis takes the sweep. Winner, expert bowl, mini, and street. We held 9 contests on Sunday: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert, in Bowl, Mini, and Street. The 2005 line-up of judges consisted of Pro skateboarder Chad Benson, Mike “Munzka” Munzinrider, and Am. legend Jamiel Nowparvar. I was stunned again this year by the skateboarding of these little kids. The Bowl: Max Werlich 4 foot backside Varials, Cody Davis, big spin kickflip, switch tailslide revert. Poor, poor, Jack Olson broke his little arm in 3 places when he bailed an early grab frontside 540. That had to be the low point of the day. The mini contest was insane, we had 95 kids take 1 run each and if they bailed in the first 30 seconds of their run they had an option to call rebate and start their run over. We packed everyone in the mini room and the parents were loud as they cheered on their skaters. After a couple hours we had a 20-minute intermission and started the street contest. Again the skill level jumped so much since last year. It was a battle between Cody Davis and Chaz Ortiz in the finals of expert street. Chaz and Cody were tied after their first runs. Cody went koo koo in his second run and edged out Chaz for first. I could go on forever about this contest. If you missed it in 2005, plan a trip to the 2006 King of the Groms. You’ll know what I’m talking about! Thanks:
We were able to give out nearly 100 prize bags. This was only because of all the support we were given by our contest sponsors. Rodney from Hawk Clothing, S - One, Destructo, Stereo, Girl, Chocolate, Royal, 4 Star, Duffs, Split, Project, Black Label, Accel, Alien, Reflex, Habitat, Popwar, Anti Hero, real, Rasa Libra, Spit Fire, Thunder, Krooked, Death Box, Pig, Foundation, Dekline, Toy Machine, The Firm, Hook Ups, Flip, Fury, Baker, Powell, Bones, DC Shoes, Osiris. Thanks:
We must thank all the skateboarders, and parents who spent the weekend with us. I hope you all had a great time. After all that’s what skateboarding is all about.See you all next year.
-Steve.
