Team Japan made junior surfing history and earned their first-ever Team Gold Medal at the 2018 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championship presented by Visit Huntington Beach.
Led by the individual Gold Medal performance by Boys U-18 competitor Keanu Kamiyama and four additional individual medals, Team Japan pushed ahead of Silver Medal Team USA to take the Junior Team World Title by a margin of 132 points.
Japan’s first-ever Junior Gold Medal performance comes shortly after an historic first Gold Medal for Team Japan in the World Surfing Games that took place in September in Tahara, Japan. It would appear the host country is getting ready for the Olympic debut of surfing. For the official word from the ISA, please follow the jump.
When Beastie Boy Adam Yauch got into snowboarding it was a big deal to a lot of people. Not that we needed validation from the cool kids, but where he went the hoards followed. Here, in a clip from their new Beastie Boys Book is a little back story on the boys, MCA, and his obsession with snowboarding among other things. Click play for five minutes of Beastie Boys flavor via Soundcloud.
Jonah Hill’smid90s is a great start of a movie. It is real, and moving, and serious and perfectly captures a slice of life for those coming of age in mid 90s skateboarding. The performances are solid, the characters mostly well developed, and the story hooked us right in, however, it’s missing a third act. Yeah, the “story” doesn’t wrap. Guess that’s better than going on too long, right? Here Jonah Hill, Sunny Suljic, Na-Kel Smith, Olan Prenatt, Gio Galicia and Ryder McLaughlin speak with Hypebeast about how it was to make a film with first-time actors and skateboarders.
The 2018 Vans Park Series Pro Tour closed out a ripper of a year in Suzhou, China with Brighton Zeuner and Alex Sorgente both taking their second championship titles.
Zeuner stunned the crowds with her effortless style, landing her signature backside 360 in every run and topping it off with a kickflip indy, one of the few flip tricks of the women’s event. . . It was an extemely close call in the Men’s final round, seeing Brazil favorite Pedro Barros and USA’s Alex Sorgente challenge each other’s scores until the bitter end, when Sorgente laid down a crowd pleasing, trick-heavy run to yield the highest score of the day.
For the official report and complete results, please follow the jump.
Super action agent and former professional snowboarder Circe Wallace is reportedly blazing new business terrain in the cannabis industry with her latest venture, Hot Nife, according to a profile on Leafly.com.
“I see cannabis as an area of immense and incredible opportunity for women,” Wallace said. “I have to believe that shop owners and consumers will want to do business with operators who are honest and see the big picture. This business really is about relationships.” . . . Wallace is also channeling her experience from the snowboarding industry’s early days as she navigates the rapidly expanding cannabis sphere. “I think I understand how to ride the wave of taking a nascent industry into the mainstream,” she said.
No doubt. Plus weed is the new craft beer. Party on, Wayne.
USA Skateboarding’s Neal Hendrix has been suspended from the organization while being investigated for “allegations of improper sexual contact” after being accused by skateboarder Julz Lynn (aka Julie Lynn Kindstrand Nelson) in a six page letter to the Costa Mesa, California Police Department, according to a story in the Washington Post. The contact allegedly occurred in 2007.
In the letter, which was also provided to ESPN’s Alyssa Roenigk, Kindstrand Nelson alleged that, when she was between the ages of 14 and 15 and Hendrix was in his early 30s, she performed sex acts on him at his request. Kindstrand Nelson also alleged in the letter that Hendrix masturbated in front of her, photographed and took videos of her while she was naked and showed her pornography involving underage girls. Hendrix, who was her mentor, brought her to his apartment for what he called “sex lessons” after meeting her at a California skatepark in 2006, she wrote in the letter.
In an email to the Washington Post, quoted by ESPN, Hendrix said “the claims are 100% false.” So far no charges have been filed.
In January 2018 Jones Snowboards launched a grant program offering amateur riders the opportunity to go out on an expedition. Here’s how their first year went.
The first annual Jones Backcountry Adventure Grant that was awarded to Mount Baker local Corey Nolan. In April 2018 Corey used the grant to help fund an exploratory trip to Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska.
Looks like a pretty good use of some “adventure funding.” For the rest of the story, please click the link.
The Tony Hawk Foundation has awarded international youth charity Skateistan a $50,000 grant to support the organization’s skateboarding and educational programs.
Skateistan operates five schools in South Africa, Cambodia, and Afghanistan, and combines skateboarding instruction with core subjects to inspire youth to learn and to be active. This is the second grant awarded to Skateistan by the Tony Hawk Foundation. The first was a $100,000 gift in 2015 and represented the launch of THF’s International Program. The current grant renews the foundation’s commitment to enriching the lives of youth through skateboarding, both in the U.S. and abroad.
A certain privately owned entertainment company specializing in event and online streamed content production (mostly surfing sport) announced today the hiring of former Oprah Winfrey Network President Erik Logan as their new president of content, media and studios. The Hollywood Reporter has gone so far as calling it a “shakeup at OWN.”
There’s no doubt this guy’s CV is stacked. Take a look:
[Logan] led OWN’s turnaround from 2011 and has positioned the company today as the #1 cable network in its target demographic with 5 of the top 20 shows in scripted cable programs for women ages 25-54, more than any other cable network. Before OWN, Logan was Executive Vice President, programming and broadcast operations for XM Satellite Radio, where he helped build the subscriber base to over nine million subscribers, negotiated partnerships, and managed day-to-day relationships with major content providers including Major League Baseball, PGA Tour, CNN, Clear Channel Communications and Fox News. Prior to joining XM, Logan also served as President of Programming for Citadel Broadcasting, and served for over a decade at CBS/Infinity Broadcasting in a variety of roles, including Vice President of programming.
We’re worn-out just reading his bio. Think of how good Erik is at going to meetings? Can’t say this company isn’t hiring the best people they can find.
In addition to his deep biz cred, Logan is also described as an “avid waterman,” co-founder of Shred & Speed, LLC Infinity SUP, and co-owner in Nikau Kai Surf Shop in Manhattan Beach, California. Guess that means he knows which way his fins go.
We’ll just have to wait and see if Logan can find an audience or if he’ll have to branch out into something other than surfing if they really want to maximize their ROI. Maybe live SUP events or even scripted cable programs for women ages 25-54? Logan starts his new job in January 2019.
The 2018 Vans Park Series Pro Tour closed out a ripper of a year in Suzhou, China with Brighton Zeuner and Alex Sorgente both taking their second championship titles.
Super action agent and former professional snowboarder Circe Wallace is reportedly blazing new business terrain in the cannabis industry with her latest venture, 
USA Skateboarding’s Neal Hendrix has been suspended from the organization while being investigated for “allegations of improper sexual contact” after being accused by skateboarder Julz Lynn (aka Julie Lynn Kindstrand Nelson) in a six page letter to the Costa Mesa, California Police Department, according to a story in the 
Once again, a list of links to some of the stories we wish we had time to read and re-type. Follow the jump for all the details.
A certain privately owned entertainment company specializing in event and online streamed content production (mostly surfing sport) announced today the hiring of former Oprah Winfrey Network President Erik Logan as their new president of content, media and studios. The Hollywood Reporter has gone so far as calling it a “
