Struggle team all convened in San Diego on July 16^th. Our schedule of events was as follows:

July 17^th-Autograph signing at Elyzium in San Diego
July 18^th-Demo and Signing at Driscolls in El Centro
July 19^th-Demo and Signing at Shelter in Fullerton
(Our last event on July 20^th was canceled)

 Instead of giving a detailed play by play of the 5 days of our tour, I am going to give some of the highlights and memorable moments. So, either by car, train or plane we all met up in San Diego. Ruben Najera is the Struggle team manager and he is also pro for them. Luckily for us all, he is a very organized and on the ball type of guy. We got straight to business. Right from the airport we went to skate spot after skate spot…documenting every trick through filming and photos. We were all so hyped up to skate together that everyone was having a blast, skating well, and we were all motivating each other. That was the vibe of every skate session we had on the trip…Super positive and motivating.    

When we were not skating street or doing demos, we were either in the van traveling to skate somewhere else, or in the hotel sleeping for a few hours. We were down to business, and it will show in our up coming Struggle Skateboards Promo Video (coming very soon!). Imagine 7 dudes in one van for hours at a time. As soon as we stepped out of the van, we were on our boards. (Thank you to Ollie Pop for hooking us up with the tour van!!!! You saved my legs!!!)

Tricks that stick out in my head that went down are, Ruben’s nose manual 360 nollie shuvit out, Nick’s backside tailslide up a bank/ledge, Diego’s frontside flip down a huge five stair/ledge gap, Tyrone’s switch frontside flip down the Ollie Pop gap. Again, check out all the footage in the promo vid!

Thank you to all of the shops for inviting us out and being such gracious hosts!!!!!

See you on our next tour! Peace.

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From GirlsRiders.org:

Wicked Wahine is back this year and teaming up with Gro for a two day, two location contest.
These events are open to all ladies so clear your schedule.

Saturday September 19th
Street Contest – Lake Forest, CA

Sunday September 20th
Bowl Contest – Westminster, CA

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We Gro Skateboarding Tour
Girls Skateboard Session & Workshop
Saturday, September 19th 2009
9am-12pm
etnies Skatepark
20028 Lake Forest Drive
Lake Forest, CA 92630
All ages All skill levels
Free – Donations Welcome

Just a side note – My 9 year old (then 8 ) daughter and her friend did this event last year and it was fantastic!

GRO is a top notch organization dedicated to promoting females in a sport dominated my males and definately deserve to get more attention.

GIRLS GO OUT AND SUPPORT THIS EVENT!!!

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http://www.myspace.com/aggressionsession

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Brothers Joe and Gavin Maloof brought you the 2^nd Annual Maloof Money Cup at the Orange County Fair last weekend. If you missed the event let me sum it up for you… great skateboarding wrapped up in an NBA package. All of the frills and thrills that typically sporting events posess brought to a sport that is so much more than fluff and spectacle.

Don’t get me wrong… if you look past the garbage and “fair folk” there for the beer and Monster you get a really great competition. Big draw names like Sheckler, P Rod, Eric Koston and Chris Cole always impress, but personally I really enjoyed watching guys like Pete Eldridge, Lizard King and Billy Marks tear up the impressive street course designed by Geoff Rowley. Guys that didn’t make the top ten seemed to put up more consistent effort even though they didn’t impress the judges.

I will hand it to Chris Cole… he certainly deserved to take it. This guy tore up that layout and put out as much or more effort than most of the guys out there and it showed. Tommy Sandoval really put out as well, dropping off the roof more times than I can count over the 3 days. That guy is going to have some serious knee issues at some point, but it gave a great show.

The biggest disappointment (and I will probably get grief for mentioning this) was the celebrities that took center stage during the event. Sure it is cool to see Kobe Bryant in public, but when it interferes with the skaters and blocks the skate surface I would rather they just stay home. Yes, I agree they should be able to enjoy a day like this but really someone must have pulled some strings. Again with the NBA fluff.

Will I do it again next year? Of course (granted they let me, we had issue with the staff and our access but that is a story for another day…). The thrill in watching the actual skateboarding and not the rest of the hype is well worth it, and watching my daughter get ideas from the pros will bring me back.

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