The American Slalom Skateboard Association was founded last year, for the primary purpose to support slalom events across North America.  They've stayed out of the cheap politics over quirky event rules and focused upon the acquisition of an insurance policy that could cover many events, for one price.  It worked in 2006, and they're back in 2007, to make it happen again.  Silverfish Longboarding.com applauds the crew at ASSA and the sponsors that support the program.  Here now, find their 2007 Appeal to the Sport, both to race promoters and manufacturers/sellers of slalom equipment:

To Race Promoters:

The American Slalom Skateboard Association (ASSA), a group purchasing organization of slalom skateboard race promoters/organizations, is currently working with event insurance providers to secure a group purchase of race insurance for the 2007 season.  Again this year, we hope to be able to cover as many races as possible.   If your organization has plans to host an event or events in the 2007 that will require liability insurance and would like to be considered to be a part please send an email to Marion Karr at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Please include the following information in your email:

Name of Organization:

Projected Date(s) of Event:

Points Status Requested/Assigned (Basic, Prime, Main, And Major):

Location(s) of Event:

Contact Name:

Contact Email:

Contact Phone Number:

Please submit your request to ASSA before Feb. 15, 2007.   Race organizations requesting  Prime or higher status events will get preference over Basics and/or Plain rated events but ASSA will look to work with all groups intending on putting on an event that requires liability insurance.  If you have any questions, please also direct any questions to Marion Karr via email at the above address.  Due to work constraints, Marion will be returning emails in the evenings.  Please allow 48 hours for a response.

Manufacturers, Vendors, Skate Shops and other Potential Sponsors...see the next page. 

Silverfish Longboarding's 2007 Board Building Series has started off with a rocking boom!  Themed as "Short Boards & More", the contest generated eleven entries by craftsmen ranging from first-timers to old hands.  We've got mini's constructed with recycled wood, a pool board with hardwood marquetry, slalom boards and more.  Check it all out by visiting our Board Building Forum.  There, you'll find the most active board-building forum on the internet and much, much more than you'd ever imagine in terms of great ideas, friendly guidance and resources for both new and experienced skateboard builders.

Now, however, it's time to vote.   The Board Building Series on the 'Fish has always been about spreading the stoke, enjoying a challenge and rewarding those that participate with our admiration.  This time, we've got some great schwag from Bennett Truks, too.  The top three board builders will receive Bennett Vectors, straight from the factory!  So, click on into the Board Building Forum, see the Entries and then check out the Voting Poll .  It's all over on March 7th, so don't miss your chance to check out the incredible variety of killer ideas and construction our members came up with, and to give 'em all some props for jobs well done!  Click to read more about upcoming contests in the series, too.

Silverfish Longboarding members know that we love the idea of teaching others to build their own skateboards.  When people take the time to show others how to work with wood, to realize their ideas and capabilities in the creation of something tangible and cool, stoke results.  The Roarockit system is perfect for schools like those in Hawaii (where pioneers Ted and Norah Hunter created the system), universities and community centers.  Now comes what may be the most fully evolved and supported program yet, provided by a non-profit, after-school program under the guidance of Alan Sidlo, known to some as the 1970's-era Pepsi Team skater but to many more as the mad scientist of board-building, "Shapeshifter".  

Chicago’s Art of Skateboarding

code name: ChAoS

There’s a revolution happening in skateboarding.  It has its incredible beginnings through education at a public high school. Chicago’s Art of Skateboarding is a brand new program, melding crucial subjects, including Physics, Math and Art,  and providing a unique work experience in the field of Industrial Arts. It is an innovative apprenticeship program run through the auspices of After School Matters , a City of Chicago initiative which offers teens hands-on job training in the arts, sports, technology, and communications. Our program is based on the Roarockit teaching system, using preshaped maple veneer, a foam mold and the innovative Thin Air Press, recently patented by Ted Hunter. A Professor of Industrial Design at a college in Toronto, Ted shares the original concept with his wonderful wife Norah. They dreamed up the product in order to provide an activity at a community center that had fallen into disuse on the island of Maui. Together, they have developed an engaging curriculum that offers insights into real world applications for all of the subjects it involves. If you've read about various Roarockit programs, you will readily understand why it created so much excitement the moment this new program was first proposed in Chicago.

"ISPO" is the largest [I]nternational [SPO]rts trade show on the planet.  It makes the September ASR look like a sideshow in comparative size.  Just like ASR, it's closed to the public, an industry-only extravaganza of new products, marketing and beer-guzzling.   This winter, Silverfish Longboarding sent our own International Man of Mystery on a foray into ISPO (since we found out he was going anyway), and he brings us a look from inside the show:

ISPO Winter '07 Report

I was informed that winter ISPO ( ISPO.com - world’s largest sporting goods trade fair, in Munich, Germany) is far more important than the summer
version I attended last year.  Those claims were right: Summer ISPO was a 95% pure fashion show, even the surfboard producers showing more cotton than foam and glass.  Winter ISPO was a totally different game: Dozens and dozens of snowboard labels (just a few of them actually producing themselves, I would learn). Young & hip crowds and lots of beer and cocktails.  The primary reasons for me to be there weren’t the parties and gorgeous hostesses, or even my mission for Silverfish, but rather to check on possibilities of cooperation and (as a part of this) how longboarding is perceived by the snowboard industry. (Most skateboard labels don’t exhibit on ISPO anymore (too expensive) and instead of ISPO they started the street-oriented "bright – skateboard tradeshow" in Frankfurt, Germany.)