O N E R O A D , M A N Y S T O R I E S , 100% SKATEBOARDING There’s a lot of talk these days about “divisions” within skateboarding. There are some who believe that if you’re not sliding down a rail or grinding coping, then you’re not really a part of skateboarding. In my opinion, exclusion and intolerance are absolutely everything that skateboarding should NOT be. At Concrete Wave, we’ve chosen a path to tell a variety of different skate stories. While I am quite aware that not every vert skater wants to see photos of freestyle or slalom, and not every speedboarder is interested in street skating, the fact is ALL these types of skateboarding exist and are thriving

The explosive growth of longboarding is undeniable. From freeriding, to sliding, to racing, cruising and carving, all types of skateboarding are getting more exposure than ever. Pockets of riders and small communities are forming and popping up all over the globe. Although most types of skateboarding are very much male-dominated, there are not surprisingly more and more females getting involved in downhill skateboarding, especially here in BC. Whether it’s because of the endless terrain or the huge population and tight community surrounding the sport (much thanks to Coast Longboarding), the number of women riding here is constantly growing. The first girl to ever race at Danger Bay was Louise Leslie, a.k.a. LouDogg. She was a huge inspiration, and within two years of that there were 11 girls lined up to race.

Green is a hot topic these days. Green stands for the environment and money. While we are proud to publish what will be the first of many stories relating to the environment, we fully realize this is a difficult, multi-layered topic that hits a number of hot buttons. Like most of you, we don’t find it that easy to navigate this “sea of green.” For some reason, however, we are compelled to keep hitting the buttons other magazines refuse to touch.

The global public skatepark movement planted its flag on the shores of a new land on October 30, 2007 when Galit Skatepark opened in Tel Aviv, Israel. Galit is the largest skatepark in the Middle East, covering 28,000 square feet. For the past 25 years Israeli skaters have been subsisting on plywood construction, pay-to-skate parks in various states of disrepair, a few private ramps and choice street spots that were quickly sessioned until the arrival of the rent-a-cops. Despite its hot, dry climate, Israel has very few swimming pools per capita, and every one we’ve spotted had squared walls with a square bottom. Ah, yes, there was one miserable attempt to create a mellow bowled skate spot in a Jerusalem park years back. Unfortunately, the local contractor mistranslated the phrase “smooth concrete surface” into “slipperyas- ice surface,” and hence, Sacker Park earned its nickname “Sucker Park.