February 2008... "Symbolic end of the 30 year curse with official opening the Msida Skatepark"
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February 2008... "Symbolic end of the 30 year curse with official opening the Msida Skatepark" |
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The days leading to this official opening was interesting as everything was pulled through on the last minute and since the government was splashing the cash & organizing the event as a whole, MSA wouldn't need to work on getting all the sponsors nor stressing over everything involved. Really nice for a change. Mike, aka, Mr. MSA president, was busy as hell with Ivan Colleiro, Mr. Creative Genious architect, making sure the bowl, the rail 'n' ledge end of the park was finnished (amongst many other things), whilst myself, Chris Jensen, Mr. MSA Public Relations, had the task of finding some pro's for the demo. As lame as myspace might be , I have to admit that its the main reason how I got the skateboarders to come. Its just a great way to find people. That, and offering people free trips is something hard to refuse. I ended up getting Flo Boddehammer, who was more than stoked to escape the Berlin winter, and then Hugo Liard, Julien "JUJU" Bachelier, and Loic Benoit from MSA's favorite French company, ANTIZ. Whilst this went on, Quicksilver Malta got themselves Micky Iglesias & Alex Giraud to join the fun. On Thursday, I went to the airport to pick up Flo, Hugo, Loic, and JUJU and dropped 'em of to their rooms at the Hotel. After some great talks with them and finally getting the chance to give 'em well- deserved props for their latest "Z-movie", we decided to go for a welcome drink. We'd bump coincedently into Micky and Alex of Quicksilver where all the guys were happy to see familiar faces. James, aka, MSA soul department, Mike, his girlfriend , Sole, Karlvin, his girl, and Camille(working at QS)would finally show up right on que for the welcome drink. All the guys were such a wicked vibe that the "welcome drink" turned to quite a few "welcome drinks". Next day, Mike and James took the Quicksilver & ANTIZ boys out to practice their demo runs at the park, as well as hitting the University for some extra footage for their private projects. I, in the meanwhile, stayed home to make a flier which hardly anyone got to see becuase of the last minute-ness of the entire thing. When I was at home doing my thing, James and Mike took the guys out for "Welcome drink round 2". That night it rained hard. With that, came lots of worry of post-poning the event. Also when looking at the forecast that night, there was 90% chance for rain for Saturday. This was terrible, espiecially for the most symbolic day for skateboarding history... The end of the 30 year skateboarding curse of this nation. my flier that nobody saw... I woke up at the morning, hearing rattling of door shutters and the taps of rain outside. I looked out, and I felt that this was it. Oliver Lautier, aka, Mr. consultant of the ministry, would be calling Mike or me up to say, it was postponed and we'd have to send the ANTIZ and QS boys back home with no demo. No call would come, so I called up Mike. He too was worried but said that we just have to chance it. The wind was going nuts outside with rain. We all made it to the skatepark around 12.00 to find that all the clouds had been blown away and the day seemed as if it were spring time. All of us were surprised to say the very least and just went to show that you can't trust the weatherman in a place as small as Malta. Are the Gods gracing us on such an important day? We would like think so. Demo Hugo busted by one of MSA's secret agents, Luke Mercieca Having an event organized by the government comes with slight differences to how MSA would do things. For one, the music was something out of a therapeutic spa house, and 2 , us dirty looking skateboarders were being served ordeurves and drink by proffesional catoring folk. As Juju confessed to me later on that night (and imagine this with a French accent), " I have to say, Chris, that it was a very strange event, not bad, just... I have never been to a demo like this!". And he was right! This was out of the normal sort of event! Suriel to be treated like royalty when skateboarders were never been treated anywhere this good in the past 30 years! What a way to make up for lost time! There was a speech and media frenzy at that point with George Pullicino, aka Mr. Super hero that made this happen, and prime minister Laurence Gonzi giving opening speeches, whilst Mike stood by them in front of all the lenses. The speeches ended with applause by skaters and the public, with Mike being interviewed for TV. Right after this, James saved the day when he busted out his CD's for the demo. Once again, I'd like to say thank the heavens for James, becuase not only is music a great motivator and sets the vibe, but James has some real good choice for any kinda happening.The demo could finally begin and my poor commenting skills could come into the picture. The highlights of the demo were defenatly Alex Girauds's Pivot to fakie on the wall-ride, and Backside Tailslide from bank to ledge down into the wallride. JUJU took the same approach but smith'd it. Also on the wall-ride, he did a Backside disaster and Lien to tail. Hugo did some really creative skating with a crooks on the handrail but popping out of it in the middle and managed to do a frontside bigspin heelflip on the pryamid. Micky Iglesias did a some nice Ollie one-foots on the pryamid and a manual fronside shuv-it out into the bank. However, i must say, Flo Boddehammer, even without signs of a board sponsor, probably pulled the most consistant list of tricks. 360 flip across the pryamid, Nollie backside flip on the pryamids side, all kinds of lines back to back on the banks. Kickflip nose manny to drop into the bank and the cleanest kickflip from platform into bank. This and more. VIDEO from ANTIZ Filmer Loic Benoit. At the bowl end everyone was shreading and some highlights were a nice kickflip to fakie on the deep end by Flo. Hugo's FS heelflip to smith stall and FS Heelflip to disaster. JuJu's massive BS melon from hip to shallow end. On the bowl front, Micky Iglesias was really in his element with all kinds of switch lines. He did some tech stuff including a kickflip to nose-bash and a manny from shallow end all around the the bowl to roll-in! Now after 5 years of hard work and seeing this skate park dream come true, it was time to party real hard and to drink for all the previous skateboarders who never got the chance to see a skatepark the past 30 years. We took the QS and ANTIZ boys to their hotel rooms and went to a reggae party after. It was cool chilling out with these guys becuase it went to show that skaters are all the same and no matter where you come from you have to always work to improve on your local skateboard scene. The guys gave us really good advice during that night on how we can improve our scene with our new skatepark and association. Also , they had some really good view-points on skateboarding itself. It was also very nice to hear that they enjoyed the park and had a fantastic stay. Truly inspiring people and we hope they come back one day. The 30 year curse might be over but we still have a lot to do. At least now,and never have to worry about the Subway turning into a Bocci garden again! Besides the Quicksilver sponsor and ANTIZ , MSA would like to thank these great people for their support and help: Maryanne Cuomo of the previous Msida Local Council, the Commisioner of Children Sonja Camilleri and her secretary Daniela Debono, Mr John Fenech Adami, Architect Ivan Coleiro, Oliver Lautier and the strong support of the Minister of the Environment. post demo Alex, JUJU, and Hugo Above: Thats James, JUJU, Chris and Hugo somehow ending up in Mellieha at 8.00 AM. We did say we'd party hard! The 30 year curse is over, let the goodtimes finally roll for Maltese skateboarding!
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Videos VIDEO curtious of ANTIZ filmer & photographer, Loic Benoit News paper articles Sunday, 17th February 2008- Times of Malta The park is a dream come true for many teenagers. **************************************************** Monday, 18th February 2008 Fiona Galea Debono The biting cold yesterday failed to put a damper on skaters and bikers to use their much-awaited skate park in Msida. They skate, come rain, or shine, they declared. Wearing a mere sweatshirt and loose-fitting pants, they managed to work up a sweat through their whirls, twirls and wheelies. The park was officially inaugurated by the Prime Minister and by Environment Minister George Pullicino on Saturday but the skaters were hardly waiting around for the finishing touches and it has been in use even while works were under way. But yesterday they could really enjoy the true benefits of a proper skate park - which may not be readily visible to the untrained eye. The rails and edges on which they "grind" are now good quality, they remarked in skaters' jargon. "You can slide without sticking and, therefore, you fall less, which means you hurt less," they explained, pointing to a concrete floor that did not look like the softest landing to those with two feet planted firmly on the ground. But, yes, even the material used for the ground was apparently "softer", cushioning falls, which were less frequent because of the lack of holes too. If the park is meant to keep kids away from bad habits, it seems to be having an effect. "When I'm not at school, I could do six hours straight at the park," said one enthusiastic skater. "On Saturday, I was at the park from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and again from 7 to 10.30 p.m.," Reuben Fenech Laudi, 14, said, pointing out that the place was lit by night. His 17-year-old mate, who does not go to school and was frowned upon by the gang, said he was at it from 9 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. on Saturday. One skater joked that there were too many plants but his friend interrupted to stick up for the environment. Other complaints were directed at small children who get in the way. "They do not know what they are doing and come straight at you; so it is either us or them getting hurt.". But nothing could really overcome their pleasure at the park being opened... not even the presence of the bikers, with whom they have reluctantly had to share their space. That may not be for long though... The BMX Association yesterday expressed appreciation at statements made by Dr Gonzi and Mr Pullicino on Saturday about their interest in the development of facilities to cater for them, including an indoor BMX track. The association said the park clearly showed the great demand for further investment in such popular urban sports. It has been working hard for the past 21 years to promote and cater for such sports and was looking forward to working together with the ministry to create such positive environments, it said. The skate park is a first for the island. The project was launched in August and cost the government €232,937 (Lm100,000). **************************************************** Saturday, 16th February 2008 - 18:41CET Malta’s first skate park was inaugurated by the Prime Minister this afternoon at Tal-Qroqq roundabout. Dr Gonzi remarked that the site was ideal for young people in that it was close to the University and the Junior College . He said the government intended to create another two similar facilities in the near future, as well as an indoor track for BMX. The skate park was designed after consultation with the Malta Skaters' Association.
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Photo of Alex Giraud of Quicksilver doing a backside flip on the pryamid, taken by Jason Borg.
