ARTICLES

Video Premiere Interview: Over eight weeks in Southern California, Australian 11-year-old Ethan Jet Potter spent every weekend chasing spots across Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego. School during the week. Street missions on Saturdays. What started as a few clips from a family trip quickly turned into a full video part in the very birthplace of street skating.

Video Premiere Interview: A crew of young Queensland skaters are pulling the curtain back on something that’s taken a year of sweat, street missions and late nights. We caught up with filmer Hunter Chillman and artist Mataito chat about the creative process and what it actually takes!

Moomba ASL Championships 2024 went down at Riverslide Skatepark in Melbourne on the 9-10 March. The local Melburnians claim there’s something about the weather around the Moomba weekend - and as the skatepark reached temperatures above 50C they might be on to something. The scorching temperatures were enough to cancel music festivals yet nothing could stop the skaters from all over Australia from competing for the ASL champion titles and taking in that magical Moomba vibe.

The generations came together for this years BOWLZILLA Gold Coast 2024! With an emphasis on style, fun and community Chad Ford welcomed everyone to a steamy day at Elenora Bowl. Hannah & Sophie was there to capture the vibes for Slabzoo — check out ALL the photos, videos and results here at Slabzoo.

Belco Bowl Jam went down this weekend in Canberra and we hit up Australian Pro skater Arisa Trew to hear what she’s been up to, besides not-so-casually Over-Under 540 with Taj Wolfenden… and also taking out the Womens win.

The Street World Championships 2023 Tour is happening as we speak. It’s in Toyko, Japan 10-17 December! Among the 11 Australian competitors are Taj Branch, one of Australia’s up-and-coming skaters who secured his spot through one of Skate Australia’s Performance Pathways Initiatives. We hit up the Sunshine Coast skater to find out how it actually feels like to skate at an international comp for the very first time.

Earlier this year Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) and Skate Australia launched the Daredevil program - a talent identification initiative aimed at action sport including street and park skateboarding. As part of a 6 months development program the selected skate prodigies participated in a two-day development camp at Queensland Academy of Sports, joined by athletes from various disciplines.

Pathways for Australian athletes seem no longer reserved for traditional and high participation sports in NSW with the exciting introduction of the State’s first Elite Skate Program.

NIMBIN GNAR-WALLS: The first NIMBIN GNAR-WALLS blazed through the Lismore district in March ‘23 with skaters from near and far getting the locals sparked up for the end of summer. All the things that make skaters lifers were in full effect for the week.

“Gassed Up” is the latest video from Nike Skateboarding featuring females only! Hayley Wilson’s closing part is a must-watch!

Road to Paris ‘24: 15 Australian Park skaters have packed their bags and have headed to San Juan, Argentina for the next leg of the World Skate Tour, continuing their journey towards qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Slabzoo is here with info on who, how and where to watch when our Ausssie favorites rip it up overseas.

Brazil's Rayssa Leal and Kelvin Hoefler won the 2023 SLS Championship Tour in Chicago. Leal won on her last trick, beating Momiji Nishiya and Roos Zwetsloot, while Hoefler took the trophy with his full cab back tail trick, edging out Ryan Decenzo and Nyjah Huston.

Australian street skater Chloe Covell is set to compete in the highly-anticipated first stop of the 2023 SLS Championship Tour on April 29th in Chicago. As one of only six female skateboarders to make the cut, Chloe will surely bring her unique style and skills to the competition.

Truckstop Skateshop in Ballina, NSW, has a rich history of promoting skateboarding culture and providing a platform for local skaters to showcase their skills. Slabzoo interviewed team manager Tony Chavez and met the young guns on Truckstop’s skateboarding team.

The skateboard community in North and Mid-North New South Wales is booming, but so far it’s been lacking organized clubs and competitions. Now, things are changing as two new skate clubs have been created in NSW; Mid North Coast Skateboard Club and Northern Rivers Skateboard Club.

Truckstop once again pulled off an extravaganza of skateboarding madness when Fairgo Skate Fest 2023 sent Ballina Skatepark to the future. Some of Australia’s best comp skaters joined the battle for the cash money and the tricks were as unreal as the sense of true community was real. Being one of the longest running skateboard competitions in the country Fair Go is still true to its core and has that special “skateboarding is one big happy family”-feel to it. It sure was a weekend to remember and luckily Slabzoo was there to cover the event and take part of the fun

Moomba | The Australian Skateboarding League’s Victorian Street Championships took place in Melbourne 11-12 March 2023 at Riverslide Skatepark. The next gen is taking over the street comp scene and the Open’s were dominated by young talent, hungry to throw it down.

Slabzoo is keen to present this Bowlzilla Feature put together by photographer Dain Bosworth & Writer Jules Anethema Swan.

Bowlzilla: The National Park Skateboarding Champions 2023 were crowned in Elanora on the Gold Coast on Saturday 25 March. The Level Up squad showed that spending most of your waking hours in a skatepark pays off as their skaters took gold in Open’s, Women’s and 16u but it definitely wasn’t handed to them. The competition was tough with an impressive show from upcoming talents and experienced skaters. Find full list of results and photos here.

Dani Campbell had a sick trip to Dubai for the World Championships and Olympic Qualifiers. Dani is part of Songline Skateboarding, Australia’s first Indigenous skate team. They spread positivity and love through skateboarding to communities all over while keeping the culture strong. What a legend. While not hyping kids up to skate, or competing he is often out hitting street spots with his technical wizardry— also in Dubai!

SUNNY SKATE SERIES: On what felt like the hottest weekend of the year stop 2 of the Sunny Skate Series went down at Alex Skatepark on the 11-12 February. With an always energetic Patty G on the mic, an experienced judging team, beach hangs, pizzas, bands and beers from Black Flag, it definitely was a vibe - oh, and the street and bowl rippers absolutely sent it all weekend, of course. Find all results from the comps and see heaps of photos here.

Poppy Starr & Taniah Meyers are in Dubai about to compete in the World Championships and Olympic qualifier in park skateboarding in Dubai. These women have been competing and travelling together to international competitions more than once throughout the years and we checked in with them to see what they’re up to in Dubai.

Do you have what it takes to become the next Olympic skateboarder for Australia and compete on home ground in Brisbane in 2032? The Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) has launched YouFor2032, a talent identification initiative aimed at identifying Queensland’s future medallists. Within Youfor2032, the QAS has also launched Daredevils: an action sport-specific option for 9-15-year-old skateboarders from both Park and Street to give it a go.

Road to Paris ‘24: The Street and Park World Championships 2022 will take place at Sharjah, just 30min from Dubai in United Arab Emirates. The Street World Championships will go down from January 29th to February 5th, and represent the second Street qualification event towards Paris 2024. The Park World Championships will be the first park event on the qualification path towards Paris 2024 and will take place from February 5th to 12th . Both events are classified as World Championships.

The utopian skatepark facilities that’s basically the Disney Land for skaters, with everything a skateboard heart can dream of - dreams that can come true if you have a big wallet and travel across the Pacific to the promised land of skateboard opportunity. In reality, an option reserved for the few, but that’s about to change. Woodward is coming Down Under and is set to open in Sydney, Australia in late 2024.

A piece of skate history is in a charity auction with the world’s first skateable box tried and tested by skate legends Eric Koston, Paul Rodriguez and Elissa Steamer. EBay and Nike are reissuing the iconic “eBay Dunk,” a tribute to the “Charity Dunk” sneaker released 20 years ago which merged a skate shoe with the iconic eBay colours.

When Tim Lachlan arrives at Ormeau skatepark for a session it looks a wee bit different to your average skater’s entry. Tim’s legs aren’t of much use so instead of a skateboard he rides a wheelchair - though that’s pretty much where the distinction ends. Once he hits the ramps the passion and dedication is obvious. He’s a skater by heart. A gnarly one too!

Each Era has a unique spirit of a generation or a period of time, this is DGK’s. DGK's new full length 'Zeitgeist' will start premiering at select skateshops around the country this weekend. Check here to find your nearest capital city screening!

SUNNY SKATE SERIES: Congratulations to Mat ‘Chiggy’ Chigwidden and his incredible team on pulling off a banger of a skateboarding event - and to the entire skateboarding community, what a treat it is to have a new, proper comp series on the Sunny Coast. Find all results from the comps and see heaps of photos from the first stop of the Sunny Skate Series here.