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Local skateboarders compete for cash prize

October 30, 2011
Grand Rapids resident Sean McMahon grinds a curb Saturday underneath Shiawassee Street in Lansing. McMahon participated in a skateboarding competition sponsored by clothing company SVRNTY Garments. Matt Radick/The State News
Grand Rapids resident Sean McMahon grinds a curb Saturday underneath Shiawassee Street in Lansing. McMahon participated in a skateboarding competition sponsored by clothing company SVRNTY Garments. Matt Radick/The State News —
Photo by Matt Radick | and Matt Radick The State News

Not even the wet weather could stop local skateboarders from competing in Game of SKATE under the Shiawassee Street bridge in Lansing’s Adado Riverfront Park on Saturday afternoon.

Skateboarders from throughout the state gathered together to show off their tricks and try to win prizes provided by skate companies Stolen sk8 Co., Premier and SVRNTY Garments.

“The purpose of the event is to kind of sound off and say, ‘Goodbye,’ to our skate season,” said Chayne Armstrong, a Lansing Community College student and founder of SVRNTY Garments. “We usually only get about five or sixth months of skating, so this is our last get-together.”

The competition’s game of SKATE was similar to the classic basketball game of HORSE — one skateboarder did a trick on the park’s asphalt path, and after completing the move, another skateboarder had to try to complete the same trick. If the second skateboarder failed to execute the trick, then he received a letter, beginning with an “S.”

Participants continued to acquire letters after failed attempts until the word “SKATE” completely was spelled out, meaning the competition was over for that skateboarder.

“(The game) is basically showcasing your skills against all of your peers,” Armstrong said. “We are all friends here, and we all ride for a majority of the same (skateboarding) team.”

To enter the competition, which took place for its fourth year, each skater had to pay $4. The winner of the competition received the sum of money collected from the entry fees of the about 30 skateboarders who participated, while the skater in second place received a consolation prize.

Although the competition involved a cash prize, Armstrong said the skateboarders were there for more than just the money.

“The money part of it is just to sugarcoat everything,” he said. “We all just want to see how well we can do.”

This was the first year studio art and advertising senior Justin Crawford entered into Game of SKATE, and for him, the competition was more about the camaraderie than the money.

“(The competition) is more or less to just get together with skateboarders in general because in Michigan, (the skate community) is pretty branched out across the state,” he said. “It brings a lot of people together who never really get to see one another.”

Armstrong, who was one of the competition’s promoters, also hoped to gather interest in his skateboarding clothing line, SVRNTY Garments, which he started about a year ago, while at the Game of SKATE event.

He hopes to use events such as Game of SKATE as well as his clothing line and a skateboarding shop he one day hopes to open, to bring together local skaters.

“I am thinking about opening a shop for the clothing line, and basically, I want to get (a store) down here in Lansing or the Detroit area and get one in Los Angeles where I am from,” he said. “(I want to) just bring (my passion) to the community and try to help out as many kids as I know.”

Jack Enright, a student at Lake Orion High School who was at Game of SKATE to support Armstrong and SVRNTY Garments, said he was excited to see skateboarders with a true passion for the sport and with real potential at Saturday’s event.

“I think it is really good that you get a chance to see this because it is not just like skateboard park kids,” he said.

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