Watch a video of the skateboard event at Mobash Skatepark“You want to go?” Childress asked.
Roemer just looked at him.
“Yeaaaah!” Childress yelled as the 13-year-old from Idaho swooped around the course.
The Independent Trucks 30th Anniversary Tour pulled into McCormick Park on Wednesday, featuring some of the top professional skaters in the country. The tour, which started in Phoenix in May, is sponsored by Independent Trucks and Red Bull and locally by the Edge of the World skate shop.
Their tour will end in San Francisco on July 4. San Francisco is the home of Independent Trucks, which makes trucks, or the turning axles of a skateboard.
About 14 professional skaters rode in the vans from their last tour stop, Denver, making pit stops at skateparks in Dillon and Butte before pulling into town late Tuesday night.
A few of the professional skaters who made appearances Wednesday included Darren Navarrette, Jeff Grosso, Childress, Peter Hewitt, Emmanuel Guzman, Sam Hitz, Tosh Townend, Randy Colvin, Omar Hassan and Brian Anderson.
Roemer and his friend Gene Fairbrother road-tripped it from Idaho with Fairbrother's dad, along with two other friends, just to see the pros skate.
Unlike Roemer, who wasn't hesitant to skate with the pros because “they're just people,” Fairbrother took his time getting to the curb.
“I'm kind of scared to go, but excited,” he said.
Another fearless skater, 10-year-old Holden Largay, said he dreams of being like skating legend Tony Hawk one day.
“It's pretty cool to see the pros here,” said Largay, who has been skating for eight years. “A lot of times the pros don't come here so it's cool to see them skate.”
Eleven-year-old Cody Caudill was the only one out of his group of friends to skate with Childress.
“I was just trying to stay out of his way,” Caudill said. “He's really good. I watched him for like 10 minutes before I skated.”
Jake Spencer, 18, was thrilled to skate with stars like Childress and Hassan.
“It was awesome actually,” he said. “They get you motivated. You can just skate freely. Seeing the pros skate by, it's weird.”
Trever Joubert, 12, showed up at the park to get autographs and skate.
“They actually talk to you and stuff,” Joubert said. “It's pretty cool.”
The tour vans don't always show up on time, but they do show up, said Grosso, one of the professional skaters.
The pros like to meet the kids and skate alongside them, he said.
“We're just grown-ass men who skateboard,” Childress said. “We just walk in and just ride around, you know? We're just like everybody else.”
Townend, a pro from California, was happy to skate with the kids.
“It's not about the demo; (it's) just jamming with whoever wants to skate,” he said.
Mobash Skatepark was designed by Grindline, a skatepark construction company, and opened Sept. 24, 2006, with a special appearance by Hawk.
Independent Trucks included Missoula on their tour because of the park design and quality.
“You have one of the best skateparks in the world,” Grosso said. “I've been dreaming of skating at this park since it was built.”
With at least 150 people in the skatepark and on the hill nearby, the park was crowded.
Childress said Mobash is a great place for the kids to meet friends and exercise, plus it “makes them tough.”
“It's great for kids to have a place to come do their thing, you know what I'm saying?” he said.
Kim Petersen, a one-time competitive skater in California and now a kindergarten teacher in Missoula, felt right at home among the touring professionals. She used to skate with most of them when she was in California.
“It's kind of like a family reunion for me,” Petersen said.
Amy Faxon is a newsroom intern for the Missoulian. She is a journalism student at the University of Montana.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)