The Etnies Team Do The Works

As Part of their European "Recognition Tour" the Etnies team are in the country this week making only two official demo stops. This past Sunday's event at The Works in Leeds and still to come, Saturday the 30th of May's visit to Bay 66 in London. So although there will inevitably be many random street and park sightings to come over the next few days, this was one of only two chances to guarantee seeing a "star" in the flesh.

"Is he here yet?" - This question was on the lips of every kid in the Works on Sunday. Ryan Shecker is who they were on about, perhaps the biggest name in skateboarding right now and he, along with Sean Malto and the rest of the Etnies team, were due to arrive any second and these kids were getting anxious to see their idols! The excitement levels were running high...

The team were scheduled to arrive at around 1pm, but by the time I found myself enjoying the sun in The Works car park a good hour and a half before the guys were due, kids were everywhere - eager in anticipation for two of the hottest names in skateboarding right now. As 1 o'clock came and went, you could see just about everyone in attendance straining to see through the dusty window of the park, hoping to catch a glimpse of the team bus as it strolled up - dearly hoping it would turn up! They needn't have worried...






About 15 minutes after they were due to start, virtually every kid in the building sped into the new mini ramp room as whispers (I say whispers, more like shouts of "HE'S HERE!!!") quickly spread that Sheckler had appeared and was warming up. Eager to catch as much skating on film as I could, I quickly ran through - through to find Sheckler being mobbed.
It was like Justin Timberlake had just walked into an all girls’ school - Sheer bedlam! After signing shedloads of autographs, posing for "bro-down" photos and generally being an all round good egg with the kids, Sheckler finally got a chance to skate. On to the main room it was!

As we made our way through, kids everywhere were in a daze. As Sean Malto, Jose Rojo,
Tyler Bledsoe, Devine Calloway and the rest were subjected to the same enthusiastic welcome as Mr Sheckler - namely autograph based pandemonium! It was quite amazing that anyone managed to get a skate, but skate they did.

Now, let me tell you - Sunday was hot and I don't mean "ooh, it's kinda warm". No, I mean bloody hot - It was like a sauna in there! It was fairly obvious that this demo was gonna be a short one,
I just didn't realise how much stuff would be landed in such a short amount of time. The thing is, The Works has seen most of the best skaters in the world grace it's wooden floor and, with the amount of ridiculously talented locals, it's nigh on impossible to find something that hasn't already been done by someone else, switch.
So nothing "new" was likely to go down but if you watch the vid of the day and I was to tell you that all of that came from a 45 minute period before Jose Rojo tweaked his ankle (which brought an end to the proceedings) - you'd realise just how good these guys were! From Sheckler's first try Bs 360 ollie over the big hip to flat to Malto's first try gap nosegrind on the big driveway - the etnies team shut it down. The beasts!

After the brief demo the guys took it upstairs for signing sesh and the chance for every kid to get themselves a photo. I thought about venturing up to get some of this on film but when I noticed the queue was over 200 people long I realised it wasn't gonna happen! So I made my way outside, back into the beautiful sunshine to go have a skate of my own - sadly I knew there’d be no chance I'd be landing so much stuff in my next 45 minutes!

If you missed out this past Sunday, get yourself along to Bay 66 on the 30th - you certainly won't be disappointed!

Oh yeah, contrary to popular belief (and I was one of those believers) - Sheckler is sound. Amazing at skating, brilliant with every single kid and seemingly a genuinely nice guy that has time for everyone.
Well, you live and learn!

Alex Winstanley.