Justin Henry #2.

"It's pretty cool. It seems like it's real separated right now in this weird way. It just seems like there's so many different niches. There's the whole underground movement where it's like, Yeah, we're the underground dudes and nobody knows what's up with this, and then you got the more big-time mainstream dudes that have managers and some bigger, questionable sponsors. But you have the middle ground where - it's hard to explain. I remember I was talking to this one dude and he's like, "Yo, whose board is this?" I was like, "It's my board," and he's like, "What company is this?" and I was, like, "What are you talking about? It's Quasi. I ride for Quasi," and he was, like, "Who's Jake Johnson?" I was just, like, whoa. That's when I knew skating is in a weird spot right now. Because to me, Jake is like - when I saw his Mindfield part it was like right there Jake was one of my biggest influences and this person out in California doesn't even know who he is. You could go and say like Jake is one of the greatest ever to do it, you know? But it's just separated. I guess that's just how it is."

Justin is from Columbus, Ohio. He rides for Quasi, Vans, and Brixton. I dug his recent interview in Thrasher.

Quasi was one of those companies that I kept up with last year. They released a full video online called Mother, which I think I've seen most of. This ollie is in Justin's section. Gilbert Crockett had a great part that I've actually watched multiple times, instead of the standard one and done for internet clips. I enjoy their graphics, particularly the ones that have a large section of solid color mixed with the plain woodgrain of the deck. That seems to be a slightly different approach to board art. I appreciate how they are cultivating that sense of mystery and wonder in a way that the Alien Workshop did in their early days.

For the quote: Thrasher - February 2019 Volume 40 Number 2

Thrasher - August 2018 Volume 39 Number 8

Nora Vasconcellos #3.

Women of the world take over
'Cause if you don't
The world will come to an end
And it won't take long

Thrasher - April 2018 Volume 39 Number 4

Mark "Monk" Hubbard.

Grindline.

Mark passed away last June. He left his imprint on the planet by building numerous skateboard parks all over the United States and the world. The man had a vision of creating massive flowing seas of concrete for people to skateboard on and he certainly accomplished that goal. His parks in the Pacific Northwest helped spawn the all terrain wonder kids that have come to shape where skating is these days.

Grindline built a small little park in Erie, Pennsylvania in 2009. It's not as fancy as some of their other creations, but it is a nice little slab of concrete. The surface is so smooth. It sucks I never got there to roll last year. I sort of didn't hit up a variety of terrain in 2018. That was the one lame thing about the last twelve months.

Congrats to Beer City on tapping the quarter keg last year. Cheers to many more.

The photo is by Marshall Stack.

Thrasher - July 2018 Volume 39 Number 7

Ronnie Sandoval #2.

Flying around Channel Street.

Thrasher - October 2018 Volume 39 Number 10

Corey Glick.

Hazy summer vibes.

Corey is from Gurnee, Illinois. He lucked out by having a skatepark right by his school when he was growing up. Corey was sponsored by Mystery and lived at the infamous Black Box warehouse before switching to Foundation in 2015. Tod Swank turned him pro this past summer. He also rides for Vans, Independent Trucks, Bones Wheels, and Bronson Bearings.

Foundation put out a video called Souvenir in 2018. It's the lo-fi punk skuzziness one would expect from the F-Troop. They've got a ripping young team. The video also features a full Corey Duffel section. He's still going big for being old and having a destroyed body. Dakota Servold takes on some large handrails and wins, particularly with a frontside 50-50 to gap hop to backside tailslide to fakie on a two part rail. Corey closes it out with a part that features a variety of rails, gaps, and tech. His last two tricks are a massive gap ollie and a 270 wallie to backside noseblunt on a little ledge/bank type of thing. Adventure today.

The sequence is by Ben Karpinski.

Thrasher - December 2018 Volume 39 Number 12

Paul Grund.

The Polar Vortex.

For 2018, I stuck by Polar for boards. I've ridden the same 8.125" x 32" shape with a 7" nose, 6.75" tail, and 14.25" wheelbase for the last four years now. The decks feel right, although honestly I'm crappy enough that it probably doesn't matter all that much what I ride. At any rate, I still dig what Polar is doing. I'm also at this point where I don't want to ride anything I'm not stoked on because having to settle for stuff back when you were younger sucked. I did slim down from 56 mm to 55 mm Spitfire Classics. I do think the yellow and black graphics on the wheels are a little more colorful than the blue and black of the 56s so I'll probably stick with the smaller size. The 55s will maybe wear out a little quicker, but new wheels are always a nice treat.

Paul is from Bordeaux, France. Pontus Alv upped him to the professional ranks this last year. He has been on the team since 2012. Paul also rides for Converse. I don't know much about him beyond that.

My favorite video of 2018 was Kuba Kaczmarczyk and Pawel Piotr Przybyl’s Neverwhere. The duo are documenting the finest of Polish skateboarding with the proper mix of raw shredding and tasteful artiness. It's reminiscent of a Polar video or Nikola Racan's Solsticij. And at 37 minutes, it's completely watchable in one sitting. Michal Juraś surfaced with the last part after dealing with injuries for the last few years. I'm a big fan of his skating so it was great to see new stuff from him.

Paul's photo is by Alex Pires.

The Polar ad is from 2012. The photo is by Nils Svensson and the art is by Stefan Narancic.

Thrasher - July 2018 Volume 39 Number 7

Alexis Sablone #2.

New Convert.

This ad is kind of a moot point since Alexis is the newest member of the Converse team. Anyway, Cons just released a welcome to the team video that featured her doing some awesome nollie kickflips and a big jersey barrier ollie. Alexis rips.

I'm not sure what I think of New Balance. I like that they make shoes with cupsoles. However, I'm not fully into how the shoes look. I don't think they look bad, but I feel if I bought a pair, I'd have buyer's remorse, decide they were ugly, and donate them to the thrift store.

Thrasher - December 2018 Volume 39 Number 12

Christian Maalouf #2.

Huf levels of pop.

I was definitely into Christian's skateboard stunt riding for 2018. He was granted pro status by WKND and delivered a solid part of ollies and kickflips with a fakie kickflip over a picnic table as the ender.

Thrasher - December 2018 Volume 39 Number 12

Tyshawn Jones.

Reigning Supreme.

Tyshawn is from the Bronx. He was one of the kids in Supreme's 2014 video Cherry and is all grown up now. He rides for Fucking Awesome, Adidas, Thunder, Spitfire, and Hardies Hardware. Thrasher blessed him with Skater of the Year honors for 2018. Tyshawn also owns a Caribbean-American restaurant called Taste So Good. He scored a classic cover with a huge NYC street gap ollie and wowed the internet with a nollie flip over a standing trash can off flat.

Rather than come up with some sort of list about what I liked from 2018 in skateboarding, I randomly picked out two weeks worth of skaters from the last twelve months to post. There's almost too much going on to keep track of these days and I know I'd forget something I was really stoked on.

I managed to go skateboarding on 274 days last year. A couple of those were probably kind of cheap, so let's just call it 270 to be on the safe side. The winter was mild up until this weekend when a foot of snow showed up. I've gotten to the park a bunch or at least squeezed in a few ollies in the street for the first half of January so that has been cool. I think it is going to be cold and snowy for a while now.

Thrasher - June 2016 Volume 37 Number 6