Skateboarding
Skateboarding
Greetings From: South Florida
Taste the tropical flavor of South Florida with insights from Deerfield Beach’s Jamie Foy, Miami’s Joel Meinholz and Tampa’s Brian Schaefer.
The Sunshine State sits at the top of skateboarding’s contribution scale. Aside from the actual act of riding the board (invented in California), Florida gave us the ollie (Alan “Ollie” Gelfand in 1976, Hollywood, Florida), the flatground ollie, kickflip, and pretty much every flatground trick we do today (Rodney Mullen, 1981-1990, Gainesville), the longest running grassroots am and pro contest (Tampa Pro and Am!) and of course The Boss, Andrew Reynolds, is a Florida boy (Lakeland).
Jamie Foy
© Sam Muller
With skateable weather year-round and skate spots in every city, pretty much everyone makes a trip down south to Florida to sample its unique way of life. For this occasion, let’s drill down on the southern half of the state. South Florida has its own vibes and more. Deerfield Beach hometown hero Jamie Foy breaks it down: “We’ve got the tri-county area—Palm Beach county, Broward county, and Miami-Dade county. Anyone can hop on the Tri-Rail from north to south, that’s part of the reason we have a sick community. From Palm Beach down to Miami there’s a plethora of skate spots, neighborhoods and cities to explore.”
Who are the young guns coming up? Get familiar with The Duplex crew. The “Miami Leap of Faith” was conquered by Jace Detomasso and was myth-busted to be bigger than the San Diego drop made famous by Jamie Thomas, who never rode away from it. “Their based out of West Palm, and West Palm has always had a strong scene that’s had great people coming out of there,” says longtime Miami skate guide Joel Meinholz. “Brad Cromer, everyone you know coming out of West Palm. The Duplex kids are just the next generation making their own shit and just doing it.”
Jamie Foy
© Sam Muller
Another big landmark in Miami, is Nick Katz’s Andrew skateshop. Operating since 2017 and named after the infamous Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Nick’s shop has become an epicenter for Miami’s downtown culture. “It’s one of the things that’s rebuilding Miami’s skate scene,” says Meinholz. “When MIA Skateshop closed down, there was a lull in the city. People who were coming in and out of the city didn’t have a shop to go to or identify with.”
A worldwide skatepark success story is Miami’s massive Lot 11 skatepark. Made possible by Nick Katz, Richie Effs, and Danny Fuenzalida, what started out as a DIY is now a destination skatepark for anyone passing through South Florida. It’s the perfect locale for contests, skate jams, and demos, and is raising the next generation of Florida rippers. It’s a loveletter to the Magic City with recreations of popular Miami spots: the Challenger triangle, the synagogue rail, and more. As well-built skateparks in major cities do, it helped the Miami scene grow and thrive. The Effs kids, Jax and Zion, are already flourishing under the sponsorship of Violet and Baker, respectively. “Lot 11, again, same as Andrew, it’s created a safe space for people to congregate and be skaters without getting kicked out,” mentions Meinholz.
Jamie Foy
© Sam Muller
Putting Brian Schaefer on the SPoT
The beating heart of Florida skateboarding just might be the Skatepark of Tampa, going strong since 1993. What Brian Schaefer has done, and continues to do, is an example and testament to a skateboarder’s dedication to make it happen in their hometown. This place has hosted the world-famous Tampa Am and Tampa Pro contests for over 30 years. Schaefer gives us a little insight on the then and now, “In 1993, our scene was just getting started with a few skaters in these little towns. From ‘93 to 2000 it was rad to see Bo Turner, Scott Conklin, then later Ed Selego, the Miami scene was blowing up with Joel Meinholz—there were so many eras over the years. There wasn’t even the internet 10 years into the Skatepark of Tampa.”
Just ask Felipe Gustavo, who’s dad sold the family car in Brazil in 2007, to fly the two of them up to Tampa to enter Tampa Am. Schaefer recalls the famous Cinderella story: “In 2007, we’d been doing Tampa Am for 13 years so we had a limit of who could enter the contest. Felipe showed up with a paper translator from Portuguese to English, his dad sold the car, but didn’t know he had to pre-register. They were the kindest people so we said, ‘There’s no way you can skate in the contest, but you can skate practice.’ But then we were like, ‘Holy shit! This Brazilian kid is ripping, we have to let him in.’ We didn’t think he’d win, but we wanted to let this nice kid in who’s dad sold the family car. The story of the Skatepark of Tampa, how legends are made, how today’s amateurs are tomorrow’s pros—Felipes story, it’s really the American dream.”
We also wanted to hear from Schaefer how SPoT has survived three decades of a rollercoaster skate industry: “SPoT has so many buckets, it’s got the day to day, the retail, all of these contests, summer camps, Am and Pro, the webcast to push it. It’s a destination now to come see and be a part of it. It’s helped raise and helped the careers of people like Zion Wright and Tyson Peterson, so many pros of today or a pro of 30 years has been helped by coming through the Skatepark of Tampa.”
Jamie Foy
© Sam Muller
Foy backs it up, “SPoT really helps out with the kids because they do 4 or 5 all-ages contests per year and that’s where I grew up, going to the Back to School Jam, Spring Roll, etc. All these dope contests where I met some of my best friends that I still skate with today like Tyson Peterson and Ish Cepeda.
So what’s really in the water in Florida? Of course, we defer to Meinholz: “Fun, just going after it. Get your chance, you gotta grab it.”
