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SURFING . The Coolest Sport on Earth?

Can There be a Cooler Sport than Surfing? There is no doubt that the coolest sport on earth, is surfing. It is a passion, a way of life and state of mind. It is for those who want to live a natural uninhibited life that revolves around the sun, sand, sea, surf and your surfboard.

The very first time you ride a wave; you will know why surfing is here to stay and why it is the fastest growing sport worldwide. Taking your longboard or short board out on the ocean provides you with an opportunity to challenge the elements and nature itself, although you know in reality that it can only really be conquered for a moment. This is what keeps you coming back for more. Surfing is cool, exciting, challenging and fun.

Walls of Green and Blue

Tumbling down moving walls of green and blue water and being able to manoeuvre your board left or right and up or down is a sensation similar to skiing or flying. Surfing differs in that you are not the only thing moving because the force (the swell) is also moving. That is until you are dumped in the surf (a wipe-out), which is the moment a particular ride on the waves comes to an end.

Surfing gives you the freedom to track and ride the perfect wave, to have surfing lessons and develop your skills to their peak. Independence to take risks, fail and rise again. The life of a surfer has a significant rhythm and beat to it, which comes from the rhythm of the surf and of the wild, motivating music he listens to.

Hang Five Hot-Dogger

Surfers have their own cool language with words such as, hang five (putting five toes over the nose of your surfboard), curl (the break of a wave), pearls, wipe-out and hot-dogger (red hot surfer), which may all seem like double Dutch to the non surfer. However for the surfer, it's his talk, he understands it and lives it.

The dream of surfing inspires lifestyles, journeys and freedom, but you need more than the right surfing gear in order to exercise this freedom wisely, especially if you are a novice and planning a surfing holiday. The surfer needs to have plenty of training from a surf-pro or good surfing school and needs to be fit. Unless you are fit, you will be unable to meet the challenges or earn the right to this freedom.

Challenge Your Ego

The cool image of surfing is heavily promoted, but it takes more than buying the best equipment, surf gear and surf clothing before you can call yourself a surfer. Waves can be chaotic and currents and wind direction can change without warning. Knowing how a wave will break needs experience and you will find it easier if you keep fit, take proper surfing lessons and have a surf buddy.

Surfing will challenge your ego and character and you are unlikely to have a beach to call your own so that you can surf solo. Consequently you will find that you have to follow surf etiquette when you share the ocean and this takes a degree of will power. However, as you ride the perfect wave under a clear blue sky, you will know why the coolest sport on earth is surfing!

Get Sponsored Skateboarding - Steps to getting sponsored as a skater

The Objective:

The goal is simple, to secure Sponsorship with a company of your selection. Think long and hard as to whom you have in mind as far as who you would like to skate for. Not only does it matter a great deal but following the instructions you’re about to read will be way easier if you have an idea of what companies you want to approach.

The Benefits:

The benefits differ from one company to another. However, you can usually expect to get gear either for free or for near at cost (more on ProForms later). Having a sponsorship can also make it much easier to get to events you want to be at. There can also be a great starting point for getting your own events together. You'll find out the full extent of what the company is willing to do for you down the line, but for now, let’s just focus on the first part.

The Targets:

Think about it, is there a company that just gets you all stoked, a company whose ethos just seems familiar to you? Maybe your favorite board comes from that company and maybe you rip it 24/7. That sure makes the decision easier. However, you can pull sponsorship from more than just board companies. Local shops sometimes make awesome candidates -- why get one type of board when you can get any board? Being sponsored by a local shop means you always have a shop to work on your decks at, a steady supply of groms to stoke out and a location to really get riders together at. That's not all though: your options include companies that produce drinks, headphones, shoes, safety equipment, and skate hardware. If you’ve got a favorite local restaurant, get sponsored by them! Keep it local, think global! There’s no harm in trying. If you are feeling it set your sights.

Contacts:

Eventually, you will need to contact someone at the company you have chosen to get sponsored by. How are you going to do this? These days with the internet, doing research and finding contact information is easier than ever. Check their website. Never be hesitant to pick up the phone and call a company regarding who you should talk to in regards of sponsorship. If your local shop carries the company you are planning on approaching, find out who they work with and see if they can get you some contact information or a business card. Attend events the company sponsors and pick up contact information or business cards from the reps there. Always keep a list of everyone you have contacted and their position! Keep the business cards all together and make notes on them if the rep gives you any advice. Ask around! You never know when someone you meet might be able to get you a contact that will one day get you sponsored.

How to put together a Sponsorship Package:

This step isn’t necessary but it can help, and it never hurts to have it all together in one place. Gone is the day of VHS demo tapes. A rider's influence can be quantified by so many more values than one tape can impress. With online content, web portals and social networking sites, there are such varied points a rider can influence others from that it’s mind blowing. The goal here is to bring it all together. In your sponsorship package you should have images of you skating, links to video of you skating, links to all of your social networking sites, links to community sites and information about your level of involvement. List all the events you have attended or planned and links to coverage articles or online news sources about the event. If you have ever been featured in any media source, in any way, shape and/ or form, include it! A burned CD of you skating is a good thing to have. In most cases you can just as easily find a place to load it. Also, a small business card graphic you can use to tag your e-mails that has all of your contact info or that you can print out and keep with you helps if you run into any skaters you want to rip with just pass'm on. Also in this list you should have a short Bio.

Writing your bio:

Writing a Bio can be disconcerting for some people. It’s very difficult to really describe yourself. For a start, take a look at the Next Wave section at the back of this mag. The bios there can give you an idea of how to formulate your own bio. Ask your friends and family how they would describe you. Besides the basic interests, add where you like to skate, what style skating you really enjoy and, obviously, any outstanding results in competitions. List every event you have attended. Try to give the reader of your bio a small glimpse into your life.

Finding Help:

Getting everything together to produce a good sponsorship package can be hard. What if you don’t have any good video or pictures of yourself skating? Do what you can with your group of friends; see if anyone has a good camera you can use and go shooting. Make some of your sessions about finding the most killer shot of doing what you love. If you’ve got no cam and no friends, then you can recruit. Local camera and video shops often know of people that might be interested in shooting you skating for a few bucks, or maybe free, if you promise to give them photo credits. Local colleges and vocational schools also have a plethora of eager, future professional photographers and videographers that are willing to expand their portfolio with something as dynamic as some solid skate shots. Posting up flyers looking for a photog' or videog' around the school is usually all you need to wrangle someone willing to shoot ya!

Always remember when working with anyone shooting photos or videos, you are their subject for the time they are shooting you and, unless they are paid, you are on their time. So show respect, always be on time and set up the shots and locations they would like to shoot. By all means, give them suggestions if they’re new to shooting action sports. Otherwise, if they want you to drop into that ditch and rock a finger flip on the far wall for the 42nd time, just shut it and do what they ask. Maybe that is gonna be the shot of the session!

Skate History

Skateboarding was first started in the 1950s, when all across California surfers got the idea of trying to surf the streets. No one really knows who made the first board -- instead, it seems that several people came up with similar ideas at the same time. Several people have claimed to have invented the skateboard first, but nothing can be proved, and skateboarding remains a strange spontaneous creation.
These first skateboarders started with wooden boxes or boards with roller skate wheels slapped on the bottom. Like you might imagine, a lot of people got hurt in skateboarding's early years! It was a sport just being born and discovered, so anything went. The boxes turned into planks, and eventually companies were producing decks of pressed layers of wood -- similar to the skateboard decks of today. During this time, skateboarding was seen as something to do for fun after surfing.
In 1963, skateboarding was at a peak of popularity, and companies like Jack's, Hobie and Makaha started holding skateboarding competitions. At this time, skateboarding was mostly either downhill slalom or freestyle. Torger Johnson, Woody Woodward and Danny Berer were some well known skateboarders at this time, but what they did looked almost completely different from what skateboarding looks like today! Their style of skateboarding, called "freestyle", is more like dancing ballet or ice skating with a skateboard.
Then, in 1965, skateboarding's popularity suddenly crashed. Most people assumed that skateboarding was a fad that had died out, like the hoola hoop. Skateboard companies folded, and people who wanted to skate had to make their own skateboards again from scratch.
But people still skated, even though parts were hard to find and boards were home made. Skaters were using clay wheels for their boards, which was extremely dangerous and hard to control. But then in 1972, Frank Nasworthy invented urethane skateboard wheels, which are similar to what most skaters use today. His company was called Cadillac Wheels, and the invention sparked new interest in skateboarding among surfers and other young people.
In the spring of 1975, skateboarding took an evolutionary boost toward the sport that we see today. In Del Mar, California a slalom and freestyle contest was held at the Ocean Festival. That day, the Zephyr team showed the world what skateboarding could be. They rode their boards like no one had in the public eye, low and smooth, and skateboarding was taken from being a hobby to something serious and exciting. The Zephyr team had many members, but the most famous are Tony Alva, Jay Adams and Stacy Peralta.
But that was only the first big jump in the evolution of skateboarding - continue to the next page for the rest of the history...