Skate – Page 11 – The Choncordia Skateboard Co.

JAN 23: Anniversary Board

By Hali Estrada.

It’s been more than 20 years since Choncordia started as a group of kids having fun with our Skateboards, unbeknownst to us Skateboarding was going to be in our lives forever and needless to say we fell in love with our “useless wooden toys”. My very first board was a fiber glass board with no graphics at all but that changed the day my brother and I sold our bikes (without our parents’ permission) to buy our first complete Skateboard. I remember that it had a drawing of a Skeleton doing a handplant on a gravestone, the board wasn’t a Powell or a Santa Cruz and the quality was horrible but it was our introduction to Skateboard graphics and I became obsessed with the colors and the images that went from just simple logos to highly detailed illustrations of monsters, cartoon characters and skulls.

From V. Courtlandt Johnson, Jim Phillips and Francesco Albertini to Natas, Andy Howell, Marc Mckee, Andy Jenkins, Sean Cliver, Evan Hecox and many others, they defined what Skateboard graphics were and ultimately what they are now; the late 80’s and the 90’s were the most inspirational time of my life.

My school books and my bedroom walls were soon filled with drawings and I started doing the first sketches for Choncordia. It was the beginning and I’ve done a lot of drawings since then but to this day I don’t consider myself an Artist like the masters I mentioned before and when people ask me about the meaning of my drawings I really don’t know what to say. I just do stuff that comes to my mind; sometimes they mean something but most of the time with no “deep” meaning at all. Trying to explain myself or looking for an explanation after the drawing is done takes the fun out of it. I did the Bottle graphic for the Anniversary board in 2008; we couldn’t release the boards at that time but now it’s finally available at the store in 3 color combos and we are going to release 4 more series this year starting this Friday so come back for the update. The Anniversary board is 100% Made in USA and is going to be very limited in production ( only 30 on each color ) so click on the pic to go to the store. :)

Somebody is probably going to ask me about the graphic and why I did it for the Anniversary board. You are welcome to look for the deeper secret meaning of the open bottle or the colors, but the truth is there isn’t one; I just think it looks cool :). CFL.

AUG 30: Street League, Arizona.

By Gunther Estrada.

After 8 hours of driving we finally arrive to Arizona for the first ever Street League competition, an event that was designed to eliminate any other Skateboarding contests made by non Skateboarders.

Set in a massive stadium with a huge screen set on top of the course just like a basketball game made us think we were inside of a time machine that send us back to the 80’s when Skateboarders were more like rocks stars, I had images from my first Skate videos flashing inside my skull like “Savannah Slamma”.
When the competition finally started the “real-time Scoring” format designed to make every trick count rapidly separated the consistent Skateboarders from the others, the massive concentration of some of the Skateboarders was Clearly visible and when the time for the finals started the last guys standing were without a doubt the 7 best Skateboarders out there. An incredible determination from Nyjah Huston and Tory Pudwill along with the precise style of Shane O’Neill quickly put them onto the verge of the winning line finally crowning Nyjah Huston as the winner of the first Street League 2010 Arizona style. We had a lot of fun and here are some pictures and a little video of the contest, the second stop will be Ontario CA., so see you guys there !!

Results:
1- Nyjah Huston – 116 points
2- Shane O’Neill – 114.9 points
3- Torey Pudwill – 112.8 points
4- Sean Malto – 111.0 points
5- Chris Cole – 109.6 points
6- Chaz Ortiz – 102.2 points
7- Paul Rodriguez – 100.1 points

Super Suede.

Click on the picture for a bigger image of the whole course.

Torey checking the ledge before the contest.

Torey's insane 360 Ollies were perfect.

Finally, Nyjah well deserved 1st Place and its just starting !!.

AUG 15: Crossroads and ASR.

By Gunther Estrada.

It was Friday afternoon and a drive that usually takes me 1 1/2 hours to San Diego took me 3 HOURS! and I was rolling down with American psycho’s girlfriend! Jesssssus! but that’s a different story (Thanks Eddie). Anyways I finally got in one piece to the southern edge of gringolandia to check out the 2010 Crossroads and ASR events.

Gunther and Legañita found a nice Peruvian flag inside ASR. Hell yeah !!!

Gunther and Daniel found a nice Peruvian flag inside ASR. Hell yeah !!!

ASR had to reduce its facility even more than last years event! what? who cares? oh yeah who cares, now we have Crossroads around the corner where all of the Skate brands have a legit portal to the retail side of the industry (Skateboarding only) that way they can feel like they are doing business with somebody that actually cares ya know?. The business as usual was followed by a best trick contest on 3 different stages and a whole bunch of tricks were done on all of the 3 sections. We had a great time with our friend Daniel Falla “Legañita” that honored us with a visit once again and this time “Finally” introduced me to a chick!… Amy Gunther, yep we already share something :) (She actually has a boyfriend so back off piranhas!). The beautiful lady owner of KCDC Skateshop in NYC came to the other side of the continent to hang out with dirty, drunk, hairy immature dudes on skateboards and also to do some business deals.

go check out Her website….or die!
Overall really good times, free beer, cheap Hotel Honda room, and… thats it.

Amy Gunther and Gunther Estrada.

The amazing Sean Sheffey, Switch Crooked Grind.

Jeff Garza and Daniel Falla.

5BORO's Willy Akers, nose blunt slide.

Skateboarding Legends Kareem Campbell and Sean Sheffey.

AUG 09: Maloof Money Cup.

By Hali Estrada

It was a Sunny California day when we showed up at Gate 5 of the OC Fair to witness the Maloof Money Cup for the third consecutive year. This year the Street course had way more transition but the nice Street obstacles made up for it. After getting some drinks we went to watch the practice and take some pictures.

Torey Pudwill, Adelmo Jr., Ishod Wair and Matt Miller were killing it at practice; Adelmo broke his elbow later that day but not before landing perfect Nollie Heelflips on the bump over the gap. Torey was doing perfect backside 360 full body Kickflips and later that day Corey Kennedy was landing every trick he tried. We got the chance to meet Fabian Alomar on the second day. He is back in the game after many years, and if you don’t know who is Fabian you better check out “20 Shot Sequence”, one of the best videos of the 90’s.

Alvaro Santillana, Fabian Alomar and Hali Estrada.

The Girls were better than last year and it was very refreshing to watch Alexis Sablone, Marisa del Santo, Lacey baker and specially the winner Leticia Bufoni landing a perfect Backside Smith on the big rail. The Amateurs were incredible as always; Theotis Beasley was landing every trick with a perfect style, Kechaud Johnson and Tom Asta didn’t disappoint and little Loui Lopez was landing perfect Switch Frontside Bigspin Heelflips on the bump.

Tom Asta, Nose Blunt.

Steve Caballero and Christian Hosoi were there for the Masters demo along with Sal barbier who landed a perfect Backside Nose Blunt on the Volcano area of the course. We also had the chance to meet young Skateboarder Youness Amrani from Belgium, a super talented down to earth kid who was at the Maloof contest for the frist time; we are sure you’ll be hearing more about him in the near future.( Good luck in New York man !!!) .

The Finals were unbelievable, Chris Cole and Nyjha Houston had an amazing performance. Bastien Salabanzi was super solid and Torey landed a Backside Smith to backside Kickflip out on the curved ledge….That was fucking insane. At the end the $100,000 went to Chris Cole once again and it was very sad to watch Nyjha crying; I imagine it was a tough decision for the judges, but politics always seem to get in the way.

Chris Cole , Back 180 Nose Grind.

Overall the event was amazing; the best Skateboarders in the world and surprise performances by Nelly, Ludacris and Lil John made the past weekend one to remember. We like to thank Brendi, Maya, Devin, Thea and Jennifer for all their help. You girls are the best :) also Tanya of security and Kish at the fair entrance for the laughs. It was a fun weekend around friends and great Skateboarding. We can’t wait for the next event ;).

RESULTS:

1. Chris Cole 286.33 points $100,000
2. Nyjah Huston 281.67 points $40,000
3. Sean Malto 281.33 points $25,000
4. Torey Pudwill 274.67 points $15,000
5. Tommy Sandoval 260.67 points $6,000
6. Bastien Salabanzi 258.67 points $5,000
7. Ryan Decenzo 255.33 points $4,000
8. Justin Brock 250.33 points $3,000
9. David Gonzalez 246.67 points $2,500
10. Billy Marks 239.67 points $2,000

Here are some more pics and a small video of the contest; Enjoy :). CFL.

Torey, Backside 5.0 to back Tail.

Hali working hard :/....

Ludacris performance; can you be closer???

Taylor Bonin, Brittany Donahue and Sophie Molinari right before Nellys performance.

Alvaro wishing Nelly wasn't there, he was waiting for "BRUJERIA"

Ishod Wair, Backside Nose Blunt.

Gunther was working hard too while Steve Caballero and Corey Kennedy were watching the finals.

Adam Dyet, 540 Melon Grab.

Torey Pudwill and Gunther Estrada after the finals.

Johnny Layton, Switch 360 Kickflip.

David with his Best Trick $10.000 check after landing a 50-50 Kickflip out on the rainbow rail.

And last a very nice pic of the big wheel on the OC Fair....good times.

JUN 15: 12th Annual TWS Awards.

By Gunther Estrada.

The Transworld Skateboarding magazine had its yearly gathering to pay tribute to the most relevant skaters in the year 2009. The Transworld Awards took place at the Avalon club in Hollywood California, Along with the Premiere of their new video “Hallelujah“, the Choncordia Family was there to bring you some photos and the results by category of this renowned event:

LEGEND AWARD Matt Hensley, BEST ROOKIE Brandon Westgate, BEST VIDEO PART, Grant Taylor – Debacle, BEST TEAM Flip, BEST STREET Chris Cole, BEST TRANSITION Grant Taylor, BEST VIDEO Extremely Sorry, TWS READERS’ CHOICE Lizard King.

In general the event was ok but we have seen better organization in the past, the communication with their special guests and also the winners at the time of picking up their prices wasn’t the best and they were nowhere to be found for long periods of time. However, I have to say everything changed for the better when they announced the award for Skateboarding legend of 2009, and the winner was….Matt Hensley.

Gunther Estrada, Matt Hensley and Hali Estrada.

We were stoked for Him, since He is probably the biggest inspiration we had as kids when all this started in our lifes. I think its was a well deserve award and a long due one. We had the fortune to received from John Lucero’s hands limited edition Hensley boards that are already hang on our wall at the Choncordia Headquarters…the wall is looking good!. Right after the awards was the world premiere of HALLELUJAH, Tyler Bledsoe killed it and Torey Pudwill raised the bar once again, his part is amazing; After the premiere we went upstairs for the party, It was a great night and here are some pic’s, enjoy!

Matt Hensley's Speech

Danny Way, Matt Hensley, Pat Duffy and Brian Schaefer after Matt's speech.

"I FUCKING DESERVE THIS" - Lizard King.

Marco Gomez, Rodrigo Petersen, Hali Estrada, John Lucero and Gunther Estrada with the Limited Edition Hensley Boards, Thanks John !!!!.

MAY 12: Catalog 2010.

Ok kids, it took sometime but we will be taking the last pictures for the new catalog in the following weeks with new Tshirts, Jackets, Pants and accessories plus a new Girls section with Fur Jackets, Tracking Jackets, Tshirts and Hoodies in many colors :). We will be posting it soon, so make sure to check back to see all the new stuff . CFL !!!!!