Latest Jam in Portugal

Hi everybody!
Andre Coral here, bringing news from the portuguese prespective of fingerboard and other stuff.
For my first article i decided to make a review of our latest Jam.

It happened on the 28th of june in Lisbon´s city park
It was a very good experience, as all Jams are.













We mounted our parks just by a skate park, some even had the oportunity to ride the bigger park for old time sacke like Gil from Lowpro & Philipe from Yellowod.

It was a sunny day and it was hot, but the shadow of the trees was perfect.
We held 2 competitions.
Game of Skate and Best trick.

GAME of SKATE
4 groups
first 2 go throw to playoffs
first 4 get prize

final score:

1º- Loz (Loma) won 1 Lowpro Deck & FPT Bearings
2º- Kaybass won 1 LowPro Deck& FPT Reep
3º- Afonso won 1 Lowpro Deck& FBPT O´rings
4º- Gonçalo (Lowpro) won 1 Lowpro Deck


BEST TRICK
chose one trick
say it
5 tris to do it
judges ( the sponsors - from Lowpro me & Gil and from Yellowod Philipe) grade the tries on a scale from 0 to 20

final score:
1º- Loz (shovit to blunt) (Loma) won 1 Yellowood Wenge
2º- Diogo (smith 180 flip out) ( Lowpro) won 1 Lowpro deck
3º- Rivers (blunt to front flip impossible to rock to fakie) won 1 Yellowood tshirt
4º- Kaybass (nollie 50-50 to nollie front flip impossible out) won YW orings

In the end it was great to consolidate the relationships between us all.
We had fun and we fingerboarded a lot while doing it.
Soon we will have another Jam, this time in Porto in th 2nd of August.















UP - Loz, Philippe (YW), Gonçalo (Lowpro),Bruno (Lowpro), Gil (Lowpro), brother of Gonçalo, Andre (Lowpro)
DOWN - aquelerapaz, Rivers, Kaybass, aFONSO, Diogo (Lowpro), Tuneado & his friend
























































































Soon we will have a video of the Jam, I will then post it here.

Response to Online Database Comments

Recently, the ZEN Fingerboarding Online Database has been under fire because the thought that it would take away from the point of fingerboarding and fuel the whole "GIMME SPONSOR PLOX" attitude. I do understand their concern and, as a result, I feel that it is my duty to respond to some of the comments that I have recieved about my idea for the database.

My response copied & pasted to some recent criticism about the database, with some minor edits:

Recently, my idea for a database consisting of riders and sponsors has been getting a bad reputation. I was actually very surprised at some of the criticism I have been recieving over a simple database that would list riders and their respective sponsors. Perhaps it is not a good idea, however I do think the whole concept of the database being misinterpreted.

My intention for a database is to consolidate information into one place, and make it easier for people to find this information. There is a chance that it will promote poor behavior such as team-hopping and materialistic intentions, however I believe that it will help companies and riders be able to find a product/rider that they mesh well with. If a database can change people so much as to betray their sponsors and ruin the fun out of fingerboarding then I would be glad to forget about my idea.

The goal would be to allow each individual to sign in and edit their own information. Companies would have to confirm the specified rider before it gets posted on the database. If a person makes up stuff for their sponsors, they get the ban hammer. Maintaining a database is not hard at all, as long as it is organized. I have much experience with handling databases, through school and work. Once I go back to school, it will be a little more difficult, which is why I would need some people to help out.

If anyone here knows me, or have actually read my articles on the blog, it is obvious that I fingerboard out of fun and not for “FREE SToOoFz”. I, personally, doubt that a database would create such negative behavior, however I do understand the concern some of you have. If it ever does get out of line, then it will be gone.

Ever since I first learned about an online fingerboarding community back when techdecks.com was the community forum, I never really contributed to the scene a whole lot. Sure, I posted a mini now and then, but I never purchased any sort of product until about 2-3 years ago, and I never had a sponsor until I got on Vegas. Recently, I realized that I have done jack-shit for the scene. A scene which has helped fuel a hobby that I love. The least that I can do now is to further help the scene by contributing through writing, and help to build the community further. I know that my judgement may be falliable but I honestly believe that a database would help the building process.

Thank you for reading the blog and taking the time to comment, I really do appreciate any feedback and will do my best to address any concerns you all may have. I have no hard feelings over any of the comments I have received, and will continue to work hard to prevent any negativity with the database in the future.

Contest News

From our friends over in Germany!

Fingerboard "Fest Cup" Contest results:

1st - Phillip Reinhardt
2nd - Emanuel Oberle
3rd - Felix Heß
4th - Lukas Junk
5th - Tobias Engelhardt
6th - Christian Hennemann

Here is a PDF file with the scores!

In more important non-fb news:

Congratulations to Martin and Tina on their engagement!!