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El Señor Presents 'Pandemonium at Pearlridge' Game of Skate Tournament pt.2

El Señor Presents 'Pandemonium at Pearlridge' Game of Skate Tournament pt.2

All Photos shot on film by Miya Yamaoka 2/15/20

Words by Spencer Fujimoto

 

It was so good to see everyone come out and support our vision. I wish they had games of skate tournaments when I was a kid in the late 80s or as a pro in the 90s. 

Thank you to all of our generous sponsors and all of the homies that work at Diamond Supply Co, Bones Bearings, Skate Sauce, Lakai, In4mation, APB, Da Spot Health Foods, Frank 151, Meridian Skateboards, Lightsleepers, Mighty Printing, Natural Koncepts, Centaur Skateboards, Fitted, Blue Water Shrimp, Proper Rideshop, Arizona Ice Tea, Together-Together Skateboards, Grizzly Griptape, and of course Neon Mainstage and Pearlridge Center.

 

The were only 32 spots which made it difficult to pick the skaters, there were a lot of shredders that came out. Rhydem and I did the match ups for the brackets, it sucked to have to tell some of the skaters that they did not make the first cut and could not enter. 

Vincent Bercasi filming the flatground action, not the easiest thing to do without following the skaters with a cruiser board and fisheye lens, but I think we got the shots! Video coming soon.

We did not really know what to expect, none of us ever had ran/worked/produced a game of skate tournament before. I had entered only one at a trade show in the early 2000s, it was super hectic with like 100 + skaters, skating in about 8 police barricaded lanes, complete mayhem, and almost impossible to watch as spectator or skater. I wanted to make sure that our event did not end up like that trade show.Started the tournament with triple og Rob Carlyon judging lane 2, G smoke lane 1, and Bryson on lane 3. The venue is on a slight hill, with smooth asphalt ground, I do not think that anyone really had a problem with it, just one way there is less pushing and the other way more pushing. We made it so the skaters had a nice place to skate, nice shaded places for the skaters to sit, delicious food and drinks for everyone, easy for spectators to see the action, good music, kid and family friendly with plenty of seats and shaded areas for the spectators. 

Dj Kavet from Lightsleepers mixing our favorite jams, originals, and soul music.The triple OGs Chad from APB, Rob Carlyon, and Big Island MIke looking on over the action.We wanted the skaters to win products instead of doing a typical product toss at the end. No disrespect to product tosses, I just feel that sometimes it brings out the worst in people. Tricks for product!!! Merit system style!

Sean Riley and Dio trying to figure out how to shoot a Game of Skate Tournament, we threw around a bunch of ideas of how to make it happen. I think we captured the action and fun. I can not wait to see the final video edit.

Mikey vs Rayden in the 2nd round was ill, they battled it out with Rayden advancing. In round 3 Kaikea vs Taurean was an intense match with the crowd oh'ing and ah'ing with every go. We had only one looser match and that was the first match of the 5th and final round for the 3rd and 4th spots.Mikey skated good as usual, he had some hard early rounds to get through and Rayden bumped him out of the runnings in the 2nd round. It was a heated back and forth game. They both used a lot of energy.Congrats to the podium finishers. The final bracket board, cash prizes $100 Kaikea Kimura !st place, $50 Rayden Tsutsui 2nd place, $25 Noah Brug 3rd place. Plus another giant bag of products and boards!The 5th and final round winners got 3 more boards to add to their collection.Rayden Diamond x Kidrobot collectable for Kaikea the winner.

El Señor Spencer and Judge BrysonRob and Rydem holding it down.

Generation next Cyprus represented, made it through the first round and got taken out by the winner Kaikea in the 2nd round. Match ups were intense. It was an amazing day filled with homies, fam, fun and dope skating, and we are all looking forward to next year's 'Pandemonium at Pearlridge' same time same place, please join us. 

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