Freestyle contest advice – Part Five

Foreward

Earlier this year, I asked for help from the global freestyle community in regards to writing a post about freestyle contest advice, hoping to spur some hometown intermediate/advanced skaters into action. What I received was paragraphs, sometimes pages, on successes, regrets, and hard-earned wisdom and I quickly realised that the single post originally envisioned was not going to be enough space for this topic.

Four posts later, we’ve had:

While these first four parts of the series are relatable to freestylers everywhere, today’s fifth part addresses a very Australian issue when it comes to freestyle contests: distance.

Currently, there is no freestyle contest Down Under. If we want to compete, we need to get on a plane and then acclimatise to a different season and time zone.

It’s not an uniquely Australian problem though. Azzam Syafiq is a Malaysian freestyle skater who has attended contests outside of his home country, competing in China, Japan and Europe over the years. The tyranny of distance is something he’s experienced, so he has kindly written some advice for those of us who have to travel continents to compete. May you find his words insightful.

Hi Aussie freestylers,

While I’ve been to my fair share of overseas contests, I don’t think I have the best answer when it comes to handling jet-lag. There’s always a feeling of grogginess after I travel so far away and spend so many hours surviving in crowded trains, busy airports and stuffy airplanes, and that feeling lasts for a couple of days. Obviously, you can’t help it, especially when the time difference is wide. For example, Malaysia’s time zone is GMT+8 while Germany is GMT+2. That’s a 6-hour difference! And it will get even wider if I want to go to the Americas, which can reach a 12-hour difference. But, I guess I do have some tips that I have learnt over the years and I can share it here:

Make sure to have a good sleep before a long flight

If possible, please take a flight in the middle of the day. That way you can have a full night’s sleep during the night before, then you wake up fresh in the morning, and then you will be fully energised to face the challenges of long travel.

In other words, don’t make the same mistake I did this year. For your reference, my flight from Kuala Lumpur departed on Wednesday, 26 June 2024, at 2:55am. You want to know what I did? I worked for the whole day on Tuesday 25 June (I woke up at 7am, then left the office at 7pm), then I returned home before heading straight to the airport. This meant I didn’t have a proper sleep prior to my 18-hour flight. By the time I arrived in Brandenburg an der Havel, I was awake for close to 42 hours and that’s definitely not healthy.

Flight information
My 18-hour flight from KL to Berlin.

Now, I know this is hard to achieve because flights during the wee hours will be much cheaper than flights that take off during the middle of the day. But if you can, and for the sake of your health, consider spending more to take a flight that will not punish your body. And if you do need to take a 3:00am flight, maybe get a full day’s sleep before the flight and definitely don’t go to work! Maybe just do a half-day of work, if you still need to.

Don’t skate when you arrive!

I get it, you’ve finally landed at your destination, you’re stoked to meet your skate friends in the flesh for the first time or reunite after a long period, and you probably want to join them while they’re having a skate session.

Please, for the love of God, don’t skate after your long flight. That’s what I did this year. Right after I landed in Brandenburg, I joined a skate sesh with a handful of Europeans. I regretted that because the next day, even after a night’s sleep, I still felt fatigued. They might have been fine because the time difference for them was not that big, but for me? Coming all the way from Southeast Asia? Nah, I should have skipped this session and just watched them skate instead.

Skate jam in Brandenburg an der Havel
😭 I skated with these 6 people after I arrived in Brandenburg.

Of course, you want to see your skate friends as soon as you can, I get that. But instead of skateboarding, maybe just watch them while you sit down, chill and talk. Don’t force your body too much. Remember, you’re there for a contest during the upcoming days!

Don’t forget to eat!

Okay I know this sounds silly. Who the hell forgets to eat?

Well, yours truly forgot to eat enough during the Thursday and Friday before competition. During these two days, I was surviving on simple pastries and snacks and I think it took a toll on me when it was my turn to compete on the Saturday.

World Freestyle 2024 Noticeboard
My qualifying round was on Saturday, while the finals was on Sunday.

Maybe I was just so stoked to see my friends again and I was too busy cheering for them to remember to eat. But also my thought process was, ‘Hey I’m not gonna compete on Thursday and Friday, why should I spend money on food during these 2 days? Plus I’m always looking for ways to save money when I’m traveling!’

Looking back, I think that was the wrong choice to make. I should have spent money on actual meals during those 2 days because it would have helped my body deal with the jet-lag. Skimping on money for food is okay if you’re traveling for leisure (that’s what I regularly do, haha) but for a sports contest that you’re competing in? You need to eat full meals, even during non-contest days.

And that’s all I have for you. I hope it is helpful.

Azzam

PS – I’m glad to report that on Sunday, during the World 2024 amateur finals, I skated the best run I’ve ever done in a contest and I’m sure it’s because my body had recovered (not fully, but enough) from the jet-lag after 3 full days in Brandenburg.

Denny Riordon Reissue: ‘The Honda Civic of Freestyle decks’

In the era of modern freestyle, we are spoilt for choice. There are countless companies and brands that are paving the way for innovation. Some of these include Waltz and MLM who take a more modern approach to their decks, often incorporating concave and cheeky things like a nose.

When I started out, the only brands that I could get were Powell-Peralta reissues of shotty prehistoric freestyle shapes and Moonshine decks that were keeping with ‘traditions’ but actually maintaining decent quality. My first deck was a single-kick Dan Garb ‘Scorpion’ pro model, and I loved that thing. So much so, I would continue skating it even once it was properly dead. Something about a single kick and its un-controllability made it exciting to skate. I’ve always had a soft spot for single kicks because that was what everyone in the eighties was using and I was hooked on that era of Freestyle .

Flash forward like six years and now the market is primarily double kicks with random names like ‘INVERTED NIPPLE CONCAVE’ or ‘FLAT-EARTH CONCAVE’. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. And yes, companies are still making retro-inspired single kicks but they always have a touch of modernism to them. I feel like the traditional feel and reactiveness of a single kick that’s flatter than a pancake is not really available.

Flash forward again to two months ago when I received two decks to review. One was a modern Moonshine deck and one was an interesting, arousing specimen, the Toxic reissue Single kick Denny Riordon Pro-model.

Toxic's Denny Riordon reissue in black from Decomposed Skateboards.
The Denny Riordon reissue with Seismic skids, Indy 109 trucks and Kryptonic wheels. Classic.

With dimensions like 7.3″ width, 27.75″ length, 13″ wheelbase, 5″ nose and 5.5″ tail, this deck is as classic as you can get. The pointy nose, the squarish tail and a concave that is non-existent…It’s chalk ‘n’ cheese, bangers and mash, chips and sauce…simple sh!t. To some it’s very unappealing, however, to me it’s what the young kids refer to as ‘SICK!’

While skating it, you can feel everything, making it easy to react and predict what the board may do. However, because of the flat concave it can sometimes feel like you are slipping off the deck which will be a deal-breaker for any new cats or modernist freestylers. I find that being more unstable on top of the deck is an opportunity for complex footwork such parabola flips and tailspin late shuvs. Through lots of work, the ‘negative’ concave can be used to unlock many tricks that are not possible on a modern freestyle deck.

It must also be mentioned that street-style flip tricks are very difficult to perform but not impossible. Ollie kickflips are interesting and really require a flick off the side. Heelflips are unfortunately off the menu with treflips working way too well. So, to all the ‘Yuzuki Kawasaki’ style skaters who may be scared by the spooky thought of no concave and no nose…you’ll be fine sweetie.

At the end of the day, the Toxic Denny Riordon reissue is a solid choice for any freestyle fiend who wants to experience classic freestyle nuances while avoiding crap shapes and poor quality (cough, cough, Powell, cough cough). There are more modern choices available that are easier to obtain, however, I believe it’s worth the effort tracking this one down. Yes there are slicker choices around but this is good too and is something familiar. Reliable, firm, solid shape with no frills…the Denny Riordon reissue is the Honda Civic of freestyle decks.

A Vintage Honda Civic.
Classic and reliable like a vintage Honda Civic. Photo credit: Eli King.

If you are interested in trying it, it is unfortunately not available in Australia but can be ordered from the US (Decomposed) or the UK (Offset). For anyone who cares about colour-coordinating their outfits to their decks, it comes in natural, orange, green, black, and blood red (not actually blood red, i just thought it sounded metal).

So, stop reading and go do some pogos or something.

Freestyle contest advice – Part Four

Lessons learnt one contest at a time*

2016: World Round-Up

I entered my first ever contest on the other side of the world despite not having any info about how to prep or having any fellow Aussies joining me. I was just a kid, fresh out of high school, with a dream and passion flowing through their veins.

‘Nervous’ was an understatement for how I felt. I told myself to ‘bring it on’ and reminded myself ‘it’s normal’ and ‘everyone feels the nerves’.

18-year-old Josh Dunstone at World Round-Up 2016

Contest nerves: I still battle with these to this day. Breathing exercises and awesome friends help turn the anxiety into adrenaline, which actually aids the energy I put out into run.*

Little did I know the incredible world I was about to roll into. Stepping foot inside that roller rink, meeting other freestylers for the first time was like reuniting with family you didn’t even know you had. You’re connected to people of all ages, races, religions, and genders, thanks to a piece of wood with wheels, and it keeps you at peace.

Although we were all competing against one another, that feeling of everyone wanting the best out of each other really helped push progression. I felt I placed well for my first contest—7th place in the AM division. I knew this was it.

2017: World Round-Up

When the dust settled, I had a 20-hour flight to reflect on everything I’d learnt. I started to plan for the next contest.

I had received some great advice from the likes of Tony Gale and Denham Hill on avoiding repetition and moving on after messing up. I learnt the structure of a routine, how important music is, the categories judges score points on, how important consistency is and what I had to do to improve for the next time.

The other really important thing I took from World Round-Up was how incredible the scene and the people in it are.

I started writing down a list of tricks I wanted in my run and worked on figuring out ways to connect them with footwork to create a sense of flow. During this time I would work on different footwork links while also improving, adding and learning those ‘banger tricks’.

I entered the Round-Up again and placed 8th in the same division. While I was a little disheartened that I dropped a place, I realised the competition was getting fierce. I needed to step things up.

2018: World Round-Up and King of Freestyle

I started to gain more confidence in my abilities and myself. I started engaging with the crowd, getting a clap going at the start of my run, and began with fast footwork to spark that initial interest. I placed 4th in the AMs, my highest placing at the time.

The difference between 2017’s and 2018’s contest prep came down to structure, training and style.

Structuring a run timed to music that flowed well and had some unique tricks wasn’t an easy task.

Marcio Torres’ run from World Round-Up 2018 showcases freestyle choreographed to music. He performed a synchronised run to ‘The Nutcracker’.

Visualisation helped with structure. Once I had my run written out on paper, I started to visualise how those tricks flowed into one another and how they flowed with the music.

Training then came down to breaking the whole run into different segments and practicing those segments individually, slowly linking them together.

Style came with time and mine started to develop the more I practised.

King of Freestyle Skateboard Contest 2018
King of Freestyle 2018: (left to right) Yuzuki Kawasaki, Mike Osterman, Yuta Fuji, Josh Dunstone

I wanted to broaden my horizons and decided to compete in Japan. By this time I had a structured routine written out in an old notepad and treated it as gospel.

When performing my final trick in my first run, I botched a side flip from rail and smacked my head on the wooden floor. One of my favourite moments. I placed 3rd in the AM contest and surprised myself when I placed 4th for the King of Freestyle (Pro + Am). I had a new goal of turing pro.

2019: World Round-Up and Euro Freestyle

2019 was my final contest as an amateur. I placed 2nd at the Round-Up. My sponsor Maple Road Skateboards and I decided it was time to go pro. We created a board with my name on it—what a moment this was.

I went to Germany the same year to compete in my first pro contest. Things were getting serious…

Euros Freestyle 2019: going pro and having fun

…Seriously fun that is. Germany, 2019, so bright and alive.

At my first ever pro contest, I placed 4th, right behind the guys I looked up to and barely in front of the most talented skaters in the world.

Going ‘pro’ in the freestyle world is a badge of honour more than anything. You still need to earn it but you don’t get paid. As much as the freestyle scene has grown and is still growing, to the mainstream world and especially Down Under it is still thought of as quite niche.

2020: World Round-Up

Everything changed when COVID-19 hit. The world came to a halt but some pretty creative and awesome ideas came out of this murky situation.

For instance, the World Round-Up decided to hold their contest online for 2020/2021, which gave people the chance to save money on plane tickets and or compete for the first time.

There were a few new faces from Australia who were dipping their toes into freestyle. Flynn Baird is an awesome dude who grew up in the same area I did; thanks to his gymnastics background, he showed incredible skills from the get-go. Daniel Aubrey and Rohan Cowley were fellow Maple Road Skateboards teammates who had been quietly honing their freestyle skills. Veteran Aussie freestyler David Mock, a legend in his own right, joined in. All had the chance to compete without having to fork out thousands to get to the other side of the world. The online format was awesome and a super inviting way to get people involved in competing.

Preparing for an online contest isn’t much different to IRL-contest prep. Brainstorm tricks, piece how those tricks will get you flowing to the next, structure a run using those tricks, play around with what music fits best and skate your little heart out.

2022: World Round-Up

2022 came about. The past two years had been rough. Going through depression, a lot of personal/family/drug issues, and being in lockdown for half of it had me not in a great mental or physical state. Nevertheless I got a call asking if I wanted to go to the contest in Canada, with just three months to prepare and being in one of the worst states of my life. I said I’d be there.

Looking back I could have trained a hell of a lot harder than I did. My main focus at that time was the visualisation process and I didn’t pay enough attention to actually skateboarding.

The time came and I jumped on that plane $5000-out-of-pocket but still starry-eyed. This contest felt different—it had been 3 years since competing in front of a crowd and with my state of mind, lost luggage and a broken board, I folded. To me I embarrassed myself. Surprisingly I didn’t place dead last but placing didn’t matter to me. My goal with contest runs is to bring life to what I visualise and have fun doing it; I didn’t achieve that.

I plummeted after that, falling deeper into depression and out of love with skateboarding. Battling with whether I should keep going on with this skating journey, being sick of feeling sick, I finally decided to seek help. It took time and I still am climbing uphill but knowing we ain’t at the peak yet is what drives me now.

Lurking in the background, since moving out to Melbourne CBD in 2021, has been an incredible group of skaters known as the ‘Olliefans’. As much as I love a good solo sesh, having such an awesome crew of friends to skate and hang out with has made this climb so much more bearable. I may not show it enough but I will forever be grateful to them all.

My skate family: Olliefans celebrating the crew’s 3rd year together at Melbourne IMAX.

Present Day

It’s now October 2024. I have 7 months until the next contest, World Freestyle Championships 2025, held in Germany.

I decided I wanted to compete again and started preparations from January 2024. Like clockwork I went through old contest-run notes, watched past footage and started mapping out a run, breaking the whole run down into 5 different segments, then practicing the segments individually, then practicing two segments at a time until I could do the whole run.

I’m still learning a lot and doing the most learning and training I’ve ever done to prep for an upcoming contest. Here are a few things I’ve taken away so far:

  • Balance is key. Having a balance of training, visualising and rest helps keep a level head and prevents burnout, especially if you work full-time or have other responsibilities. Push yourself but don’t overdo it to the point of exhaustion and burnout, it only stop-starts the process. 
  • Set little goals. Obviously the goal of any contest is to win and have fun doing it. For me it’s also about creating what I want to create. As big-picture goals, these are great to have, but having little goals help too. One of my little goals is to jump on my board every day; as long as my feet hit grip once a day, whether it’s for 5 minutes or 5 hours, mission accomplished.
  • Things take time and that’s okay. One of my favorite things to say (only because it rings so true) is ‘the more you do something, the better you become at it’. A little goal I set myself is to have my whole run on film by the end of September. I achieved that on October 2nd and was the happiest kid. Past me would’ve been bummed that I was two days late, now I’m just happy to be smelling the roses. Enjoy the process.
  • Skateboarding isn’t the only training. Something I never really paid attention to up until now is my diet and exercise routine outside of skating. Eating burgers and chips for dinner every night sounds lavish but it didn’t do me any favours. Paying attention to what I eat and working out on the side has helped the progress of training and prep more than I imagined.
  • Don’t be too hard on yourself. Outside factors will come into play that are out of your control. Don’t let yourself get too down on them. If you haven’t achieved what you wanted today, there’s always another chance to achieve them ten-fold.

Here concludes the fourth part of our series on freestyle contest advice. The fifth part, which will feature thoughts from Azzam Syafiq, will be posted on November 30, 2024.

*Editor’s note: Josh Dunstone’s World Round-Up photos were taken by Jim Goodrich.

How to boneless to tailblock spin

In a recent TikTok video, Andy Anderson went through a trick from each decade, including the boneless to tailblock spin. ‘This trick’s really popular in the 80s’, he noted. ‘A lot of people were doing it at street contests’.

This old-school street trick easily fits into a freestyle line. It’s not too difficult either; any confident beginner can give it a go.

Board prerequisites

The trick works on most skateboards. However, if you’re planning to do a lot of tailblock spins, skid plates will protect your kicks.

Rider prerequisites

Confidence in stomping down from tailstop is a must, so if you are new to skateboarding, make sure you’ve got a good grasp on this skill.

Also be familiar with the original boneless. While this variation lands in the more forgiving tailstop position, instead of bolts, some knowledge of boneless basics will help you make the trick look and feel better.

Breakdown of the trick

As the name suggests, the trick is made up of two parts: a boneless and a tailblock spin (aka ‘tailspin’).

To start the boneless, position your back foot on the tail. Bend down and grab the toeside rail of the board. Then plant your front foot on the ground, compress and hop with an 180-degree rotation. You’ll be pulling the board up as you hop, with the back foot preferably in contact with the tail at all times and the back knee bent towards the griptape.

At the end of the boneless, you should be in tailstop, facing the other direction, ready to start the tailblock spin.

For the tailblock spin, the back hand lets go of the rail and the front hand grabs the nose. Tug up so that your wheels are clear of the concrete. Generate the momentum of the frontside spin with your shoulders.

While feeling out the spin, don’t worry too much about the front foot. Once you get more comfortable, you can start lifting that front knee towards the chest. Eventually, you’ll gain the confidence to stomp down with the front foot to finish off the spin.

At first, the combo will look like two distinct tricks. Don’t be discouraged. With enough practice, the boneless will seamlessly transition into the tailblock spin.

Additional notes

Stewart Storrar’s video on tailblock spins is worth a watch. It’s a thoughtful discussion on hand positioning, spin momentum and progression tips—our favourite kind of freestyle skateboarding tutorial.

Freestyle contest advice – Part Three

Watching the World Freestyle Skateboarding Championships live was a trick in itself. The time difference between Australia and Brandenburg an der Havel meant that the pros were competing at times palatable only to possums and shift workers. There was also the added drama of Twitch channels being cancelled due to copyright infringement; you had to know somebody who knew somebody who was hosting the live stream.

One of the few divisions that was held at a workable time was the Amateurs. There were 39 entrants in total. I watched every run at least once; after a while, they started to merge into one continuous stream of rail flips, wheelies, truck transfers, and unintended step-offs.

But there was one run that was as memorable as the tune it flowed to, and it was the second run by Paolo Virgilio Demurtas.

Hailing from the port city of Livorno, Demurtas is a skateboarder with 20 years’ experience in street. The Italian converted to freestyle 4 to 5 years ago, and started competing in 2022. Euro Freestyle, Amateur Division, was his first contest, where he placed a respectable 5th.

Fast forward to 2024: Demurtas is DFSO and World Freestyle Ams champion, Paderborn Masters champion and a team rider for Never Enough.

I congratulated him on his World Freestyle win, gushing something along the lines of ‘magical’, ‘so much variety’, and ‘a well-deserved first place’.

To which he responded, ‘I worked a lot on this routine’. He started divulging his planning process, which became the inspiration for Flatlandia’s series of posts on freestyle contest advice.

So how do you prepare for a freestyle contest the Demurtas way? Some of the Italian’s method is much like what we’ve seen before, and some of it matches the lyrics of the song from his 2024 season.

‘Plan each charted course’

It’s been mentioned before by the likes of Tony Gale: if you don’t plan, ‘you will forget some tricks and repeat others’.

You’ll also risk doing the same category of tricks, according to Paolo Virgilio Demurtas. ‘Variety’, he notes,’ is what makes a run more interesting.’ The Italian skater’s routines are diverse, not just for the points, but also because he gets bored doing the same stuff.

Also, it’s never too early to start training. Half of every one of Demurtas’ skate sessions is dedicated to contest routine, the other half is for learning new tricks and skills.

Work on weaknesses

In August’s post about contest advice, we wrote about reflecting upon failed sections of a run. Good contest prep should include improving on such elements.

After reviewing his performance and the judges’ feedback, Demurtas admits that work needed to be done on two areas: ‘I will for sure add more footwork between tricks next year, and smooth out my nose spacewalk that is still inconsistent.’

Don’t step off

In Demurtas’ mind, too many mistakes can destroy a performance. He’s okay with seeing super technical tricks on Instagram or in a practice session. ‘But during [a] contest I enjoy seeing clean runs with maximum one touchdown’, even if that means downgrading the difficulty level of a trick. ‘I really get bored when I see contest runs with lot[s] of bails, even if the skater is trying crazy difficult tricks…Relying on luck is not good during a performance!’

Prepare a ‘base routine’

Using the same basic structure for every run is Demurtas’ recipe for success. Not only is it easier to build upon an existing structure than to build something from scratch, its familiarity lends comfort during the inevitable stresses of competition.

To prevent his routine from going stale, he tries to push every element with each new season:

‘[L]ast year I had a stationary spacewalk, that…became [this year’s] fakie spacewalk. The heel underflip became [the] heel underflip crossfoot. And frontside g-turn became backside g-turn.

For next year I would like for example to evolve my 360 shuvit to a 540 shuvit, my casper to become 360 casper, my g-turn to become tuck-knee g-turn, and stuff like that.’

His ambition is tempered by his need for consistency. ‘A trick is contest ready only when you can do it 6 times in a row.’ If a trick is not contest ready, the Italian skater will revert back to the simpler version. This adjustment never happens last minute: runs are tweaked 6 weeks ahead of competition to avoid disturbing the muscle memory. ‘I risk to mess up stuff if I make last-minute changes.’

Make the song fit the run (and not the other way round)

Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly), Demurtas does not pick a song first and choreograph after. He usually keeps a short list of songs that he likes. 3 to 4 months before the contest, he goes through the list and selects something that fits the routine best. If warranted, the trick order gets rejigged to better match the music.

Currently, he’s selecting songs with a relaxed vibe. ‘Fast songs gave me too much anxiety during contests. 🙂 Also I’m trying to push my style in the direction of smooth and flowing.’

‘I did it my way’

In last month’s post on contest advice, World Freestyle judge Denham Hill emphasised his preference for originality: ‘I love to see skaters add their own personal touch to certain tricks or even add something I’ve never seen’.

Demurtas shares Hill’s mindset:

‘I just have fun and try to think out of the box. I always try to put my style even on standard tricks. Too many skaters fall into the trap of copying the style of a particular skater: it’s okay to be inspired but trying to imitate perfectly is like copying art, no good. It’s okay to learn solid basics, but as soon as possible…try to put your style in and experiment a lot!’

Paolo Virgilio Demurtas in rail stance at Paderborn BBQ Contest 2024.
Paolo Virgilio Demurtas adds his own personal touch to rail stance at Paderborn BBQ Contest 2024. Photo credit: Philipp Rathmann.

Here concludes the third part of our series on freestyle contest advice. The fourth part, which will feature thoughts from Josh Dunstone, will be posted on October 20, 2024.