There’s a memorable quote in Field of Dreams that, I’m pretty sure, everybody has heard: “If you build it, he will come.”  It’s the ‘The Voice’ Ray Kinsella hears that prompts him to level his corn crop and build a baseball diamond.  Well, I’ve got a quote, “if you build it, they will skate it.” … and most likely, they will destroy it.

Tactics riders Nick Propios and Oudalay Philavanh qualified for the 2009 Wild in the Parks championships earlier this summer by impressing the judges at the Portland, Oregon event.  The championships, held this past weekend in Peoria, Arizona, brought the nation’s top ams together for a one-day, blazing hot, shred-fest.

Notable heavies included Arizona’s own Nick Fiorini and Aaron “Jaws” Homoki, but everyone who skated killed it.  And not like, “oh, yeah, they landed their tricks and people cheered.”  I mean they F’in KILLED IT!  The skate rats in the 14 and under division were up first and immediately got work terrorizing everything in front of them.  Hardflip down the 10-stair second try?  Check.  Backside 360 ollie first try?  Check.  I felt like I was in a tool shed, hammers everywhere.

But instead of recapping you on every trick that went down–Volcom’s got you covered–we’re going to follow the Tactics skate team on their Wild Arizona Weekend.

Early Morning Wake Up Calls–4:00 a.m. rendezvous at Tactics

The crew, which consisted of Oudalay, Nick, Justin James and me, needed to catch a 5:20 a.m. flight from Eugene to Portland, and from Portland we’d head south to Phoenix.  We met up at Tactics at 4:00 a.m. and team manager Eric drove the four of us to the airport.  I decided staying up all night would be the best way to make the 4:00 a.m. rendezvous.  Yeah, right…what a great idea.

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Still Day One–Phoenix is hot!

We rolled into Phoenix around 11:00 a.m. Friday morning and it was already 90+ degrees (Note: rocking no socks, no matter how ‘cool’ it looks, might work in Oregon, but it definitely does not work in Arizona).  The shuttle that took us to Peoria blew past the designated pickup spot and had to quickly reverse to pick us up.  Immediately we all started thinking, “Who the hell is driving this thing!?”  The drive was sketchy.  Our driver was distracted by everything around him, from clip boards to cell phones to tiny forms he needed signed.  He got us to the hotel in one piece, so I guess it wasn’t that bad.  Plus, he was wearing Vans slip-ons, and that counts for something, right?  We skated to the park shortly after checking in, but only after hitting up the In and Out Burger across the street.

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Day Two–Get Wild

The championships was on Saturday, September 26th.  We started the day with a continental breakfast and then skated to the park.  Word on the street was that it was going to hit a record 107 degrees.  At one point I heard it was 105, but I don’t know if it ever made it to the aforementioned record.  Either way, it was damn hot.  Nick and Oudalay skated well, but the talent level was off the charts.  Some of the notable tricks included a backside flip up and over the picnic table, kickflip back tail down the 10-stair (twice, the first one was ‘too’ sketchy), 360 hardflip down the 10, multiple kickflip front boards and backside lipslides.  Yeah, the skating was insane and it’s going to be fun seeing these rippers get older and better.  One of the major highlights of the day happened when some skater saw Oudalay’s ‘The Hundreds’ sticker and rolled up to ask if he wanted to skate the comp because he collided with someone and his leg was jacked.  Oudalay was already registered, so we gave the dude’s registration number to Justin and Justin got to skate the contest.  He was so hyped!  Anyways, check the days photos below.

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And Then It Was Over–Late Nights, Head Home

So the contest wrapped and it was an amazing place to be.  All of us couldn’t get over how good these kids were.  Seeing photos and video doesn’t even come close to describing the skill these kids possess; too many ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ for one weekend.  Seeing amazing skating from young rippers…it’s hard to describe.  I think about Eugene, I think about the talent coming out of this town.  Yeah, we have skaters who kill it, but not at such a young age.  I think, “Why are these kids so good?  Where did they learn such good board control?”  And then I remember many of these kids come from places with amazing skateparks and I think, “If you build it…”

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