South Shore skate park in Houston, Texas gets ready to host the 15th annual Johnny Romano benefit Skate Jam. Over 50 of skateboarding's best including Chris Cole, Dennis Busentiz, Sean Malto, Tommy Sandoval, Ishod Wair, Steve Berra, Silas Baxter Neal, and more are all expected to be there to help generate funds for the children who are in need.

The event is held in memory of Johnny Romano, a young skater who grew up in Galveston, Texas. In 2005, at age seven, Johnny was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Through the Make-a-Wish Foundation, he was able to attend the annual Texas Skate Jam (the previous name of this weekend's event) and meet and skate with the pros. Johnny passed away, at age 10, in September 2008.

Tickets are $40 each with 100% of the proceeds going directly to Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Gulf Coast & Louisiana.

In 14 years the JR Skate Jam has raised over $650,000 for Make-A-Wish thus directly effecting about 130 kids in making their wishes come true!

Johnny's parents set up foundation in his name to continue the spirit he brought to life. The mission of JohnnyKicksCancer is to cure childhood leukemia's through awareness, research and advocacy, as well as empower and encourage patients, families and doctor's in their fight against the number one childhood cancer.

Check out the touching story of young Johnny Ramano.

In exciting fashion Sean Malto beat Nyjah Huston and the rest of the field to win the 2011 Street League Championship and for his efforts he took home $200,000.

Malto made the most of his second chance after gaining entry into the championship due to an injury to Tommy Sandoval. Skating solidly and consistently throughout the contest was enough to edge Nyjah Huston by 1.9 points.

"I am thrilled about winning the 2011 street league championship. To be up against the top ten guys of the series and to win after my injury is just an amazing feeling," Malto said in a post contest interview.

Huston came up short of completing the dream season after winning the first three stops skating at a level higher than everyone else.

Despite the impending Hurricane, the pros took to the course in front of a packed arena a day earlier. Braving torrential rain, heavy winds and shut down transit and major freeways, thousands of loyal fans came out in full force.

Chris Cole was there in the end battling it out with Malto and Huston but was unable to land the big trick he was looking for when it counted most . He didn't go home empty handed as he won the Monster Best Trick with a 360 Flip 50-50 Grind down the Big Section Hubba earning himself a 9.6.

The second season of Street League featured several rule changes, increased prize purses, and the addition of a Championship event. The changes made the second season more exciting for the viewers than in season one. Looking forward to season three of Street League, we expect nothing less than another year of excitement.

Street League Championship Results

RANK NAME SCORE
1 Sean Malto 81.2
2 Nyjah Huston 79.3
3 Chris Cole 71.0
4 Chaz Ortiz 55.5
5 Paul Rodriguez 41.9
6 Mikey Taylor 32.8
7 Billy Marks 21.0
8 Shane O'Neill 18.3
9 Ryan Sheckler 7.3
10 Mike Mo Capaldi 0.0

The 2011 Street League season comes to an end this weekend in Newark New Jersey with the top 10 qualifiers competing for $200,000 and the Street League championship title.

So far the season hasn't been much of a competition as Nyjah Huston won all three stops in convincing fashion racking up $465,000 along the way. Huston has not only dominated Street League but also claimed the gold at X Games 17 Street.

If Nyjah pulls off the season sweep to win he championship this will be without a doubt the most successful season ever in competitive skateboarding.

He's been so unbeatable this year that Street League felt the need to post the poll question, "Who can beat Nyjah Huston at the championship on August 28th?" So far the results are surprising with Ryan Sheckler leading and Chris Cole not far behind. According to the fan votes Nyjah is not expected to come away victorious.

Luckily for the other nine skaters Nyjah's victories this season don't mean anything heading into the weekend. It's a clean slate with the winner of the final stop earning the $200,000 and title of 2011 Street League Champion.

In anticipation of the championship, Street League has put together a series of videos with predictions for the title from skater and industry people.



Be sure to watch it live on ESPN August 28th at 5 P.M. E.T.

This weekend Glendale, Arizona is the site for the 3rd stop of the 2011 Street League series where once again $150,000 will be up for grabs. This is the final stop and last chance to qualify for the championships in New Jersey on August 28th.

So far the tour hasn't been much of a competition as Nyjah Huston has dominated in Seattle and Kansas City. Nyjah's recipe for success is his ability to do every flip trick, every rail trick, every ledge trick capped off by two of the best tricks so far on the tour; a 360 flip lipping the rail and a backside 360 noseblunt slide.

Nyjah has earned himself $315,000 so far in 2011 from his wins at the first two stops but apparently he's not a believer in superstition when he recently decided to cut off his signature dreadlocks. He better hope his new hair cut isn't the start of serious loosing streak because dreads don't grow back over night.

With the level of skaters competing at Street League there's no reason to think one of these guys can't put it together and top Nyjah in Glendale. Frankly it's time for Chris Cole, the skater known to have "every trick in the book" to step up and win one of these stops. He's too talented to continue to finish in the middle of the pack.

Ryan Sheckler has applied the "go big or go home" strategy so far this year. He continues to go for the massive crowd pleasing tricks which pay off big when landed but does nothing when he falls. It's been proven the way to win at Street League is consistency, not necessarily the biggest tricks. There's no doubt Sheckler has been skating well so if he decides to mix a little strategy in with his big tricks he'll be adding $150,00 to Sheckler inc.

There's a group of skaters with the potential to earn the last automatic spot in the championships in New Jersey by winning the Glendale stop joining Nyjah who has already qualified. The remaining top eight skaters in the overall standings will qualify making up the final ten skaters who will compete for $200,000 as well as the title of Street League Champion.

Here's the current standings:


Street League will air live on ESPN2, Sunday July 17, at 5 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific.

The Maloof Money Cup released the first set of 24 skaters invited to compete at the New York and DC stops with some skateboarding legends headlining, but also some very notable names left off the list. 

Since Rob Dyrdek announced last month they were having skaters sign an exclusive compete contract to only skate in Street League and X Games, the questioned remained which skaters were going to choose which contest.

The first invite list from MMC includes legends like Geoff Rowley, Andrew Reynolds, Dennis Busenitz accompanied by a rich pool of young talent. No shortage of talented skaters will be on display in New York and DC.

But what will be missing from the Maloof Money Cup are mainstream names like Ryan Sheckler, Paul Rodriquez, Chas Ortiz, Sean Malto, and Eric Koston who all appear to be competing in Street League.

The biggest surprise to this list has to be the absence of Chris Cole, a defending three-time winner of the MMC 100,000 prize purse. One would assume his loyalties would be with the Maloofs, after all, the contest has definitely been good to him.

Last year as the rumors about the exclusive contract began to make news; Joe Maloof offered a $1 million bonus to any skater who won four straight Maloof Money Cup contests. That was an obvious statement toward Cole who has won the past three contests.

Dyrdek the founder of Street League as since come out and said, Cole will be the exception, he'll be allowed to compete in NYC at the Maloof Money cup for a shot at four in a row and the million dollar bonus. "We're not going to stop Chris Cole from getting a million dollars, and then he's right back in Street League, and all the other skaters are for it," Dyrdek said.

After glancing over the initial list of riders for both contests, the real winners are the fans. The sport continues to grow and we are all benefiting from it. We now have the chance to watch two different contests with different skaters with different formats all push their skateboarding for huge prize purses.

Sounds like a step in the right direction.

Here's a list of the first 24 invited skaters:

Alex Olson
Andrew Reynolds
Anthony Van Engelen
Arto Saari
Austyn Gillette
Bastien Salabanzi
Brandon Westgate
Brian Anderson
Bryan Herman
Chris Haslam
Chris Pfanner
David Gravette
Dennis Busenitz
Garrett Hill
Geoff Rowley
Grant Taylor
Greg Lutzka
Justin Brock
Leo Romero
Lizard King
Sierra Fellers
Tom Asta
Tony Trujillo
Vincent Alvarez