Skateboarding mega-star, Ryan Sheckler, gave back to his community this past Saturday when he invited nearly fifty autistic children to his private skate training facility in Orange County, CA.

It was all for TACA's Ante Up For Autism weekend, and the demo was a collaboration between the Sheckler Foundation and A.Skate.

As reported by Brittany Levine in the OC Register:

About 50 autistic children were treated to skateboarding lessons Saturday at pro skater Ryan Sheckler's private indoor skate park in San Clemente during a clinic presented by the A.skate Foundation.

Crys Worley, a 28-year-old mother of two, founded nonprofit A.skate a few years ago after getting her 7-year-old to try skateboarding. Her fiancé owns a skateboard shop, and the first time they took her son Sasha to a skate park, they noticed he seemed more relaxed.

Peter Karvonen of Birmingham, Ala., a volunteer for A.skate, gets a hug from Haley Brozek, 6, of Huntington Beach during A.skate's skateboarding clinic, held with the help of the Sheckler Foundation and Upper Class Label. The clinic was held at pro skateboarder Ryan Sheckler's private skate facility in San Clemente.

A.skate operates on the idea that the repetitive motions of skateboarding help calm symptoms of autism. The organization's events are free for the participants and their families and are supported by fundraisers.

People with autism, which is caused by brain abnormalities, often experience distress when routines change. They feel they must perform repeated movements and usually have communication problems. Children often prefer to play by themselves.

Click here for full story.


Right: Peter Karvonen of Birmingham, Ala., a volunteer for A.skate, gets a hug from Haley Brozek, 6, of Huntington Beach. Photo: David Bro via the OC Register.

GrindTV Newswire: (November 3, 2010) The IOC executive board did not approve slopestyle for the Sochi 2014 Olympics at their meeting in Acapulco this week. They say the level of slopestyle riding as of October 2010 is not up to the required standards. IOC will await the development of the sport until the Ski Federation's (FIS) Snowboard World Championships in 2011. The executive board has handed all powers to President Jacques Rogge to make the decision. Terje Haakonsen invites Jacques Rogge to his slopestyle event this winter to learn more about snowboarding and slopestyle.

- It must not have been easy for IOC to evaluate slopestyle when the Ski Federation (FIS) has only done one contest. All the best slopestyle riders have been following another tour. Slopestyle has been progressing rapidly over many years in TTR's World Snowboard Tour and is on a world-class level. On a global scale it's a much bigger format than halfpipe. If you look at the top 10 from the Vancouver halfpipe finals, they are all great slopestyle riders. Slopestyle is the basics of snowboarding, says Haakonsen.

In a recent news story on the Norwegian main TV station NRK, IOC executive board member Gerhard Heiberg opened up for a wider interpretation of the term World Championships. As there is no slopestyle planned at the Ski Federation's Snowboard World Championships in Molina (Spain), he includes X Games as World Championship level events.

- This is a good move and gives the IOC a much better perspective on snowboarding, rather than looking solely at Ski Federation events. I support slopestyle at the Olympics as long as it is done by and for snowboarders. The TTR World Tour is undertaking 150 slopestyle contests every year in a fair ranking system that delivered over 5000 number of slopestyle ranking results last season. In snowboarding, we have developed a progressive judging system and have the best TV productions. Together with the World Snowboard Federation and TTR, we have created the World Snowboarding Championships in Oslo in 2012. Since the Olympics need snowboarding in their games, why not include the most popular discipline? says Haakonsen.

Terje Haakonsen's event, The Oakley Arctic Challenge, is also the trial world championships.

- I believe the trial World Snowboarding Championships is a good opportunity for the IOC to check out the slopestyle level. I will personally offer Jacques Rogge a guided tour if he accepts our invitation, says Haakonsen.

Sunday! Bikes and Oakley teamed up to put out this rad collabo pair of shades. Click HERE to check out the glasses and more information about them. Then pick these bad boys up because all the cool guys like Chase Hawk and Aaron Ross will probably be sporting these soon...

To view the official website click HERE and to view it on facebook click HERE.

Friday November 5th, 40 years of BMX history will be on display at the Bixby Knolls Expo Center in Long Beach, CA (4321 Atlantic Avenue). Free to the public and the mayor will be attending from 7:30 to 8 pm to promote a BMX day!
Saturday November 13, at the same location, meet BMX greats Bob Haro, Eddie Fiola, and more. 4130 Subway Series Rides will do a ride with planned stops and activities at each. Giant Bicycles afterparty as well.
Sunday November 14, 9030 Somerset Boulevard in Bellflower, CA. BMX freestyle by S&M, dirt jumping by Redline, and flatland by Ling Designs. BMX races by Intense and much more.

When two of the largest entities in snowboarding join forces as title sponsors for a single event, you know it's going to be big. Such is the case for the recently announced Air and Style event, aptly named "Oakley and Shaun White present Air and Style Beijing."

White's dominance has already been proven on the World's Stage, so why stop there? This is the fuel propagating the contest that is sure to be as explosive as the city its held in.

On December 4th, the Olympic Sports Stadium in Beijing will host the 6-star TTR event that promises to be one of the biggest events of the '10-'11 shred season. The contest boasts a prize purse of $100,000 and will undoubtedly set the precedent for major contests to come.

In an interview on ESPN.com, Shaun White commented on the inaugural event saying, "I have always loved [the Air & Style] events because the music and riding always blows away the fans. When the fans are stoked it makes it fun for the riders. I can't wait to see how everyone in China reacts to such an amazing contest. Being out there with such good riding and music is going to be the experience of a lifetime."

It's a guaranteed career highlight for the 16 invited athletes, which include Olympians Scotty Lago, Peetu Piroiinen, and heavyweight shred-star Andreas Wiig.

The intriguing twist on the normal contest scene will also create a chance for the Chinese to see a Western approach to the sport that's been gaining momentum in their country in recent years.

Oakely's Joe Prebich, also interviewed by ESPN said, "Shaun is really the only person in snowboarding who is known throughout the world, he's the only person who can get in there and break barriers. He's decided to be involved in this contest as an ambassador, because that's what he really is. He wants to help solidify action sports in China. We want to show them what snowboard culture is like, before they create their own version of it. China takes sport so seriously, and the Chinese government is very excited about action sports. They've identified that snowboarding is something they want to win in the [Olympics], and we just want them to have access to the right information."

Sounds pretty mega to us.

To find out more about the event, check out Air-Style.com