Skateboarding Australia is an organization designed to nurture the skateboarding community Down Under. They actually work in association with the Australian Government. Imagine that, America?

It turns out that finding new skate talent is one of their main objectives and they've even started a web-series devoted to this endeavor called Under the Radar. Here is their first installment featuring a Kiwi named Nathan Mason, recently uncovered during a couple local qualifier events in Tasmania. Enjoy.



UNDER THE RADAR: NATHAN MASON from Skateboarding Australia on Vimeo.

Etnies owner and CEO Pierre-Andre Senizergues gathered a crew of his team riders and staff this past Easter weekend, heading down to Skid Row in Los Angeles to pass out 2,000 pairs of brand new shoes to the homeless.

The event is an annual tradition, which the company has been running for 14 years. Over 34,000 pairs of shoes have been given out over the history Easter event. And this year, with the help of filmmaker Mike Manzoori, Etnies took to the streets, interviewing celebrities and volunteers including Devine Calloway, Andy Bell, and Brian Kachinsky.

Check out the video edit below:

Snowboarders have always looked to skateboarders for new tricks, styles and techniques. Halfpipes are the snow versions of vert ramps, and resorts all over the world are littered with skate-inspired rail gardens.

But you'd be hard pressed to find a skate-style bowl made of snow. Actually, after researching 'skate-bowls made of snow' on the ole' interweb, we found only a few have ever been created.

So for the second session of the Nike Chosen Sessions in Austria, Nike combined the world of snow and skate and crafted not one, but two pristine skate-bowls in the park at Silvretta Montafon. The innovative, jib-able features include a diving board, ladder, rails and cones, which made the possible hits endless.

The ams and the pros spent the day sessioning the scheisse out of the unique feature. After the jam, Nike Pro Louie Vito said, "It's all about being creative and having fun. And who gets to ride a pool at a normal park? No one."

Only a few days remain of the Nike Chosen Sessions in Austria, so check out the edit to see the skate bowl action. Then head on over to NikeChosenSessions.com to vote for your favorite am. Over $50,000 is on the line and the chance to become Nike's Chosen. Get into it.

Tom Schaar has shown remarkable promise as a skateboarder but few expected a 12-year-old to become the first in the sport to land a 1080. This week, however, the kid made history by soaring above a 27-foot quarterpipe wall, spinning three full rotations and landing with his board still underfoot. (Footage was released Friday; the trick is nailed just before the 35-second mark.)


News quickly spread via social media and the legendary Tony Hawk, who in 1999 became the first to land a 900, was among those to chime in. "I've seen Shaun White try 1080s & Mitchie Brusco crash-land a few," Hawk Tweeted. "Tom Schaar nailed it."

Schaar, who lives in Malibu, is among only a handful of skaters to have landed a 900. But many believed he lacked the size and strength necessary to achieve enough speed to land a 1080 on the MegaRamp.

The MegaRamp at Woodward West in Tehachapi, Calif., features a 70-foot roll-in ramp that leads to a 50-foot gap and ultimately the quarterpipe ramp. The ramp was customized by Schaar's sponsor, Red Bull, before he began to skate.

He nailed the trick on his fifth try.

"I'm pretty stoked," Schaar said afterward. "I thought it'd take three days of trying it 40 times... I was definitely high enough and I could tell I was spinning fast enough, and right at about 720 I saw the coping and I was 2-3 feet above the coping and I got around that last 360, and I was just amazed."

So were his much older peers.

Said skateboarding icon and MegaRamp specialist Bob Burnquist, via email: "Tom Schaar is a little giant and a spinning machine. Amazing. Look forward to learning a lot from him in the future."

MORE FROM GRINDTV
VIDEO - A sneak peek at Surfing Magazine's Swimsuit Issue
VIDEO - Legless skateboarder's inspirational performance
VIDEO - Pro skateboarders featured in The Doors' new music video

The life of a filmmaker isn't always easy, just ask skate cinematographer John Fisher.

After a successful film trip with pros Dylan Hughes, Nicky Howells, Sam Austin, and others to Swansea in the UK, John crafted the full length movie, Be Good Now, and returned to the small coastal town's new skatepark to premiere the film. But shortly after the successful premiere, his hard-drive, along with the entire movie, crashed and burned.

Now, almost year later, John finally recovered his first cut of the film, which you can watch below-- though the final version has been lost forever.



exist 'Be Good Now' Full Video. from John Fisher on Vimeo.