Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

San Diego skate parks rule Tokyo

Will Cortez coaches up here, hits TJ streets

Will Cortez says he was initially hired by the Vista training facility in 2018. - Image by Chris Dangaard @chrisclicksdigital
Will Cortez says he was initially hired by the Vista training facility in 2018.

North County athletes are sendin' it from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games — including Bryce Wettstein, Jordyn Barratt, Cory Juneau, and Heimana Reynolds.

Per their Olympic Games' profiles, Bryce Wettstein, who is 17, was born and still resides in Encinitas; Barratt is 22 and dwells in Oceanside; Juneau, 22, was born in San Diego; Reynolds, 23, lives in Carlsbad. The four of 12 skateboarders — sporting the red, white, and blue uniforms — will skate in the park-discipline preliminaries at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on August 4-5.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The other Olympic skateboard discipline is referred to as "street," which is performed adjacent to the park course, resembling much of what you'd see in downtown San Diego: curbs, handrails, stairs, walls, benches, and slopes.

The schematics of the two skateboard courses in Tokyo are attributed to California Skateparks.

The aforementioned North County skaters will propel their plywood decks mounted on four polyurethane wheels through a hollowed-out predominantly cement course with a sequence of gnarly curves and bowls in the park event. The judges assess the skateboarders' series of tricks, much done in mid-air, on height, velocity, difficulty, and "landing bolts."

CA Training Facility in Vista, about nine miles west of where the I-15/78 freeway intersect, is a super-significant component of the inaugural skateboarding events at the 2020 Olympics. "They make the best skate parks hands down that I've skated," Olympic-skateboarding coach Will Cortez said in an August 1 interview with me. "That's why they're designing and making the Olympic courses." On the Olympic Games' website, the schematics of the two 'massive' skateboard courses in Tokyo are attributed to California Skateparks. "The same owners run them," Cortez explained. "It's incredible to see it from ground zero and then once it's done. Especially working on them and knowing the work that goes into it."

Tony Hawk, 53, was one of the first to try out the park course at the Ariake Urban Sports Park before the street competition kicked off.

Cortez says he was initially hired by the training facility in 2018, right around the same time he competed in the Vans Pool Party skateboard contest. "So I started that the day after the contest .... and I started working construction, building skate parks." Then after a year or so after, Cortez coached groms and Olympic skateboarders from Russia and China that'd practice at the training center.

Now 24, Cortez is part of the Mexican Olympic skateboard team, which couldn't garner enough points in the trials to compete in Tokyo. "So there's a lot more street skaters in Mexico, but park-skating-wise, there's not as many. It's kind of hard to go and practice [skateboarding on vert ramps and bowls in Mexico]. So it's just going to be a process for them to get more skate parks in the country, like all over, for it to grow." Sometimes, Cortez, a dual-Mexican-American citizen, parks his Hyundai by the San Ysidro Port of Entry and walks across the border with a skateboard in hand, hits the Tijuana streets, grabs a bite to eat, then heads back to his day job in Vista.

Cortez: "For park skating in Mexico, you can see a difference like in the styles and stuff."

"

"That's kind of why I'm here in San Diego training and not Mexico. For the U.S., if you were to say where vert skateboarding is, I think you'd say it's North County because that's like where all the ramps are. We have Tony Hawk's ramp (behind his house). There's a ramp in Oceanside, which I don't know if [the owner] wants it to be disclosed, there's Elliot Sloan's ramp in Vista, there's Bob Burnquist's ramp in Vista, there used to be one at the YMCA in Encinitas. Bryce Wettstein has a smaller ramp in Encinitas. Like, per capita, the most, for ramps in the world, are probably in San Diego County.

Then there are the ramps at the training facility where the skaters of all levels refer to Cortez as "Coach Will." Vert and park skating disciplines are "essentially the same thing," Cortez continued. "They are both ramps, and the deep end of the park usually has a vert (vertical plane), so there isn't too much of a learning curve; that's why we vert skaters are pretty good at park."

About four miles north of the training facility are the offices of Tony Hawk Inc., where the 12-time world skateboard champ is said to have additional vert ramps. Hawk, 53, was one of the first to try out the park course at the Ariake Urban Sports Park before the street competition kicked off on July 24-25.

"As a kid that was mostly lambasted for my interest in skateboarding, I never imagined it would be part of the Olympic Games," Hawk posted on his social media July 21. "It's surreal to now be in Tokyo bearing witness to this milestone."

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

How to make a hit Christmas song

Feeling is key, but money helps too
Next Article

Issa aide collaborates with Ukrainians

Carlsbad's Tracy Slepcevic, Warrior Mom, and her ties to RFK, Jr.
Will Cortez says he was initially hired by the Vista training facility in 2018. - Image by Chris Dangaard @chrisclicksdigital
Will Cortez says he was initially hired by the Vista training facility in 2018.

North County athletes are sendin' it from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games — including Bryce Wettstein, Jordyn Barratt, Cory Juneau, and Heimana Reynolds.

Per their Olympic Games' profiles, Bryce Wettstein, who is 17, was born and still resides in Encinitas; Barratt is 22 and dwells in Oceanside; Juneau, 22, was born in San Diego; Reynolds, 23, lives in Carlsbad. The four of 12 skateboarders — sporting the red, white, and blue uniforms — will skate in the park-discipline preliminaries at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on August 4-5.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The other Olympic skateboard discipline is referred to as "street," which is performed adjacent to the park course, resembling much of what you'd see in downtown San Diego: curbs, handrails, stairs, walls, benches, and slopes.

The schematics of the two skateboard courses in Tokyo are attributed to California Skateparks.

The aforementioned North County skaters will propel their plywood decks mounted on four polyurethane wheels through a hollowed-out predominantly cement course with a sequence of gnarly curves and bowls in the park event. The judges assess the skateboarders' series of tricks, much done in mid-air, on height, velocity, difficulty, and "landing bolts."

CA Training Facility in Vista, about nine miles west of where the I-15/78 freeway intersect, is a super-significant component of the inaugural skateboarding events at the 2020 Olympics. "They make the best skate parks hands down that I've skated," Olympic-skateboarding coach Will Cortez said in an August 1 interview with me. "That's why they're designing and making the Olympic courses." On the Olympic Games' website, the schematics of the two 'massive' skateboard courses in Tokyo are attributed to California Skateparks. "The same owners run them," Cortez explained. "It's incredible to see it from ground zero and then once it's done. Especially working on them and knowing the work that goes into it."

Tony Hawk, 53, was one of the first to try out the park course at the Ariake Urban Sports Park before the street competition kicked off.

Cortez says he was initially hired by the training facility in 2018, right around the same time he competed in the Vans Pool Party skateboard contest. "So I started that the day after the contest .... and I started working construction, building skate parks." Then after a year or so after, Cortez coached groms and Olympic skateboarders from Russia and China that'd practice at the training center.

Now 24, Cortez is part of the Mexican Olympic skateboard team, which couldn't garner enough points in the trials to compete in Tokyo. "So there's a lot more street skaters in Mexico, but park-skating-wise, there's not as many. It's kind of hard to go and practice [skateboarding on vert ramps and bowls in Mexico]. So it's just going to be a process for them to get more skate parks in the country, like all over, for it to grow." Sometimes, Cortez, a dual-Mexican-American citizen, parks his Hyundai by the San Ysidro Port of Entry and walks across the border with a skateboard in hand, hits the Tijuana streets, grabs a bite to eat, then heads back to his day job in Vista.

Cortez: "For park skating in Mexico, you can see a difference like in the styles and stuff."

"

"That's kind of why I'm here in San Diego training and not Mexico. For the U.S., if you were to say where vert skateboarding is, I think you'd say it's North County because that's like where all the ramps are. We have Tony Hawk's ramp (behind his house). There's a ramp in Oceanside, which I don't know if [the owner] wants it to be disclosed, there's Elliot Sloan's ramp in Vista, there's Bob Burnquist's ramp in Vista, there used to be one at the YMCA in Encinitas. Bryce Wettstein has a smaller ramp in Encinitas. Like, per capita, the most, for ramps in the world, are probably in San Diego County.

Then there are the ramps at the training facility where the skaters of all levels refer to Cortez as "Coach Will." Vert and park skating disciplines are "essentially the same thing," Cortez continued. "They are both ramps, and the deep end of the park usually has a vert (vertical plane), so there isn't too much of a learning curve; that's why we vert skaters are pretty good at park."

About four miles north of the training facility are the offices of Tony Hawk Inc., where the 12-time world skateboard champ is said to have additional vert ramps. Hawk, 53, was one of the first to try out the park course at the Ariake Urban Sports Park before the street competition kicked off on July 24-25.

"As a kid that was mostly lambasted for my interest in skateboarding, I never imagined it would be part of the Olympic Games," Hawk posted on his social media July 21. "It's surreal to now be in Tokyo bearing witness to this milestone."

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Holiday Market At Petco Park, Will Smith’s Dance in the Darkness Tour, Light Shows, Snowfall, Caroling

Events December 12-December 13, 2024
Next Article

For nutty pies at Pizza by Aromi in La Mesa

Sicilian cousins add to the Italian goodness they dish out around Lake Murray
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader