 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2013) |
| Sport | Skateboarding |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | Australia |
| Abbreviation | SbA |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Affiliation | Skate Australia |
 | |
Skateboarding Australia (SbA) was the governing body for skateboarding in Australia and is funded by the Australian Federal Government via the Australian Sports Commission (ASC).
Skateboarding Australia was established in 2005 by the Board members of National Sporting Organisation, Skate Australia (SA). [1]
In April 2014, SbA managers made a proposal to Sport Australia to separate skateboarding from Skate Australia and establish a national sporting organisation solely for skateboarding with the majority of funding going to it. This proposal was made without the knowledge of the Skate Australia management or Board. Sport Australia declined and the leader of SbA, Leroy magarnagle, was terminated for gross misconduct.
In early August 2014, the parent body of SBA, SA, announced significant structural changes following the appointment of a new chief executive officer (CEO), Dallas Eastley. Former SBA employee Andrew Currie explained on his Facebook page that SA prioritized the attainment of a surplus budget—despite its status as a non-profit organisation—and consequently determined the completion of the National Skateboard Amateur Series, a contest series for amateur skateboarders, as an "unacceptable risk to the organisation". Curry explained:
Despite having completed six of eight stops, with 48 skateboarders qualified (many of whom had already booked and paid for flights and accommodation for the advertised Final in October), and only the Queensland and New South Wales Qualifying stops remaining, the Skate Australia CEO and Board Of Directors determined that, in a year when a major financial partner (Anpha) has been lost, the pursuit of a surplus budget (for a non-profit organisation) was paramount to completing the Titles. [2]
Curry's post also states that the result of SA's decision harmed the reputation of SbA, removed the possibility of an amateur series for 2015 and led to the loss of employment of the majority of skateboarding staff at SbA. Curry maintained that "Skateboarding continues to be grossly under-represented in the Skate Australia constitution." [2]
A response from SA was published on the SbA website on 5 August 2014, in which Eastley explained that information was omitted from Curry's post. Eastley stated:
We feel compelled to respond to this statement and provide additional information purposefully omitted from this statement in order to provide a complete picture of why it was not possible for the organisation to complete the Am Titles event series.
Firstly, in the 3 years to June 2014, the activities of Skateboarding Australia (SbA) under the leadership of former SbA/SA management have generated approximately $325,000 in financial losses to the organisation, Skate Australia has maintained its support of Skateboarding each year as these losses accumulated. These losses have now accumulated and significantly weakened the organisation to the point where we no longer have the ability to absorb any further losses.
With respect to the Am Titles series, this agreement was negotiated in June 2013 by both SA and SbA’s management at that time. The Nike Am Titles agreement extended from June 2013, through to completion in December 2015 (incorporating both the 2014 and 2015 Am Titles series calendars).
The series was co-sponsored by the Australian National Preventative Health Agency (ANPHA), this sponsorship provided approximately 50% of the required funding for the Am Titles series. This sponsorship had a clearly defined end date of 30th June 2014, with any possible extension yet to be determined.
Those responsible for negotiating this agreement and associated Am Titles series have failed to consider the impact and plan accordingly for the loss of ANPHA sponsorship at 30th June 2014.
Given the organisations weakened financial position following the financial losses generated by SbA over the past 3 years, the organisation found itself in a position where even considering all alternative avenues on the table from the ASC and Nike, the organisation was not financially able to continue the series, and remain solvent.
The mutual agreement reached between SbA and Nike regarding the termination of the series was absolutely necessary in order to ensure survival of both Skate Australia, and Skateboarding Australia (SbA).
Skate Australia & Skateboarding Australia remains committed to promoting the growth and development of Skateboarding in Australia, and creating opportunities for Skateboarders nationally. [3]
On 14 August 2014, Australian professional skateboarder Renton Millar appeared in Australia's Herald Sun newspaper, calling for a "break-away national body" following SA's actions—Miller cited "poor management" as the salient issue. [4]
In later years Millar re-established his relationship with Skate Australia, becoming a judge at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
DC Shoes is an American company that specializes in footwear for action sports, including skateboarding and snowboarding. The company also manufactures apparel, bags, accessories, hats, tshirts, and posters.
Paul Martin Rodriguez Jr., also known by his nickname P-Rod, is an American professional street skateboarder, actor, rapper, and recording artist. Rodriguez has won a total of eight medals at the X Games, four of them gold, with the most recent first-place victory occurring in Los Angeles, California in July 2012.
Robert Lance Mountain is a professional skateboarder and artist who was one of the prominent skateboarders throughout the 1980s, primarily due to his involvement with the Bones Brigade. As of August 2017, Mountain continues to skate professionally and his sponsors include Flip, Nike SB, Independent Trucks, Spitfire Wheels, and Bones Bearings.
Nike Skateboarding, primarily known as Nike SB, is the Nike brand for its line of shoes, clothing, and equipment for skateboarding. Nike Skateboarding won the 2020 Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Home/Welcome Page in the category Web.
Alien Workshop (AWS) is an independent American skateboarding company that was founded in 1990 by Chris Carter, Mike Hill, and Neil Blender in Dayton, Ohio. Following periods under the ownership of the Burton snowboard company and original team rider Rob Dyrdek in 2012, the company was acquired by Pacific Vector Holdings in October 2013. Alien Workshop produced skateboard decks, wheels, apparel, and other skateboard accessories prior to its closure in May 2014. In 2015, Alien Workshop was revived with an all-amateur team and distribution through Tum Yeto. They released a series of new skate decks and Bunker Down, the brand's sixth video. As of 2016, Alien Workshop, led by Mike Hill phased out working with Tum-Yeto and moved all operations back to the Mound Laboratories in Miamisburg, Ohio. After a tumultuous ownership history they have returned to operations as an independent company.
Nyjah Imani Huston is an American professional skateboarder. With numerous sponsorships and competition prize winnings, Huston is one of the highest paid skateboarders in the world. Huston won gold medals at the SLS Super Crown World Championship in 2014, 2017 to 2019, and has won 12 gold medals at the X Games since 2011.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB), ending enforced racial separation governance in South African cricket. Cricket South Africa was formed in 2002, and initially ran parallel to the UCB, before becoming the sole governing body in 2008. As an affiliate of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), and a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC), CSA administers all levels of cricket in South Africa, including the national teams in all three formats for both men and women.
Eric Koston is a Thai-born American professional skateboarder and company owner. He has been featured in the Tony Hawk's video game series and the Electronic Arts (EA) video games Skate 2 and Skate 3. Koston co-owns both Fourstar Clothing and the skatepark/website "The Berrics".
Leo Baker is a goofy-footed American professional skateboarder from Covina, California, now based in New York City. Baker is transgender and non-binary, and uses he/him and they/them pronouns.
Skateboarding sponsorship is the commercial sponsorship of an individual or team of people who participate in skateboarding, competitions or public activities. Typically, the individual or team will receive cash payments, reduced-price or free merchandise or equipment from a sponsor in return for public and in-competition use of that sponsor's merchandise or equipment for promotional purposes and recipient testimonial or endorsement. Skateboarding sponsorship may also extend to the sponsorship of major competitions or venues by larger distributors or manufacturers of skateboarding equipment and merchandise.
Cory Kennedy is an American professional skateboarder.
Skateboarding arrived in China in April 1986 when an American skateboarder arrived in China to study Chinese at the Beijing Language Institute. He says, "When I arrived in China, there wasn't even a word in Chinese for skateboard. People were really interested in learning to ride, and in a few years Chinese skaters started appearing in almost every city I travelled to". Domestic skate companies and retailers began to appear at around the turn of the century, bringing the average price for a skateboard of ordinary quality down from an expensive 1000 yuan to around 280 yuan as of 2009. Skateboarding has been slow to develop in China because of the lack of a strong preexisting street culture and of skating infrastructure; nevertheless, it's estimated that as of 2009 there are 40,000 to 50,000 skateboarders in China.
Grant Taylor is an American professional skateboarder. He is the son of former professional skateboarder Thomas Taylor and won Thrasher Magazine's Skater of The Year in 2011. Grant's style of skateboarding is known to be fast and powerful. He is recognized for his unique versatile skateboarding.
Street League Skateboarding (SLS) is an international skateboarding tournament series. The league features professional street skateboarders competing for the largest monetary prize in the history of skateboarding, and was founded by professional skateboarder and entrepreneur Rob Dyrdek.
Lewis Kristian Marnell was a professional skateboarder from Melbourne, Australia who was Slam Magazine's 2008 "Skater of the Year". Marnell died in January 2013, following complications related to type 1 (juvenile) diabetes, a condition that was diagnosed when he was 10 years old. Numerous tributes were published following Marnell's death and his longtime skateboard deck sponsor, Almost Skateboards, continues to use the hashtag "#LewisMarnellForever"—on 15 and 29 July 2014, the company published the hashtag with 2006 video footage of Marnell skateboarding in Japan.
The organisation of sport in Australia has been largely determined by its Federal system of government – Australian Government and six states and two territories governments and local governments. All three levels play an important role in terms of funding, policies and facilities. Each major sport is managed by a national sports organisation, with state counterparts that manage community sporting clubs. Umbrella or peak organisations represent the interests of sports organisations or particular sport issues. Education sector plays a small role through universities and schools. Private sector's involvement is extensive in professional sport through facilities, club ownership and finance/sponsorship.
Jake Duncombe is an Australian professional skateboarder for Life Extension Skateboards who was awarded SLAM magazine's Australian "Skater of the Year" award in 2006, and was one of the youngest professional sportspeople in Australia in 2004. Duncombe was sponsored by the Blind Skateboards skateboard deck company, founded by Mark Gonzales, for nine years and released a signature model skate shoe with Globe International.
Ishod-Kedar Burti Wair is an American professional skateboarder.
Samarria Brevard is a goofy-footed American skateboarder and musician.
Keegan Palmer is an Australian goofy-footed professional skateboarder specialising in park skating. He turned professional at the age of 14. Palmer has been sponsored by Nike SB, Primitive, Oakley, Independent, Bones Wheels, Bronson Speed Co., Mob, and Boost Mobile. Palmer has been ranked ranked #7 in the World Skate male park rankings.