Sacramento-area teenage skateboarders put on big show for the pros at Gravity Tour event
Marcus Attwood Jr. and Jaxsen Duncan were at home on their skateboards.
On Saturday, the two teenage skaters were riding at their usual park, doing flip tricks to grinds and board slides, clearing a mock stairway with spins and landing with their eyes on their next maneuver. They both conferred with their familiar skating buddies in the shady, southeastern corner of the skate park between runs.
“It’s just like a regular day at the skate park,” Duncan said.
But it wasn’t a normal day at Mather Skatepark in Rancho Cordova.
The “Bones Love Milk” Gravity Tour was in town, putting on an exhibition and hosting a contest on Duncan and Attwood’s home turf. It was the tour’s first event in Northern California, and it was sponsored by the California Milk Processor Board, using skateboarding to spread the message about milk being good for strong bones.
It was also sponsored by SkateMD, a local nonprofit that works with children with physical and developmental disabilities by helping them learn to skateboard.
Christian Hosoi, a legend in the industry who first starting winning competitions in the 1980s, was on the microphone emceeing the event, calling out Attwood and Duncan as they impressed the hundreds in attendance watching the locals skate. The event was judged by a handful of professional skaters, with Christopher Hiett, Zach Doeling, Dalton and Kanaan Dern and Reggie Kelly listed in attendance.
Even to a skateboarding layperson, the 14-year-old Attwood stood out. He was one of the smallest skaters, in stature, in the 14-and-under heat. But the respect he had from his peers was considerable.
Not that he seemed to care. Attwood’s attitude was of someone who had nothing to prove. Skateboarding is all about self expression, and Attwood seemed to express that skateboarding was the most important thing on his mind.
He took countless practice laps before the competition, honing his footwork and timing, particularly while flipping his board to a slide on a descending rail. And while some skateboarders were efforting to make fashion statements, Attwood’s attire was a tank top for the 94-degree heat, jean shorts, scrunched black socks and black Nike SBs.
When the eyeballs were on him and it was time to throw down, Attwood did just that, winning first place in his group in convincing fashion and receiving a rare skateboard deck for his troubles, handed to him by Hosoi.
“This guy right here has been getting first or second place since I’ve met him,” Duncan said.
Duncan is from nearby Rancho Cordova while Attwood makes the trip to Mather Skatepark from Del Paso Heights. Both said they try to skate every day amid their busy teenage lives.
Duncan fared well in his own right. The 17-year-old took home first place in the 16-and-up competition, which included a crowded and competitive final round.
“I’m pretty hyped on him,” Attwood said of his friend for winning in the older group.
Duncan is taller and the more talkative of the two. He had the appearance of the unofficial leader of the skating group made up of locals in Sacramento and with others coming from as far as Grass Valley. He wore a sweat-through camouflage hat with a white shirt, shorts, tube socks and Adidas skate shoes that look like they’ve been worn through many sessions.
Attwood and Duncan say they’re both hoping to become pro skaters. Their friend group films videos together skating throughout Sacramento. Duncan has local sponsors, while Attwood appears on his way.
Attwood later in October will be traveling to Tampa Bay, Florida to participate in his third Tampa Am, considered one of the country’s biggest amateur skating competitions. He said he finished in the 60s among the hundreds of competitors there last year.
“People come from all around the world to come skate at this competition,” Attwood said. “So it’s pretty big for me.”
