Go Skateboarding Day is a month away! What are you going to do for it? One great option if you live in the area is the first event of the 2013 Dew Tour - the Ocean City Beach Championships:

"The best in skateboarding and BMX will converge on the beach to compete in Skate and BMX Vert, Skate Bowl (Pro and Legends divisions), BMX Park, BMX Flatland, Surf and new Skate and BMX "Battle at the Beach" Street Sessions. Among the top athletes competing are Baltimore native Bucky Lasek, Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Tom Schaar, and Brazilian bowl dominator Pedro Barros. Scotty Cranmer, hailing from Jackson, New Jersey, will compete in BMX Park along with Kyle Baldock. In addition, Steve McCann attempts to take the BMX Vert win away from living legend Jamie Bestwick."

"I can't wait to get back to Ocean City for the Dew Tour," said Lasek. "I always look forward to competing in front of friends and family at the beach and Dew Tour has a great atmosphere for competition and family vacation."

The 2013 Dew Tour will be available on NBC, NBC Sports Network, Dew Tour Live on DewTour.com, NBC Sports Live Extra and the NBC Sports Live Extra App.

On June 21-22, to coincide with National Go Skate Day 2013, the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center will host Innoskate. This is to be:

"A major public festival that will celebrate invention and creativity in skate culture. Innoskate will highlight the contributions skate innovators make to society through demonstrations, hands-on education activities, public programs with inventors and innovators, and donations of objects to the national collections. Activities will also include discussions and demonstrations of evolving technology such as decks, wheels, trucks, board design, materials, etc., as well as innovations in tricks that fueled further technological innovations. Hands-on activities related to skate culture may include aspects of board design and fabrication, use of new materials, and/or the engineering and physics of making decks and performing tricks."

If you can make it, this would be an awesome place to spend Go Skateboarding Day! Talk about memorable, and being part of something huge. It's wonderful to see the world recognizing the creative and innovate nature of skateboarding, and to see that being shared with everyone.

In August of 2012, the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center invited Rodney Mullen, the "unquestioned leader and pioneer of street skating" (their quote), to visit us to discuss the role of invention and innovation in American life. "It was a truly wonderful day in which we exchanged ideas and views not only about skateboarding, but about the role and importance of creativity and innovation to building a better society." You can watch the Rodney Mullen video on YouTube.

If any of you readers are planning to go, I'd love to hear your impressions!

Here's a piece from an email that I got today from a skater:

"Thank you soooooo much for the ollie advice. It worked out awesome. Actually, I'm mastering the ollie right now. However, I can't ollie up curbs. I read your guide on that, but it was still a bit unclear to me. I can ollie down curbs, but not up. This is really something I need to learn..."

You're right, it is! And, this is a VERY common problem with ollies. We learn to pop the board and control our fall, but if the ollie isn't very high, then we can't do much more with it than jump off of things. Which, is a TON of fun, but there's so much more to do!

The trick is usually in making the ollie higher, by lifting up your feet more. This is the key. You really want to slam those knees into your chest! Fore more details, check out the How Can I Make My Ollies Higher? skateboarding FAQ! AND, if you have mastered getting your ollies higher, leave some advice below for other skaters on how you did it!

Mother's Day is Sunday - what will you be doing? If you're in California, the Skateboard Moms and Sisters who Shred would like to invite you to the Laguna Niguel Skatepark for the 10 year anniversary of the Mighty Mama Skate-O-Rama!

"This year, raffle proceeds will help build a children's library at the nonprofit Delhi Center in Santa Ana. This vibrant community center, led by CEO/skater Armando de la Libertad, was founded in 1969 and offers a wealth of services including Head Start, after-school tutoring and English language education."

Read more on the Mighty Mama Website. For the rest of the world, what are YOU doing this mother's day? If you have any ideas, events, or stories, post 'em below!