Steve's Skateboarding Blog

It's the 4th of July, the day we Americans celebrate our independence, and enjoy blowing stuff up! For the rest of the world, this might just be an normal day, but there's no reason you can't blow some stuff up too! In fact, the Mystic Sk8 Cup, the best skateboarding competition in Europe, starts today. If you live someplace in Europe, you should go to Prague and see it!

For those of you in the Americas, or Africa, Asia, Australia, or even Antarctica, going to Prague might not be something you can pull off in an afternoon. So, I would welcome you in the fine American tradition of exploding something, throwing a party, and enjoying your freedoms. Even if you live in a country that has less freedom than the USA, you still have plenty of freedoms to celebrate. And if you are reading this, I'm guessing that skateboarding is one of them - so grab your board, get out there and enjoy being alive! Go Skateboarding Day might have passed, but that's no less a reason to ride your board, to throw a party, or just to enjoy the freedom to skate.

The Free Flow Tour is the amateur wing of the AST Dew Tour, with 50 stops around the USA where skaters can compete and try to win through to the finals, and even to compete against the pros in the Dew Tour.

The Free Flow Tour is around half way through right now, with stops coming up in California and in Kentucky, and then on to New Hampshire and other places. The tour should have a stop near you at some point, and even if you don't want to compete, the Tour is a lot of fun to see. Each competition is open to both male and female amateur competitors age 18-and-under for skateboarding. You can still sign up and skate if you want to!

If you've competed in the Free Flow Tour, leave a comment and tell everyone what it's like!

Skateboarding camps are a great place to get skateboarding lessons, and to challenge yourself to become a better skateboarder. Check out these two lists for the top skateboarding camps of the USA. Skateboard camps are also great places to make new friends, and there are even skate camps for beginners, adults, or only for female skaters. Whoever you are, and whatever you are looking for in a skateboarding camp, check these lists for what you need:

• Top Skate Camps of the East
• Top Skate Camps of the West

There's a lot of talk about Green this and that. Everyone is aware that something isn't quite normal with the weather, and we all seem to agree now that pollution stinks. We're looking for better ways to get places than burning gas, but what can you do about it all?

Well, I don't think it takes a genius to notice that skateboarding is extremely environmentally friendly. You might chip up some curbs, mark some rails or break an arm, but in every other way skateboarding is about as Green as you can get. So, if you care about the planet, you really should skate. Buy a skateboard, and stop global warming. Or at least save money on gas!

Another good way to help the environment is to stop using so much paper. Recycling works, but why not cut out the middle man and just stop using paper all together? That's part of the idea that Concrete Wave skateboarding magazine thought up when they started to offer their magazines free online. Free. That's a good price.

If you have some other ideas, post 'em below!

Have you ever dreamed of opening up your own skateboard shop? How cool would it be, to have all the coolest and newest gear right there, to be able to help out other skaters in getting what they need, and to create the skater's hangout? Opening a skate shop is a lot of work, but it's probably also easier than you might think! Marc from Marc's Board Shop just wrote up a sweet article for all of you would-be skate shop owners out there, called Open your Own Skateboard Shop! Marc's Board Shop is successful, and you might have seen him around, posting on this site and others.

And for you guys who already own your own shop, read some more great advice and insights in the Skate Shop Business section!

If you were to open your own skate shop, what would it be like? I've daydreamed about what mine would look like (a deck wall, a shop area with tools, some couches, TVs, plus maybe paintball gear and snowboards...?) But what about you? Leave a comment below.

Summer is the best time to his the streets with your skateboard, but sometimes you just want to be inside. Maybe it's just that hot, maybe you got grounded, or maybe you're recovering from breaking your arm - whatever the reason, it's good to have something to do inside besides reruns and rough-housing. Here are some all new lists to enjoy:

• Top 6 Skateboarding Games - These are console games, computer games and a card game. Check them out!
• Top 5 Free Online Skateboarding Games - Want to play, but don't want to pay? Try these games!
• Worst 10 Free Online Skateboarding Games - While looking for games for the top 5 list, I came across a lot of terrible games. Games that have no right existing. And some games that you really wonder what the creators were thinking when they made them ... you know you want to see this list of horror.

And there you go! I'm guessing that plenty of readers out there will have games that they think should be added to these lists, so leave comments below!

Skate camps are a great way to get better at skateboarding, learn new tricks, push yourself to the next level, and to make friends. See skate camps listed here!

International Go Skateboarding Day is June 21st, the first day of summer. This is the 5th year of Go Skateboarding Day, and it looks to be the biggest yet!

So what is Go Skateboarding Day? It's a day to enjoy everything that is skateboarding! Some skaters will throw parties, some shops and skateparks will have events, and some people will take this opportunity to try skateboarding for the very first time. I have a list here of some huge Go Skateboarding Day events around the US, plus it also highlights where you might be able to see some of your favorite pro skaters.

If you aren't sure what to do for Go Skateboarding Day, here are some ideas:

1. Throw a party! Invite your friends over, watch some skateboarding videos, and get out and skate!
2. Go skateboarding with your kids - if you or they don't know how to skate, this is the perfect day to give skateboarding a shot.
3. Go skateboarding with your parents - same idea, only this time it's you getting them off the couch!
4. Put up Christmas lights, set off fireworks, and sing skateboarding songs to the neighborhood
5. Visit your local skateboarding shop, and ask them if they know of anything going on. Hopefully they'll be planning some kind of event, or know of events happening
6. Plan some kind of skateboarding event! If there's nothing happening in your town, why not put something together? It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Have a big game of SKATE! Hold your own UN-professional contest at the skatepark! Skate around town in a huge group and give flowers to cops! On second thought, you might just want to avoid the police ...
7. Sit on your couch all day and play a skateboarding video game with your friends!
8. Learn a new trick
9. Take a kid skateboarding (could be your little brother, or could be some kid you found on the street)
10. Just take a break from whatever you would normaly do, and go skate!

Leave a comment below and share some of your own ideas of what people can do for Go Skateboarding Day. Or, talk about your own event, and invite people! Or just yell and scream about how excited you are!

The Panasonic Open is this weekend, June 19th to 22nd, in Baltimore, MD. The Panasonic Open is the first stop of the AST Dew Tour. The Dew Tour is a lot of fun, and if you live anywhere near Baltimore, go see it!

While watching the tour, or other pro skateboarding, all lot of the skate tricks can look similar if you don't know what to look for. You see the skater fly into the air, spin or something, and land. It looks great, but what was it called? How hard was it? Check out the Skateboarding Tricks Dictionary for a crash course in naming skate tricks! Here are some grab tricks you can take a look at:

• Airwalk
• Method Air
• Stalefish
• Japan Air
• Indy Grab

See what these tricks are, see photos, and hear how they got their names (some of them are just plain ridiculous). There are some weirder names than these out there for skateboarding tricks, though. Do you know any? Leave a comment below!

Tomorrow Transworld Skateboarding magazine is hosting its 10th annual skate awards. Transworld asked the world's top skateboarders to decide, "who rode the best, who stepped up when others backed off, and who didn't break under pressure." The winners will be revealed tomorrow night, and Tony Hawk will be receiving the TWS Legend Award.

Legendary skaters present will be Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Eric Koston, Lance Mountain and many more. Who will win? Who do you think should win? Post a comment below!