2007 HALF PINT SKATEBOARDS NEWS AND HAPPENINGS.....

NOVEMBER 2007
CASL HALF PINT TEAM AWARDS
The California Amature Skateboard League or C.A.S.L. as we know it has totaled up the point standing for the Nor-Cal and So-Cal state finals and here is how the Half Pint Team wrapped up the season.

Overall CASL Team Rider Ranking
Nor-Cal 10 & Under Sponsored Street
Drake Riddiough - Second Place - Drake had a roller coaster year with a featured video spot in New York Times and went on to win the CCRodeo Championships in Washington.
Josh Douglas - Fourth Place **Josh had to sacrifice his First Place point standings by missing two events at the end of the year in order to make the back to back State Championships and King of the Grom events in December.

Nor-Cal 11 - 15 Sponsored Street (32 Riders)
Chris Henderson - First Place - Chris has really stepped up with style this year and has shown it by winning almost every bowl comp in both Nor-Cal and So-Cal but a first place in Street?
Nate Linford - Third Place - Nate had one of those years most riders' only dream about by taking Second Place in the Tim Brauch Bowl Contest and landing the cover shot in the Santa Cruz Sentinel Newspaper.
Cody Chapman - Fourth Place **Cody killed it with his own tweaked style that continues to put him on the map and make the SC locals proud to call him one of there own!

So-Cal 10 & Under Sponsored Street (15 Riders)
Pierce Brunner - First Place - Pierce and Chris joined the team late in the season and ended the year with First and Second place wins!
Chris Brunner - Second Place - Chris and Pierce bring some mad street skills to the team and go BIG everywhere they skate! Welcome to the team Brunners!
Tom Schaar - Fifth Place - Tom is our MIS (Most Improved Skater) for the year, he moved up from the Unsponsored 8 & Under Division to ride with the big kids in the 10 & Under Sponsored and managed to take a First Place win along the way! He was also the Half Pint Featured Team Rider in an Associated Press Video Clip that was aired all over the internet.

So-Cal 11 - 15 Sponsored Street (42 Riders)
Caedyn Curto - Seventh Place - Caedyn always shows up to ride giving 100% no matter what! He rode in the toughest division and came out shining using technical street with a style that proved he was ready to ride in comps like GVR and The Damn Am. Congrats again Caedyn on stepping up this year!

CASL Team Awards
Half Pint Team - Second Place Nor-Cal
Half Pint Team - Second Place So-Cal - Thanks again to our team riders, family and friends for making this one of the best CASL seasons ever!
PS - Special thanks goes out to Sonja and the CASL crew for putting on these event for the kids year after year! (SONJA ROCKS) :)

10-21-07
GVR - HOME TOWN HEROS
The Hometown Heroes crew had been traveling all summer to 39 cities, holding jams, and picking one winner in each city to bring to Etnies to skate in the finals.  On Thursday 10.07, 102 street riders showed up to compete, ranging from 12 – 15 years of age. Over 50 riders in the field were some of So-Cals elite such as .Julian Christianson, John Dickeson, Matt Berger
and our very Caedyn Curto.

According to Caedyn he says it was one of the best jams of his life, he landed a big kickflip up the double set that had just been converted into a euro-gap, kickflip boardslide on the flat rail in the middle, and a smith and frontside boardslide down the big 12 stair rail in the park, and finished off with a backside heel flip over a sideway rail set up as an object to go over.  That was good enough to beat out 95 skaters and get a spot in the finals on Sunday with the other 42 riders that were the best of the Hometown Heroes from across the country.

Come Sunday, It was “helmets off” and “get your skate on”, and what a day it turned out to be. The coolest addition was a built in double rail sofa couch, set up at the top of the launch ramp.  The heats were broken down into 6 skaters for 5 minutes each, Caedyn landed just about everything he had during the qualifier, and given the competition, it got him in a 4 way tie for 18th out of 42 contestants.  It was his first “national amateur” contest, and one that he will never forget.

Check out the Home Town Heros Website

Caedyn is now practicing like one kid possessed for the upcoming Volcom Damn Am in Costa Mesa, California in October, where he will be riding for Factor 54 Clothing, Half Pint Skateboards, S1 Helmets, Circa Shoes and ET Surf & Skate in Hermosa Beach.

10-20-07
SKATELAB CASL CONTEST RESULTS
The Half Pint So-Cal Team showed up to skate at the 9th round of the CASL So-Cal Contest being held at the legendary Skatelab in Simi Valley, CA last month and here is how it went down.

Tom Schaar nailed two flawless runs in the 10 & Under Sponsored Division pushing our youngest rider on the team to his first, FIRST PLACE WIN! Congratulations Tom! Chris Brunner won the BEST TRICK award for his Boards Slide to Fakie down the big rail but ended up in Sixth Place overall for the day. Pierce Brunner landed a few more tricks in his run and ended up in Third Place for the day.

Half Pint - Ten & Under Sponsored Results:
Tom Schaar – First Place
Pierce Brunner – Third Place
Chris Brunner – Fifth Place & Best Trick

10-01-07
TIM BRAUCH MEMORIAL SKATE CONTEST (DAY 2)

Chris Henderson and Nate Linford from the Half Pint Crew showed up on Sunday for the Bowl Contest to ride in the Am division. This was the most anticipated part of the contest with riders coming from all over the US and Canada to compete in the legendary bowl comp. Luckily for the AM's riders like Curren Caples went right into the Pro Division, which meant the top spots were now officially up for grabs! Tommy Werner, local rider brought it in the Street comp the day before and went even bigger in the bowl to take the top spot for the day and advance to the Pro Round. Nate Linfiord followed up in Second Place and too was advanced the Pro Rounds.

Local AM Bowl Contest Results
Tommy Wernere - First Place - Birdhouse
Nate Linford - Second Place - Half Pint
Chris Henderson - Third Place - Half Pint
Jerry Gurney - Fourth Place - DLX Flow

Be sure to check out the
TBM Contest Photos

The Pro Rounds were packed with the who’s who of professional bowl skaters from all over the world including the likes of Benji Galloway, Curren Caples, Taylor Bingaman and local favorite Josh Mattson. The Pro Bowl Jam consisted of 6-Qualifying Heats with 8 riders per heat. This meant the top two riders from each heat would advance to the final round. Curren Caples made the cut with tricks like kick flip over the twinkie and blasting higher than ANYONE out of the vert wall. In the end it came down to Josh Mattson and Benji Galloway both going huge with some of the sickest tricks ever seen. The judges casts their votes for Benji to take it all while the crowd felt Josh should have taken the first place win. The cool part was that Benji agreed with the crowd but the decision stood. Thanks again to Sessions, NHS and the City of Scotts Valley for making this our favorite comp of the year!

Be sure to check out the
TBM Contest Photos

Pro Bowl Results
Benji Galloway - First Place - Bacon
Josh Mattson - Second Place - Live Oak
Jimmy The Greek - Third Place - Black Label
Taylor Bingaman - Fourth Place - Creature
Curren Caples - Twelth Place - Flip

10-01-07
TIM BRAUCH MEMORIAL SKATE CONTEST (DAY 1)

The Nor-Cal Half Pint Team showed up in force to this year TBM Contest in Scotts Valley. There were over 200 riders in this years event ranging from Grandmaster Pro's to the Groms and everything in between. We started it all out with the Groms contest, which had 31 riders ranging in age from 3 - 12 years old. Drake Riddiough drew one of the early slots and went from the kombi bowl to the J-bowl hitting everything in his path including the Stello Gap and finished it off with a hand plant in the corner of the J-bowl. Josh Douglas came out charging in the street course with kick flips down the 5-stair, 50/50 grinds down the rails, varial flips and ended his run with a huge 360 big spin in the J-bowl. Cody Chapman ended up nailing every trick with style throughout his run with tricks like crooked grinds & varial flips. Saturday was blast and at the end of the day here is how the Half Pint Crew ended up placing.

Grom Division Results
Cody Chapman - Second Place
Drake Riddiough - Fourth Place
Josh Douglas - Fifth Place

9-18-07
CHRIS & PIERCE BRUNNER JOIN THE HALF PINT TEAM!

NEWS FLASH...
The Half Pint Team is growing once again and this time we have picked up Chris & Pierce Brunner from Laguna Niguel, California. Chris and Pierce have been tearing up the CASL circuit over the last year and are currently ranked 1st and 3rd in So-Cal Street point rankings. Chris Brunner age-9 and twin brother Pierce Brunner also age-9 are the complete package when it comes to skating big rails, ledges and MONSTER stairs each showing their own unique style to whatever they skate.

Check out Chris Brunners Photo's
Check out Pierce Brunners Photo's

Congratulations to Chris and Pierce for joining the Half Pint Team!

9-15-07
SAN CLEMENTE ANNUAL STREET CONTEST
The San Clemente Annual Street contest was held over the weekend and our newest members to the team were there.

San Clemente Annual Street Contest - Results
Pierce Brunner - First Place!
Chris Brunner - Second Place!

9-03-07
AUGUST HALF PINT CONTEST WINNER IS........
Marty Holdren of Troy, PA was our August Contest Winner! Marty has won a 7.5" Pusher II Deck and a Half Pint T-Shirt!
Way to go Marty!

8-31-07
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DRAKE!
Happy Birthday to Drake Riddiough who turns 9-years old today, from all of your pals at Half Pint Skateboards!

8-28-07
DRAKE WINS THE CCR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Congratulations goes out to our Half Pint Team Rider Drake Riddiough for flying all the way out to Battle Ground Washington and sweeping the Concrete Rodeo 2007 8 & Under Championships! We talked to Drake right after winning his division and he said he had a blast and the parks were SICK! He also told us he made off with a HUGE bag of prize winnings and said he couldn't wait to Jamie and the crew for CCR next year! Drake Riddiough competed in three different Concrete Rodeo Series Events and took first place in all three comps!

8-23-07
CASL Contest So-Cal Woodward Results. (Sunday)

So-Cal 1A 11-12 Un- Sponsored Street
Brendon Villanueva - First Place!

So-Cal 10 & Under Sponsored Street
Josh Douglas - First Place! & BEST TRICK AWARD
Chase Barney - Second Place (Two-Felons)
Chris Brunner - Third Place (Factor 54 & Half Pint)

So-Cal 11 - 15 Sponsored Street
Isaiah Johnson - First Place (Powell)
Boo Johnson - Second Place (CASK)
Anthony Negrete - Third Place (Underground)
Jake Hill - Fourth Place (Osiris)
Caedyn Curto - Fifth Place (Half Pint)

8-23-07
CASL Contest Nor-Cal Woodward Results (Saturday)

The Half Pint Team had a blast last weekend at Camp Woodward and here is how Saturday's Nor-Cal event ended up. Josh Douglas (Age-8) and Anthony Ayaya (Age-10) tied for First Place in the 10 & Under Sponsored Division. In the end it was Anthony Ayaya (age-10) who skates for Retaks that stayed on his board during his last run taking first place and Josh Douglas (Age-8) came in with a Second Place trophy for the street comp. Cody Chapman (Age-12) skated really good inboth of his runs and came in Fifth place in the 11-15 Sponsored Division with the big surprise of the day being our old team mate Isaiah Johnson (Age-10) finishing in First Place with his brother Boo Johnson taking Second.

Nor-Cal 10 & Under Sponsored Street
Josh Douglas - Second Place

Nor-Cal 11 - 15 Sponsored Street
Isaiah Johnson - First Place (Powell)
Boo Johnson - Second Place (CASK)
Ben Koppl - Third Place (?)
Nate Linford - Fourth Place (Half Pint)
Cody Chapman - Fifth Place

Nor-Cal & So-Cal Sponsored Mini Ramp - All Ages
Chris Henderson - First Place
Cody Chapman - Fifth Place

***Saturday's Highlights***
1. Pauly Rizo pulled a back flip over the 10' launch box!!!!
2. Josh Douglas ollies the 12-stair
3. Chris killed the mini ramp comp again!
4. Nate didn't drop into the vert ramp :(

8-21-07
Half Pint Skateboards Team Rider Tom Schaar In The News

Yahoo News - Aug. 20 - Haven Daley of the Associated Press visits with members of California's Half Pint Skateboarding Team, believed to be the youngest sponsored skateboarding team in the country.
Click image to watch video

8-20-07
UPDATES COMING!
We just got back from Woodward and are digging through over 500 photos from the event and are getting ready to update even more photos from Scotts Valley & Santa Cruz Skate Parks! Be on the watch for our latest video from our good friends over at the Associated Press that is sure to start popping up all over the internet! Stay tuned!

8-17-07
HALF PINT TEAM HEADS TO WOODWARD
The Half Pint is heading off to Woodward West for another 2-day CASL comp where we will get a chance to see our friends from all over the Westcoast!

8-17-07
HALF PINT LAUNCHES ONLINE STORES
We are stoked to annouce that we have launched three online stores at the following locations Half PintSkateboards Online Store, MySpace.com/halfpintskateboards & Skateboards.com/halfpintskateboards. Now is your chance to get a jump start on your Half Pint Skateboards orders!

8-15-07
JOSH DOUGLAS TAKES FIRST PLACE!
Our own little ripper Josh Douglas has taken first place in both the Black Fly's Skate Contest in Truckee and the "Next Big Kid" contest series that stopped off in San Francisco earlier this week. According to Josh he liked the Black Fly's contest at Truckee Skate Park the best because of the big street course at the park. Unfortunately the "Next Big Kid" contest only had a single fun box set up in a parking lot with nothing else to skate, good thing Josh made the best of it. Anyway CONGRATS to Josh Douglas for keeping the first place awards coming in for the Half Pint Team!  

8-08-07
SKATEBOARDS.COM ONLINE STORE IS OFFLINE
The skateboards.com e-commerce store is now offline as they have decided to focus on their online community. (You should check it out) We wanted to let everyone know that we are working on a HPS online store and should have it up and running within the next couple of days. Thanks to everyone that has sent us emails letting us know they could not purchase directly through our website over the last week or so. Half Pint Crew....

8-06-07
PHOTO UPDATES - CONCRETE RODEO
What up groms... We have just uploaded photos from the Tazanite stop of the Concrete Rodeo event in Sacramento. We will be uploading tons of shots from the Folsom event later on this week along with a full write up of the event. Most of our riders have been enjoying the summer at Camp Woodward West so expect to see some sick footage of the park coming soon.

Winner of the July Contest to be drawn tonight and will be posted tomorrow.. Good luck to everyone that entered!

7-25-07
CONCRETE RODEO & HALFPINT SHOWDOWN I

We hooked up with the Concrete Rodeo crew for the July 21st Tanzanite Sacramento Skate Contest and here is how it went down. Josh Douglas and Drake Riddiough rode in the 8 & under heat and both had great runs combining the tight street course with the never ending bowls. Drake Riddiough ended the day with a First Place with Josh Douglas taking Second in their heats. Jagger Eaton and his brother Jett were right on their heels throughout the days event.

Anthony Anaya took the place by storm by easily destroying the competition in the 9-10 age groups. Be on the watch for this high flying spiked helmet little grom cause I could swear he had wings coming out of his back! Cody Chapman ended up in Fourth Place out of seven riders in the 11-12 heat. TJ Lewis came out and showed everyone how he likes to go big and took no prisoners with his first place win in the 11-12 year old group.

The 13 – 14 year olds were also throwing down and Nate Linford ended up taking third place out of 7 riders. Chris Henderson rode in the 15 – 16 division and was knocked out of his first place ranking by 7/10ths of a point by our good pal Jerry Gurney. The girls showed up to skate and Lexi Barclay skated all of her heats with her arm in a cast and sling showing all of the guys just how tough the girls really are. (She fractured it the day before the comp) In the end it was Rose McCoy taking first place in her division and then went on to win the head to head joust part of the comp.

The final results of the joust looked like this:
1st Place – TJ Lewis 11- 12
2nd Place – Jerry Gurney 15 - 16
3rd Place – Anthony Anaya 9 – 10
4th Place – Nate Linford 13 – 14
5th place – Chris Henderson 15 - 16

7-25-07
ISAIAH JOHNSON & POWELL
We had to send the dogs out to track down Isaiah Johnson last week to see what all of the rumors were about and here is what we found out. Isaiah Johnson team rider for Half Pint Skateboards has accepted a generous offer from Powell and will now be decked out in Powell gear! Powell decided to approach one of our riders and make him an offer he couldn’t turn down and once we heard the terms of the deal we told Isaiah we wouldn’t turn it down either! Everyone here at Half Pint Skateboards is going to miss having Isaiah Johnson on the team but as we explained to him and his family we are always going to consider him part of the Half Pint Crew forever!

A huge congratulation goes out to Isaiah Johnson for winning the AST Dew Free Flow Tour Event at Vans Orange, CA last week! Hey Isaiah have fun at Camp Woodward!

7-19-07
TONS OF NEWS ON THE WAY
CASL State games highlights are still coming in so please be patient and we shall get the rest of the details together shortly. We also have some news on the Team Rider Front coming out on Monday morning so stay tuned or that.. Tom Schaar and Caedyn Curto just wrapped up the AST Free Flow Tour down in Orange, CA yesterday so we should have some juicy news about that event and tomorrow we are hitting the road to check out the Concrete Rodeo Series in Sacramento and Folsom....
BE SURE TO REGISTER FOR OUR CONTEST GIVEAWAY!

7-15-07
NYTIMES.COM COVERS DRAKE RIDDIOUGH & HALF PINT
Video Clip Featuring Drake Riddiough "Youth Gone Sponsored"
Article "It’s a Kids’ World on the Halfpipe"
We met up with Matt Higgin's and crew from the New York Times at last months Nor-Cal CASL Contest in Ben Lomond. They were onsite filming a piece on kids in skateboarding and how the sponsored riders are getting younger and younger in today's skate industry. Matt let us know he had already met with the Nic and Tristan Puehse from Sacramento and was interested in covering Drake Riddiough for the article. They were also interested in having a skate companies perspective on the little kid sponsorship program to find out what types of issues we faced by focusing only on the kid space. The only problem was that we were at a competition with music, kids and skating, which meant there was little room for an interview as the park was packed!

We headed over the Scotts Valley Skate Park so they could get a few shots of Drake in the bowls and follow up with a few video interviews. The time flew bye quick and it was now time for us to race back to the competition. Drake needed to get back into comp-mode but the added the pressure of a film crew following us around for the day was a bit tough on our young 8-year old rider. He pulled through like a champ and ended the competition in 3rd place but as Drake felt the pressure of not taking first place he quickly showed us how an 8-year old boy deals with the loss. Ice Cream Anyone? Right then Drake spots the ice cream truck and hands his trophy off to his Dad and I and skates over to have a sit down with his favorite ice cream on a stick.
Troubles were over and Ice Cream prevails once again!
Special thanks to NYTIMES for contacting us and to Drake Riddiough and his family being part of the Half Pint Skateboard dream!
Article "It’s a Kids’ World on the Halfpipe"
Video Clip Featuring Drake Riddiough "Youth Gone Sponsored"

7-14-07
NEWS FLASH FROM CA-STATE GAMES
Nate Linford called in yesterday to give us the low down from the California State Games in San Diego. The word is Chris Henderson has swept the Mini Ramp and Bowl Competitions this year with 1st Place wins in both events. Congrats goes out to all of our riders that took part in yesterday’s events and GOOD LUCK to everyone today as the street competition gets underway in minutes. More to come....

7-13-07
RIDER SUBMITTED VIDEO'S
We have the latest greatest YouTube video's from the following Half Pint Team Riders so check them out..
Josh Douglas - Caedyn Curto - Nate Linford - Chris Henderson... More to Come..
*Be sure to check out the Tech Deck Video on Nate's page*

7-01-07
HALF PINT JOINS SKATEBOARDS.COM COMMUNITY
Half Pint Skateboards is stoked to announce that we have joined the NEW Skateboards.com Online Community built by skaters for skaters! Imagine the best of MySpace but without the roller bladers, razor kids and BMX'ers... That's right the guys over at Skateboards.com have done it again by launching the first of it's kind a place where skaters can post photos, video and blog about anything and everything skateboarding. So what are you waiting for, go build a page about yourself and join our friend network!
Check us Out

6-26-07
HALF PINT TEAM GET'S WARPED

The finals finally came down to the top three skaters that were tearing the ramp apart all day long and the lucky three were Isack Yanaz from Bill's Wheels, Raven from Creature and Chris Henderson from Half Pint. When the dust finally settled it was Raven easily pulling off another first place win with Chris Henderson taking second place and Isaac Yanez coming in third place.
Special thanks goes out to the Van’s Warped Tour and CASL crew for putting on another killer event!
Thanks again to Grady for covering the event and getting these sick photos --- more to come..
Check Out a Few More Shots

6-25-07
MOUNTAIN DEW FREE FLOW TOUR UPDATE
Alliance Skatepark in Lake Elsinore could not have asked for a better day to host its Free Flow skate contest. The sun was out and the weather was perfect, setting the stage for a great day of skating.

The Junior Jammers kicked the day off with a great show. It was good to see ripping grom twins Pierce and Chris Brunner at another Free Flow contest. These guys were at a few stops last year and I'm sure we will see them at few more CA stops this summer. Advancing out of the first round of action into the finals were Josh Douglas, Pierce Brunner, Noah Willett, and Chris Brunner. Chris looked solid in the final heat throwing down transfer Indy's, blunt to fakies, and switch 180's. Noah placed third with transfer 180's, kickflip indy's, and big ollies to flat. Pierce and Josh were both throwing down some hammers, Josh's run included a 50/50 on the ledge, big airs on the fly box, frontside 360's, and blunt to fakies to name just a few. In the end it was Pierce who edged out Josh to take the Junior Jam win with crooks on the ledge, ollie lay backs, backside flips, and pressure flips.
Article Pulled From The Dew Tour Website

Special congrats goes out to Josh Douglas for killing it at the Free Flow Tour!
Check Out The Free Flow Tour

6-19-07
HALF PINT MEETS CONCRETE RODEO IN MINNESOTA

Jay took a trip out to Edina, Minnesota to check out the Concrete Rodeo Skate Comp Tour. The Edina,MN YMCA Skate Park was built by the guys from Grindeline which meant it had TONS of vert. Because of the massive vert walls and NO street course this meant that only a handful of brave up and coming vert riders were going to be showing up for this one. I was asked to judge the comp because of the lack of Half Pint Team Riders within a 1,300mile radius....

The comp format rocked and I really like the fairness of the judging style they use!
FORMAT: Riders are broken up into their own age groups and given (2) 1-minute runs. Scores are then totaled and the top three riders from each division begin the elimination head to head rounds. Two riders names are drawn at random and they skate heade-to-head for a 1-minute round and one rider continues onto the next round while the other is eliminated..

JUDGING: The judging is based on 5-different categories covering things like style, difficulty and flow. Each category is worth a total of 20-points and will be judged according to the run each skater lays down. **(The number one thing that will hurt you in this type of format is when a rider only skates portion of the park and doesn't show tricks flowing throughout.)
Overall I enjoyed judging and hanging out with the Concrete Rodeo crew and ended up meeting some sick little skaters that are not afraid of deep vert!
Check out the pics from the comp

6-18-07
CASL - MONTEBELLO CONTEST RESULTS

Sponsored 10 & Under - Street
Tom Schaar entered his first comp as a sponsored Half Pint Team Rider and walked away with a 4th place finish!
Un-Sponsored 11-15 - Street
Caedyn Curto took top fourth place after a tie breaker third run!
Isaiah Johnson tied for seventh place.
Sponsored - Bowl
Tom Schaar landed in a forth place in the bowl comp! Not bad for our youngest rider there must not have been enough vert on it!

6-16-07
CAEDYN CURTO GOES YOUTUBE!
Be sure to check out Caedyn Curto's new video that he and his dad just put the finishing touches too.

6-15-07
TOM SCHAAR JOINS THE SPONSORED TEAM!

NEWS FLASH... The little ripper from Malibu known as Tom Schaar has made the move to sponsored! Congratulations Tom Schaar for entering your first sponsored event and going so big you walked away with a 4th place finish at the CASL Montebello-So-Cal comp!

Stay tuned for more details about the comp and tons of photos to hit the site later on this week!

6-6-07
HALF PINT NEWS....
We have been busy a little too busy skating lately and have lagged on updating the website.. Here is what we have been up tooooooo.

MAY - TEAM NEWS -- MORE SPONSORS!!!!
Isaiah Johnson has added ADIO SHOES to his list of sponsors!
Cody Chapman has also been added to the DUFFS SHOES line up!
Josh Douglas was picked up by VITAMIN WATER so be sure to hit him up for a drink!
Chris Henderson was picked up by Santa Cruz Skate Shop to ride for their shop and for SKATEBOARDS.COM!
Nate Linford was also picked up by Santa Cruz Skate Shop to ride for both the shop and SKATEBOARDS.COM!
**Special congratulations to all of our team riders for all of their hard work and good attitudes.. Told you it would pay off!**

MAY - CONTEST HIGHLIGHTS
Josh Douglas took FIRST Place in a local Reno Jam series and took FIRST Place the Berkley CASL Street Comp.
Drake Riddiough took Third Place in the Street Comp and nailed Fourth Place in the Mini Ramp at the CASL Berkley Comp.
Cody Chapman moved into Second Place in Street and took Third Place in the Mini Ramp at the CASL Berkley Comp.
Caedyn Curto took the Fourth Place spot at the CASL Chino Contest!

MAY - TEAM NEWS -- MORE SPONSORS!!!!
Isaiah Johnson has added ADIO SHOES to his list of sponsors!
Cody Chapman has also been added to the DUFFS SHOES line up!
Josh Douglas was picked up by VITAMIN WATER so be sure to hit him up for a drink!
Chris Henderson was picked up by Santa Cruz Skate Shop to ride for their shop and for SKATEBOARDS.COM!
Nate Linford was also picked up by Santa Cruz Skate Shop to ride for both the shop and SKATEBOARDS.COM!
**Special congratulations to all of our team riders for all of their hard work and good attitudes.. Told you it would pay off!**

MAY - CONTEST HIGHLIGHTS
Josh Douglas took FIRST Place in a local Reno Jam series and took FIRST Place the Berkley CASL Street Comp.
Drake Riddiough took Third Place in the Street Comp and nailed Fourth Place in the Mini Ramp at the CASL Berkley Comp.
Cody Chapman moved into Second Place in Street and took Third Place in the Mini Ramp at the CASL Berkley Comp.
Caedyn Curto took the Fourth Place spot at the CASL Chino Contest!

APRIL - RUMOR MILL
Isaiah Johnson has decided to make an EARLY move up to the 11 - 15 Sponsored Division. When I asked him why he would like to leave his FIRST place standing to ride in the older division he told me the following "I am not challenged enough in the 10 & Under's and want to skate with riders that are better me so I can get better myself."
**I know there are a handful of people that have been complaining to anyone that will listen that Isaiah Johnson is too old for the 10 & Under Division and according to documents that CASL and Half Pint have seen this is simply a LIE. For future reference should ANYONE have questions, concerns or comments about any of the kids that ride for Half Pint Skateboards please send me an email or call us directly to get your facts straight before you start talking smack about our KIDS! Thanks Jay....

APRIL - ELEMENT FUTURE NATURE -- CHAMPIONSHIPS AT WOODWARD
Isaiah Johnson --- WINS the Element Future Nature 13 & Under Championships.
Boo Johnson --- Wins the Element Future Nature 14 - 16 Championships.
Caedyn Curto --- Won the Best Sportsman Award in the 18 & Over Sponsored Division at the Element Future Nature Championships!
***Next year all Half Pint Team Rider will be entering the Sponsored Division no matter how confusing the age groups and sponsored vs unsponsored divisions are.**

APRIL - CONTEST HIGHLIGHTS
CASL - Nor-Cal - Cameron Skatepark Contest
Drake Riddiough took Second in Street and Fourth Place in the Bowl Comp.
Cody Chapman took Third in the Street Comp and Third Place in the Bowl Comp.
Nate Linford nailed Second Place in the Bowl Comp and ended in Sixth Place in the Street Comp.
Chris Henderson walked off with another FIRST Place win in the Street Comp and Fifth Place in the Bowl.

4-19-07
HPS TEAM RIDER UPDATES
Isaiah Johnson's team rider profile has been updated so check it out! We also updated Brendon Villanueva flow team rider profile!

4-18-07
FUTURE NATURE AM CONTEST #3 • SKATELAB SIMI VALLEY, CA
Tom Schaar and Caedyn Curto were down at SkateLab for the Element Contest last month representing the HPS crew. Both skaters skated really well in each of their divisions with the format being different from what they usually ride in. Each round was an elimination round where they draw two riders names and have them skate at the same time for one minute and one rider moves to the next round while the other rider packs it up and goes home. Tom Schaar ended up with one of the lucky golden tickets that puts him into the finals this weekend at Woodward! Great job guys and good luck!

4-15-07
KING OF THE COAST CONTEST - XTREME WHEELS
Drake Riddiough charged the east coast representing the HPS crew and made tons of new friends along the way. They flew, they skated and they destroyed the east coast! Video Coming.
XTreme Wheels Contest Results - Intermediate Division
Drake Riddiough came in second place.

4-15-07
FUTURE NATURE AM CONTEST #5 • GRANITE SKATEPARK

Cody Chapman, Josh Douglas and Drake Riddiough were set for the Element contest in Sacramento along with 40+ other groms! The 13-and Under Division was packed and the head to head comp was going to be a battle to the very end. All three riders made it through the first round but Drake Riddiough ran into some trouble in the second round. Cody Chapman drew Tristen Puza in the fourth round and the battle was on. Everyone watched as they tried to out ride each other trick after trick until time ran out and the judges announced a TIE! Josh Douglas (8 Years Old) ended up drawing Zach Kovacs (12 Years Old) who we all knew as the ripper from 702-board shop. They both pulled trick after trick and it finally came down to Josh Douglas pulling a 50/50 down the box to shuvit out that helped push Josh Douglas into the finals.

The finals were a three on three format with only one rider from advancing to the main event, which ultimately came down to Cody Chapman and Tristan Puza. They battled once again for a minute thirty seconds doing trick after trick following one another to see who was pulling what and where so the other could go bigger.... When the dust cleared and a judges finally made their close call they gave first place to Tristen Puza and second place to Cody Chapman! Huge thanks to the Element Crew for putting on such a great event!
As you can see from the photos on the element site everyone there had a blast! See you in the finals!

Element Skateboards -- See blog on right for Future Nature Contest coverage

Transworld Skateboarding Coverage of the Future Nature Contest - photos at the bottom of the page

4-11-07
DRAKE HEADS OUT FOR THE KING OF THE COAST CONTEST
Drake Riddiough and family are flying back out to Michigan to meet up with some of their new friends and hit up a few skate spots along the way to the contest. They are heading out to the KING OF THE COAST CONTEST in Buffalo N.Y. that is a grom-focused event and should proved to be lots of fun! Good luck Drake! Check out Website For More Info

4-04-07
CHULA VISTA ROAD TRIP & CONTEST RESULTS

Part of the Nor-Cal team got together for a road trip to head down to the Chula Vista Skate Park so we could skate with our So-Cal team members at the CASL Contest. Once everyone agreed on where they were going to sit we hit the road with Cody, Chris, Nate, Johnny (Newby to the HPS Family) and myself as pilot and team manager.

We ended up driving straight to the park and it only took us 10-hour thanks to some Hell L.A. traffic. Once we arrived at the Chula Vista skate park and climbed out of the truck we could hear that the bowl contest was well under way. Chris, Nate and Cody all stiff from the car ride, grabbed their gear and headed straight to the bowl comp. The sponsored division had just begun so Chris and Nate stepped up and gave it hell with only one warm up run for each this wasn't going to be quite so easy or so we thought. Chris and Nate ended up nailing their runs and walked off with First and second place positions. We ran into Brendon V. who had just swept the un-sponsored division with another First Place win!

3-24-07
CHULA VISTA CONTEST RESULTS
Sponsored 11-15 - Bowl
Chris Henderson walked off with the first place sweep.
Nate Linford crept his way into the fith place position.
Un-Sponsored 11-15 - Bowl
Brendon Villanueva took top honors with another first place run!

Sponsored 11-15 - Mini-Ramp
Chris Hendersonpulled another first place finish after a tie breaking win against Nate.
Nate Linford ended the tie-breaker with a second place finish.
Cody Chapman held his own in this heat and placed fourth overall.
Un-Sponsored 11-15 - Mini-Ramp
Brendon Villanueva went bigger than the sponsored group to take his first place finish.

Sponsored 10 and Under
Isaiah Johnson nailed everything in his run to pull off the first place spot and win best trick!
BEST TRICK - Nollie B/S 180 Down the Double Set!!! SICK

Sponsored 11-15 - Street
Cody Chapman helped the HPS crew by holding onto the fifth spot in street!

3-22-07
FINALLY - PACIFICA CONTEST RESULTS

We met up with Lance Mountain at the event and he signed autographs for the team and posed for a few photos with the groms after hew watched there run. Thanks Lance the kids were stoked!

PACIFICA CONTEST
Sponsored 10 & Under Division - Street
Drake Riddiough came in first place with his signature style and 360 airs going way over coping.
Josh Douglas had a flawless run with kickflips and 50/50 grinds and pop shuvits.
Sage Wilkinsin placed 4th with a laid back style.

Sponsored 11-15 - Street
Nate Linford placed 5th overall with a great run.
Chris Henderson landed in 7th place without using his ninja skills.
Cody Chapman wasn't able to make the event due to some make-up school work that needed to be finished.

We also kicked off our first of a series of Half Pint Sponsored Game of SKATE at the Half Pint tent. Benji Hannus took the first round by pulling an nollie 5.0 nose pick revert off the curb.. um yeah..

The second round went on forever and finally ended when Zachary Kovacs from 209 Board Shop took out the last of the riders. Hope you like the sweatshirt cause you earned it!
See you in San Diego!

3-29-07
PHOTOS - PHOTOS & MORE PHOTOS!
We are in the middle of adding photos to the website and wanted you to check out what we have done so far.
Isaiah Johnson, Caedyn Curto, Chris Henderson, Cody Chapman and many others have been added so check them out.
Oh yeah check out the NEW SKATE FRIENDS section!

3-8-07
KING OF THE GROMS - RESULTS - PHOTOS
Special thanks goes out to Drake and his Dad for making the trip out to Minnisota to enter the 3rd Annual King Of The Groms contest! Drake placed 9th out of 60-kinds in the Intermediate Mini Bowl contest! Drake then went onto to take 4th place in the Mini Beginner Street part of the contest.

We caught up with Drake to ask him a few questions about his King Of The Groms experience and here is what he had to say.

What did you like best about the 3rd Lair Skate Park?
I liked the big bowl.  I was able to get really big air.  You can pump really good it had really good corners.  The contests were cool.

What was the coolest part of your trip?
The coolest part was that I won a week free to Woodward Lake Owen.

What else was fun?
I met lots of kids and made a new friend.  His name is Bryce and he is a good skater and I think he is 8.  We are going to go to Lake Owen at the same time and room together.  I stayed at a hotel that had an indoor pool.  That was awesome!

Would you go again?  What would you try this time?
Yes.  I would do late grabs and try a hand-plant.

3-6-07
WOODWARD CASL CONTEST RESULTS
Half Pint Skateboards would like to thank to the folks at Woodward and CASL for working together to put on another top-notch event. Special thanks goes out to all of the riders and parents that we have met over the last 6-months cause without your support we would just be another little skate company from Santa Cruz... Congrats to all of our riders that worked so hard over 3-days to bring home this many wins for the team! Thanks guys!
Now onto the event results!

HPS SPONSORED TEAM RESULTS - NOR-CAL
Sponsored 10 & Under Division - Street
Joshua Douglas took top honors with a 1st place win in his division!
Sage Wilkinsin placed 4th with a great run.
Sponsored 11-15 - Street
Chris Henderson pulled off another 1st place win using his Ninja skills.
Cody Chapman placed 3rd with a great second run!
Nate Linford rounded it out with a 4th place finish.
Sponsored Mini Ramp
Chris Henderson pulled off the sickest run ever and walked away with 1st place!
Cody Chapman nailed his run and grabbed the 5th place spot.
Nate Linford rounded out our group with 9th place.
Sponsored Bowl
Nate Linford placed 6th with a great run.
Sponsored Vert Ramp
Chris Henderson placed 3rd in the vert ramp contest.

HPS SPONSORED TEAM RESULTS - SO-CAL
Sponsored 10 & Under Division - Street
Isaiah Johnson nailed his run and landed in 1st place!
Josh Douglas pulled off a 2nd place win with a great run.
Sponsored 10 & Under Division - Street Best Trick
Isaiah Johnson nailed a back smith down the rail!

HPS FLOW TEAM RESULTS - SO-CAL
Mini 8 & Under Division - Street
Tom Schaar place 3rd with a hard hit during his second run.
SC 1A: 11 - 12 Division - Street Best Trick
Brendon Villanueva pulled off a kick flip down the 12-stair!
Un-sponsored Mini Ramp
Brendon Villanueva nailed the 4th place spot with a great run.
Un-sponsored Bowl
Brendon Villanueva earned 3rd place with another great run.
Un-sponsored Vert Ramp
Tom Schaar (Age 7) pulled 1st place honor with a flawless run!
Brendon Villanueva pulled 2nd place using his own style.

3-3-07
TEAM RIDERS PHOTO - UPDATES
We have been adding Team Rider Photos to the site from the Woodward West CASL Contest last weekend so check it out cause there are tons more to come!
JOSH DOUGLAS photos click here
TOM SCHAAR photos click here
BRENDON V. photos click here

2-23-07
DRAKE RIDDIOUGH HEADS TO THE KING OF THE GROMS CONTEST
Drake Riddiough and his dad are heading out the freezing Minnesota for the 3rd Annual King Of The Groms series put on by 3rd Lair Skate park and Skate shop! Drake will be joining the likes of Curran Caples and Patrick Ryan as they all go for broke on the east coast! Good luck guys and represent California for us all! King Of The Groms Website

2-04-07
ISAIAH JOHNSON JOIN THE HALF PINT TEAM
Isaiah Johnson age 10 from Southern California joins the Half Pint Team! We met Isaiah at Camp Woodward for the California State Championships where he single handedly swept the street division and won State Championships for 10 and Under and won Best Trick! Keep watching for more on Isaiah as we build up his team profile! Welcome aboard the Half Pint Team!

2-04-07
CAEDYN CURTO JOINS THE HALF PINT TEAM
Caedyn Curto age 12 from Southern California joins the Half Pint Team! Caedyn brings some mad street skills to the So-Cal HPS Team and will be riding in the 11-15 Sponsored Division against the likes of Louie Lopez and Curren Caples. Welcome aboard Caedyn! (TEAM RIDER PROFILE AND VIDEO CLIPS COMING SOON)

2-03-07
JAY, CHRIS AND NATE HEAD TO SKATELAB - Simi Valley, CA
The Nor-Cal crew headed down to Skatelab for the So-Cal C.A.S.L. contest to see what cooking down in southern CA. When we arrived we were blown away with the top notch Skatelab indoor park! (If you have not been to Skatelab yet you are missing out big time!)

SKATELAB BOWL JAM - The first comp was the bowl jam and it was packed with more rippers than anything we had seen in Nor-Cal.. Tom Schaar rode in the Mini 8 and Under division and looked like a little bullet carving and airing big during his run. (Photos Coming Soon) Huge shout outs go to Patrick who was the only rider in the Sponsored 10 and Under Division but was going bigger than all of the riders in all age divisions... Chris Henderson was able to walk away with a 3rd place trophy thanks to his ninja skills...

SKATELAB STREET JAM - Tom Schaar placed 2nd in the Mini Division by blasting his front side and backside airs over the vert door and by ending his run with a boned out front side air that made Cody Chapman freak out when he watched the video clip! Isaiah hurt his hand right before his run and was still able to pull off a 2nd place win! Great Job! Cayden Curto was able to place 7th in the 11-15 Sponsored division with Nate Linford placing 14th and Chris Henderson pulling off a 17th place to round out the team standings. Nate, Chris and I all learned that the rumors were true about the So-Cal street scene. How big, how technical the kids down south were going was something to see with our own eyes and we did just that! Special thanks goes out to Curran Caples and his family along with Patrick Ryan and his Dad for being some of the coolest people we met on our first of many So-Cal road trips!

1-27-07
HPS TEAM WINS AT CASL COMP - Yuba City, CA
Chris Henderson felt at home riding in the sponsored division for the first time while taking First Place honors in both Mini-Ramp and Street! Drake Riddiough, Josh Douglas and Sage Wilkinsin took top spots in the 10 & Under Sponsored division in the Street Comp as well.

2006 HPS NEWS AND HAPPNINGS