Read this in print here.
Hey Sam, could you give us a little background on yourself to start with?
Born and raised in Southampton (all the way down on the map). Got given a skateboard by a friend when I was eleven / twelve and now I’m twenty six and still madly in love with it. Skate pretty much only transition due to growing up with a 4ft, 5ft and 6ft mini as a local growing up plus my street game sucks, ask anyone. Riding for JJ’s Skateshop and Wight Trash Skateboards, big up!
You recently completed a challenge to skate fifty parks across the year (actually getting to 114!) It’s been great watching you achieve this, could you tell us how the idea came about?
I’m in a few skateboardery Facebook groups and saw a post by a guy called Paul Sloggett about getting to skate as many different skateparks in 2017. So, I and my pal Dave decided we would try and get to at least fifty different parks overall. Think he got just over 50 and I got 114, fuck you Dave!
I imagine it was pretty tough to nail the logistics of this down, with you being on the south coast. How did you manage to get to the further afield places for you such as Manchester and Sheffield? All paid for out of your own pocket?
So, I work for Rubicon (some might know as Camp Rubicon) teaching skateboarding in schools all over the U.K. Wherever I would be working I would try and get a skate in after I finish. In regards to petrol I get that for free then just top up on any extra from the school or hotel to the skatepark so it never works out as much! Originally I wanted to do the challenge as a way of getting me off my ass while I’m staying away. I started to grow tired of skating on my own, so this push helped.
How did you decide which parks to hit?
At the beginning of the year I would research what parks I would be staying/working close to but I started getting lazy and just typing “nearest skatepark” into Google and if it looked good then I would drive there! Sometimes I would write up a list of where I would be staying that week and post in the Facebook groups – I’ve met a lot of rad people like this!
You must have a few good stories from the various trips you took, care to give us some favourites?
It wasn’t good at the time, but watching my exhaust fall off on the motorway was pretty special... It did more kickflips in those ten seconds than I have done in my life. When we hit Andover (102) the lights had gone off, luckily the rad locals drove their cars over and lit up the bowl section so our trip wasn’t wasted. Having a sesh with Sam Thorne at the Jurassic D.I.Y. before an afternoon job then finding out the school was round the corner from his skatepark, Terminal 1 - had to stop off! Making plans to skate Camp Hillcrest then randomly bumping into my mate there (who I hadn’t seen in about 4/5 years) was super rad, Tim still absolutely slays everything. The day me, Ian and Alex (the famous @analhamsandwhich on insta) taught 500 kids in one day in the roasting sun then headed to The Level in Brighton to skate with Craig.
Any favourite skateparks and why?
Have been thinking about this the last few weeks, reckon I could narrow it down to a few.
Long Lawford with Ian Hopkinson is up there, super interesting park and Ian is a d00d!
The Urbside, Romford, Steve’s and Delside weekend was incredible, mainly because of the people we were skating with but also the parks. Delside is an incredible feat.
You’ve just started again for this year’s challenge, intending to beat the 114 total - have you a plan in place to do this?
Definitely need to try and get as much footage as I can as the JJS Skull Promo and the Wight Trash video are out soon and I’m lacking clips!
Originally I was thinking about trying to beat it with completely different skateparks from last year, but I think that would be near impossible.
So I’ll try and do as many different skateparks as I can, if I have to repeat some I’m not fussed, I still get a skate in at the end of the day!