FIRST SPONSOR!

Just received word that Sidney has her first Sponsor............Evolv climbing shoes! She's been climbing in the Heras for over 3 years now so obviously it should be a good fit. Thanks Evolv!

ABS 10 Bouldering Season

After the summer off, the kids were excited to get back to climbing, especially since it was the Bouldering season. Sidney was coming into her own as a climber and was starting to expect to crush at every comp she climbed in. Chase, however, was moving up to the "C" category and had his work cut out for him. At this point, though, all he really cared about was how he did compared to his sister. It would be quite a rivalry for a while.

The first Local they competed in was the opener at The Circuit (Aah, remember when they did comps?). Sidney climbed well and came in 1st by a large margin. Chase struggled a bit and came in 10th.

The next Local was the Halloween comp at Edgeworks. Chase improved to 5th place while Sidney again won by a big margin. My favorite memory is of the costume I made for Sidney. She was wearing all black and I attached neon painted climbing holds to her outfit. It turned out really well as she blended in with the walls perfectly. She often just looked like a bunch of climbing holds moving up the wall!

The next Local was at Clubsport and it was onsight. Sidney was first again and impressively climbed each problem like they were V1s. Chase again improved his placing by coming in 4th. His steady improvement would lead to the short, epic struggle between brother and sister as to who the best climber in the family was and it would all start in..........

CANADA! The next comp we went to was across the border at the Cliffhanger gym in Coquitlam. Alex, Sam, Audrey, Big Syd, Lil Sid and Chase all competed. I think we got at least 4 first place finishes and a couple high placings. Most importantly, Chase got his first, 1st place finish! To top it off, he beat his sister's redpoint score (barely)! To say he was stoked is an understatement. You should have seen Sidney's face when she saw the scores and realized that Chase had beaten her. She was MAD! Anyone who knows her is aware of how competitive she is and this did not sit well with her. Besides that, everyone had a great time as the Canadians were all very nice.

With a win over his sister under his belt, Chase had his sights set on the SBC the very next week. Lo and behold, he beat her again to make it two times in a row. Sidney did finish first in the Youth category and Chase just missed some prize swag by finishing 4th in Beginner. However, Chase beating Sidney twice in a row led to a good amount of razzing by Chase and myself. This in turn led to quite a bit of tension between the three of us (See Sidney:Competitive).

Sidney released all of that tension at the next Local at Redmond VW and in the process shut us both up. She crushed and came in first. Chase did great and finished 4th. She beat him by a decent margin and Chase would never beat her again, thus establishing her as the best climber in the family. At least Chase can claim to have beaten her two times in a row!

We again went to Canada, this time we carpooled with Janelle and Kayla Culmback. It was at the Edge gym in North Vancouver. Janelle got to go to her first Tim Horton's. Whoo hoo! Sidney and Chase finished first and I think Kayla got second. The best part of the trip was going to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. We had a blast! Very cool.

Just like the opener, Regionals were at The Circuit. Chase climbed well and finished 6th, just nabbing the last invite to Nationals for his category. Sidney flashed all her routes and so did another girl named Cassin. SUPERFINAL! Cassin went first and made it about halfway up. Sidney then crushed the problem and first place was hers. I now had two kids going to Nationals again. Boulder here we come!

Nationals was at The Spot for the 2nd year in a row so I knew what to expect. Crowded conditions and at times, limited visibility. Chase climbed his heart out but did not make it Finals. He finished 27th out of 36 kids and I was very, very, proud of him. He improved so much during the season. Sidney was climbing well but having a bit of trouble reading the routes. She qualified for Finals in 3rd place but did not flash the 4th problem. In the Finals, Sidney and Grace Kane were the only girls to flash the first 3 problems putting her solidly in 2nd place. However, 2nd place was not to be as Sidney climbed the same wrong sequence 4 times in a row on the 4th problem. Only by sheer strength was she able to get high enough to place 4th and secure another US Team spot. When she was finished, she bravely fought back the tears but when I gave her a hug she couldn't help it and more than a few escaped her eyes. Still, in the end, she was happy to make team again and we chalked it up as a learning experience. We still talk about it now as a reminder to how important sequencing is. It was a great season for both kids but it would be the start of the end for Chase as a climber.

Skatepark #160 (#144) - Seattle Center

Wow. Has it been over 7 months since I've posted a blog entry about the kids?! Well, we have been busy but that is not an excuse to be so lazy. I will try to do better. Let's ease back into things by showing a couple of pictures of the Seattle Center skatepark. With so much climbing going on our Washington State Skatepark To-Do List has ground to a halt. I promised Chase that we would re-dedicate ourselves to finishing the list by the end of this summer. Wish us luck!

2008 SCS Rope Season

After the high of making US Team in Bouldering, Sidney went back to work at the discipline she wasn't sure how much she liked, Sport (ropes) climbing. From the beginning, Sidney loved bouldering but was kind of ho-hum about Sport climbing so I wasn't sure how well she'd do. She was now officially joined on team by her brother who finally got tired of just watching everyone else climb (much like Sidney got tired of watching everyone else skate at the beginning of our skate park adventures).

Chase got worked over pretty good by Sydney, the Everett team coach, those first few practices. Enough that he strained some muscles and missed the first comp at Stone Gardens in which Sidney finished in 2nd place. The next comp was at VW Everett and Chase did very well for his first rope comp finishing in 5th place. Sidney finished in 1st place for the very first time so that was special for her. Next was Edgeworks in Tacoma where Chase placed 6th and Sidney was 1st again. The last local comp was at Clubsport where Chase finished in 8th and Sidney was 2nd this time.

Both times that Sidney finished 2nd, the first place finisher was a very nice girl named Siena who was not at the comps where Sidney placed 1st. The comps were very close but Siena just edged out Sidney both times. This set the stage for a very good Regional comp at our very own Seattle VW. Chase did well in placing 7th. He got the last invite for Divisionals in Sport and qualified for Speed, too. Sidney and Siena both flashed all 3 routes which set up a Superfinal! Both girls climbed well but Sidney got quite a bit farther when Siena had a sequencing error halfway up the wall. So, Sidney qualified 1st in both Sport and Speed for Divisionals which was at the Momentum gym in Sandy, Utah.

At Divisionals, Chase ran into a couple of routes in qualifiers that didn't suit his climbing style. Namely routes that required endurance and power moves. He is much stronger now, but at that time he was still building up his strength and endurance. Chase tried his best but didn't make it out of qualifiers, finishing 18th. He did however finish 4th in Speed which gave him an invite to Nationals. Sidney climbed extremely well in placing 2nd in both Sport and Speed. She was barely edged out both times by Grace who is the same age as Sidney. Grace and her family are good, friendly people. I'm sure 10 years from now, Grace and Sidney will still be competing against each other in their friendly rivalry. Chase was a bit bummed about his result but was glad that he was going to Nationals in Speed. Sidney was very happy about her placings, too.

Nationals was in Sunnyvale, California at the Planet Granite gym. It's a nice, big facility where you can see most of the routes well. SCS Nationals are a 3 day event with Sport Qualifiers the first day. Sidney flashed the 1st route but had a problem on the 2nd route. If I remember correctly, you only had 5 minutes to complete each route that day. Sidney had a reach issue right after the start which took her a good 2 minutes to figure out. After getting by that, she didn't realize she was pressed for time and she never looked at the clock. She was only halfway through the route when the timer called for 1 minute left. Needless to say, she double-timed it up the route after that but timed out a little over three quarters up the route. When I met up with her right after that, I could tell she was crushed. She was fighting back tears because she knew she had made a big mistake. I gave her a hug to console her and then we waited for the results. She made Semi-Finals, qualifying 12th out of 18. She would have her work cut out for her but in retrospect, I'm glad that it happened because she really learned from that mistake. The 2nd day was Semi-Finals in Sport and Qualifers in Speed. Sidney did great on her Semis route but made a sequencing mistake with her foot that cost her some points. She moved up, though, qualifying in 8th out of the top 10 Finals spots. She also had two good runs in Speed and qualified 6th out of the 16 who made Semis. Chase tried his best but did not make it out of Qualifiers finishing 24th. Just like at ABS Nationals, Sidney qualified for Finals in 8th position so I took that as a good sign and I was right! She was the 3rd climber out and did awesome, making it 2 holds from the finish. After the other climbers were done and the scores came out, Sidney had finished 3rd! It was unbelievable how close the top 3 climbers were. The top 2 climbers (Grace won on countbacks all the way back to the 2nd qualifier) touched the 2nd to last hold and Sidney pulled to that hold but just missed touching usable surface. Very close. Right after that, Sidney had two Speed Semi runs. She was consistent and qualified for Finals in 6th out of 8 spots. In her Finals runs, she improved her time by a total of 4 seconds and finished in 5th place! So the final tally was that she finished 3rd in Sport and 5th in Speed. For US Team results, which are an aggregate score of ALL routes climbed for the comp, she finished 8th in Sport (4 spots out) and 5th in Speed (1 spot out). Both kids had a great time that weekend and did great! I was very proud of them but I was also glad the season was over because it was loooooong!

I'm a writer?

Hey everyone. I have an announcement. I have a new post writing online articles for the Seattle Examiner as the Seattle Skateboarding Examiner! I'm still in the process of getting my accounts set-up and such but I will let you all know when my first article comes out. I'll have more info soon. Later!

THE LIST OF SKATEPARKS YET TO DOCUMENT

This is the list of parks we still have to document. A few of these parks the kids have already skated at many times like Kent and Seattle's Lower Woodland. For various reasons, though, I haven't documented them. If anyone knows of a park that is not on this list or THE LIST, please e-mail me or comment on this post with the lowdown. Thanks!

1. Bellevue (Highlands @ BVSP)
2. Bremerton (Navy Base - Anyone have clearance to get us on the base?)
3. Fairfield
4. Forks
5. Friday Harbor
6. Kent (East Hill)
7. Liberty Lake
8. Long Beach (Closed as of 05/18/09 - Someone let me know if it ever re-opens!)
9. Lopez Island
10. McCleary (This one is iffy on if an actual S.P. exists)
11. Morton (This one is also iffy)
12. Seattle (East Marginal - Always a work in progress.)
13. Seattle (Lower Woodland)
14. Seattle (SeaSk8 Redux)
15. Silverdale (Island Lake)
16. Spokane (Hillyard)
17. Spokane (Spokane Valley YMCA)
18. Tacoma (Fort Lewis - Again, we need clearance!)
19. Walla Walla (320 Tausick Way)
20. Yakima (1109 E. Maple St.)

THE LIST

I thought it would be a good idea to post our list of skateparks we have been to and documented. That way anyone who visits this site and knows of any we've missed could alert me of its' whereabouts. A couple of things first. If there is no designation after the city then that means it was in Washington. If there are two or more skateparks in a particular city, the specific location will be in parenthesis. Also, some parks are actually on the list multiple times because they have either been totally remodeled or expanded. Those will be designated with an R/M. So here is the list.

1. Mount Vernon
2. Bellingham
3. Marysville
4. Granite Falls
5. Auburn (Brannan Park)
6. Kent (Lions Park)
7. Kent (West Fenwick Park)
8. Sumner
9. Auburn (Lakeland Hills)
10. Bonney Lake
11. Bothell
12. Oak Harbor
13. Anacortes
14. Burlington
15. Woodinville
16. Kirkland
17. Redmond
18. Renton (Liberty Park)
19. Puyallup
20. Milton
21. Sequim
22. Stanwood
23. Mill Creek
24. Snohomish
25. Everett (Walter Hall Park)
26. Seattle (Seattle Center-SEASK8)
27. Shoreline
28. Federal Way
29. Mukilteo
30. Des Moines
31. Bellevue (BVSP)
32. Arlington
33. Renton (Skatebarn West)
34. Tacoma (Thrill Zone)
35. Gig Harbor
36. Sedro-Woolley
37. Carnation
38. Monroe
39. Wenatchee (Pioneer Park)
40. Lake Chelan
41. Mercer Island
42. North Bend
43. Moses Lake
44. Spokane (UTF)
45. Renton (Skatebarn West - R/M)
46. Issaquah
47. Kingston
48. Bainbridge Island
49. Poulsbo
50. Silverdale
51. SeaTac
52. Burien
53. Seattle (Innerspace)
54. Lakewood (Kiwanis Park)
55. University Place
56. Lynnwood
57. Lake Chelan (R/M)
58. Wenatchee (Revolution)
59. Leavenworth
60. Tukwila
61. Kenmore
62. Portland (Dept. of Skateboarding), OR
63. Maple Valley
64. Covington
65. Buckley
66. Enumclaw
67. Bellevue (Lakemont)
68. Seattle (East Marginal)
69. Seattle (Ballard)
70. Tacoma (Stewart Heights)
71. Tacoma (Heidelberg)
72. Spanaway
73. Orting
74. Ellensburg
75. Quincy
76. Ephrata
77. Soap Lake
78. Lacey
79. Olympia (Friendly Grove)
80. Olympia (Yauger Park)
81. Yelm
82. Eatonville
83. Langley
84. Port Townsend
85. Port Angeles
86. Seattle (East Marginal - R/M)
87. Centralia
88. Raymond
89. Aberdeen
90. Shelton
91. Bremerton
92. Blaine
93. Chilliwack (Clilliwack Landing), B.C., CA
94. Chilliwack (Watson Glen), B.C., CA
95. Abbotsford (Mouat), B.C., CA
96. Abbotsford (Yale), B.C., CA
97. Bellevue (Crossroads)
98. Sammamish
99. Edmonds
100. Cle Elum
101. Wilson Creek
102. Grand Coulee
103. Airway Heights
104. Deer Park
105. Chewelah
106. Colville
107. Kettle Falls
108. Omak
109. Newport
110. Cusick
111. Orcas Island
112. Castle Rock
113. Longview
114. Woodland
115. Portland (Burnside), OR
116. Vancouver (Swift Park)
117. Ridgefield
118. Battle Ground
119. Bend, OR
120. Redmond, OR
121. Madras, OR
122. Black Diamond
123. Duvall
124. Camas
125. Stevenson
126. Portland (Holly Farm), OR
127. St. Helens, OR
128. Yakima (Chesterly Park)
129. Prosser
130. Benton City
131. Kennewick (S. Dayton St.)
132. Richland
133. Connell
134. Colfax
135. Pullman
136. Moscow, ID
137. Lewiston, ID
138. Clarkston
139. Walla Walla
140. Kennewick (Columbia Park)
141. Herriman, UT
142. Medical Lake
143. Coeur d'Alene, ID
144. Post Falls, ID
145. Lyle
146. Goldendale
147. Bothell (R/M)
148. Vancouver (East)
149. Tonasket
150. Concrete
151. Bellingham (R/M)
152. Everett (Wiggums Hollow Park)
153. Brier
154. Selah
155. Sultan
156. Tacoma (Norpoint)
157. Tacoma (McKinley Park)
158. Lakewood (Harry Todd Park)
159. Lynden (The Skate)