Thursday, October 25, 2012

Powerslide

I know I know, I said my blog got too commercial before, and now i’m writing something about my sponsor.. It’s different, just ignore my hypocrisy.


You ever look back and think “how did i get here?”  It’s been less than a year since I joined the Powerslide race team and it’s been such a blur.  I always knew Powerslide was a huge company, but to be honest I was originally just super pumped to be skating with some guys I really respect in Scott Arlidge and Kalon Dobbin.  Next thing you know I’m traveling all over Europe, meeting tons of people, and involved in the development of products that are going to help evolve the sport I love.  A year ago I was coming off of a back injury and one of my worst seasons ever, and these guys were willing to give me a chance.  I didn’t tell them this(shhh), but I wasn’t even sure how competitive I could be… So, when I won the NSC last year, I was happy for myself, but also happy to win for the Powerslide Team.  And Powerslide really is a team.  When I showed up in Europe last year, I knew the guys, but not like they all knew each other.  And they all treated me like I had always been one of the group.  It was the same thing when a group of the Powerslide Korean team arrived, they all were just welcomed to the family.  There was a group of Germans, Swiss, Colombians, Koreans, French, Kiwis, Belgiumese(Sorry Ferre, got no clue how to make your country plural, I know thats not right but it looks funny so i stuck with it), and little ole me traveling all over Europe.  I’m sure anyone who saw us outside of the races scratched their head when they saw us.  And everyone was treated the same, regardless of how many races they’d won or lost.  The Powerslide motto is “We Love to Skate” and hanging out in that group it’s so apparent why.. All we did was eat, sleep, skate, and talk skating(and sometimes sing, but that’s a completely different story).  Like all the time we’re talking about skating.  Every meal its, “hey remember this race” or “you got lucky this race”.  It was just a group of 20+ people with one major thing in common, we all love to skate.  One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen is a French guy and and Korean guy trying to speak English together, because it was the only language that had in common.  This year at worlds, anytime one of the Powerslide guys won a medal, the rest of the team was all happy for them, regardless of nationality…. even if they were in the same race.  It’s so much fun to be a part of a team that really enjoys all of the sport, and wants to help it grow.  Powerslide refuses to stay still, and continues to do work on things that will make this sport faster than it’s ever been.  So, basically the moral of this story is; there is no way I could not do my blog with out thanking the company and the team that helped make this past year so amazing.



PS. In completely unrelated news, special congrats to my buddy JR Celski for breaking the world record in the short track 500meter at a world cup.. 39.93… even if you don’t know a thing about short track, that just sounds fast.