What a crazy weekend we’ve had at the TAMPA AM 2021 skateboard contest!

250 amateur skaters met up at the Skatepark of Tampa over the weekend, for the 27th edition of the TAMPA AM contest, with the aim of becoming the most recognised amateur skater of the year. Shout-out to Yukito Aoki, who won 1st place with an incredible final run.

JART riders Alex Decunha and Ginwoo Onodera, took part in the contest, which turned out to be the edition of the TAMPA AM with the highest skateboarding level in history. And history is what Ginwoo made! He became the youngest skater ever to make it to the TAMPA AM finals, with only 11 years of age, qualifying in 2nd place at the semi-finals and getting a 7th place at the finals.

After 4 videos about Ginwoo were posted on The Berrics over the last 2 months, this was Ginwoo's first appearance to the public, who have been able to watch him skate live for the first time in a major contest. Ginwoo’s unique style and signature flip-in flip-out bluntslides won him the public’s heart, who celebrated every trick from the qualifiers to the final.

The variety of tricks landed with his tiny JART Classic 7.25" Deckwas unreal and made him become the crowd’s favourite. Even the judges showed their amazement at Gin’s consistency and level of concentration, unusual for a person of his age.

In fact, Ginwoo’s performance won him the Zumiez Destroyer Award, that he received while Paul Zitzer expressed that “this kid never stopped, he went on and on”. These words made the people who had congregated at the Skatepark of Tampa cheer and applaud, and it became obvious that Ginwoo’s introduction to the world will be remembered for a long time.

From HLC Distribution, we want to thank Brian Schaefer and Paul Zitzer for making this contest possible.