Happy 2010! I spent the first day of the year skating the “ridiculous” pool up in LA with Ozzie, Spooner, Salba, and a bunch of other rip-riders. It was a fun day and there was an awesome sunset to end the session. Thanks to Ozzie for letting us skate, & MRZ and Chris Tietz for shooting pics!
Weds night I went to Tokyo MAPS skatepark for a signing and skate demo… Alot of the same faces were there from the Ebina event – and new ones too! It was awesome to see everyone again and to watch the little girls tear up the skatepark. I ran into Gen Kun- a local vert skater that I have skated with in the past in California. He was ripping and it was awesome to session the ramp with him! Keiko and Mari from Nikita came too and we did some product tosses for the girls.. Many thanks to my Dad who once again shot all the photos.. And a big thanks to Takashi, Jin, Nagi and the Murasaki Sports team that helped make the event possible!
Last weekend I got the chance to check out a girl’s skate event called, Skate Viking. It was held at the X-Dome skatepark in Ebina, Japan. I went to promote hoopla and I watched many of the top amateurs compete- and I got to skate with them a bit too. It was a really cool experience to meet the girls and to see the scene they have built for themselves here. They were all skating at such a high level and were ripping!! My friend, Keiko, also came out to the event, and it was great to see her again! Thanks to Takashi for setting it up and to my Dad for taking all the photos!!
Yesterday I went to visit my friend, Keiko, in the town of Onjuku. I know Keiko b/c we are Nikita teammates and have traveled together many different times in the past on photoshoots, etc. So, I was excited to finally visit her at her home in Japan. She and her husband have a little skatepark and cafe called the “Nikita Cafe and Park“. It is a well-kept, charming little skatepark and it was so fun to session with Keiko! Thanks for having us, Keiko!! Here are some pics:
I am over in Japan right now skateboarding and visiting my parents who have lived here since May. I have gotten to visit a few different towns since I have been here- mainly, Yokosuka, Hakone, Enoshima, and Onjuku in Chiba. It is a beautiful and exciting country! Here are some pics from the trip so far..
If you are around Los Angeles on Dec. 5th, you should definitely go check out this event. It’s Alva’s Deck the Halls silent art auction and Alva Los Angeles’ 4 year Anniversary celebration. All proceeds from the silent auction will go directly to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Auctioning art will be provided by Artists and Pro skaters such as myself, Christian Hosoi, Mark Gonzales, Steve Olson, Jeff Ho, and Jason Adams just to name a few. Other auctioning items will be donated from the likes of Metallica, and Henry Rollins (among others). Fuel TV will be covering the celebration. Thanks to Exhibit Gallery A and Alva Los Angeles for including me in this amazing event!
Once upon a time (before I got into skateboarding professionally), I did go to college. I went to Radford University, a liberal arts school nestled deep in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. I earned my BFA in visual arts there and graduated in 2000. If you would have asked me back then if I knew I would have pursued professional skating, I would have laughed at you. Funny how things come to be in this world! Anyway, RU just posted up an Alumna profile on me and my skateboarding. The link to the article is below and so are some pics of the campus and surrounding scenery there. Thanks for the memories, RU!
Here’s the link to the article:
http://www.radford.edu/~alumni/alumnews/knoop.html
The 2nd annual Johnny Romano Rock the Cradle contest was this past weekend in Houston, Texas. I have been working through a gnarly back injury all of 2009, so placing 3rd and getting on the podium at this contest was a great way to end the ‘09 season for me. But, more importantly, here’s a little about the event itself:
Rock the Cradle is an invite-only Pro Skateboard Contest and a tribute to the late skateboarder Johnny Romano, who sadly lost the battle against cancer last year, at the age of just 10yrs. The event was held in Houston, Texas and consisted of more than 20 pro skateboarders, a Masters comp and also a Womens division. Apparently, this was the first pro Women’s skateboarding contest in Texas. So all of us girls were stoked to be there representing..A big thanks goes out to Barry Blumenthal and Lori Peltier for making it all happen!!! Here are some pics:
Houston Loc-dogs
Podium: CB 1st, Lynz 2nd and Mimi 3rd
Hoopla skateboards is heating up.. here are some pics from some recent meetings up in LA/Santa Barbara..
Snowboard Canada Women’s magazine just posted up an online article on me… Click on the pic below to read it!
