For this month's skate the shop competition we decided to give the 5 stair a rest and headed outside to break in our new Mini Ramp. Here's how it went down…about 20 kids entered…there were not enough female skaters to split the guys from the gals, so Hanna and Allysha had to go up against 18 boys…more on that later…the first round was a 1min 30sec run…we then cut the pack down to 6 finalists(Matty, Elijah, Jeremiah, Hanna, Alexi, and Adam)…there were also 3 little rippers(Morgan, Allysha, and Evan) that we felt deserved their own final, so we let them battle it out for a Nine Star Deck. The finals were a tiring 2min run. Blah blah blah…let's let the photos do the talking…

Patiently waiting for the contest to begin 

Elijah made sure Judge Jason Butler saw this one

Nine Star's own ADAM KEELY had plenty of steeeeeeez to make it to the finals

Matty showing everybody how it's done

Alexi made it to the finals with his smooth style and consistent run.

Jeremiah also made it to the finals…must be his hot new Nine Star T

Hanna. Enough said.

Hanna-kickflip indy 

Excuse me boys while I 540 out

Morgan was putting on a show as usual

Hey world-this is Evan-he's nine years old-so yeah

Allysha was pleasing the crowd with her hand plants 

Allysha airs it out

Judges Andrew and Jason were absolutely baffled by the talent and were left speechless by Hanna and Allysha's runs.

That's Morgan's Dad in the back, he was the official time keeper.

….and the winners are:

1st Place- $100 Gift Certificate to Nine Star-HANNA

2nd Place-Kenny Anderson Chocolate Deck-MATTY

3rd-6th Place-Chocolate, Girl, Crailtap T's-Elijah, Jeremiah, Alexi, and Adam

Winner of the little ripper division:

1st Place-Nine Star Deck-ALLYSHA

Nine Star's Skate The Shop contest is held on the last Sunday of every month at 6pm. It's either held inside the store on the 5 stair, or in the mini ramp. First Place is always at least $100 Gift Certificate to Nine Star. Other prizes vary depending on what kind of gear we can round up. 

So wegot this kid Adam K working in our skate dept. and he's a pretty cool kid. A little young and sometimes crazy but overall he's an a'ight kid. Today was the day that Nike Pee Wee Dunks dropped so naturally all the Nike SB heads rolled in and Adam K made sure to buy his before they were all gone. After purchasing his fresh kicks he goes ahead and puts them next to some other kid's shoe box that happened to look just the same as Adam's! So an average Joe would normally raise a flag in their mind and not put two similar boxes next to each other because when they do one might get confused on which box was theirs or not notice at all in times of hurry and just grab the wrong ones, which in this case that's what happened. Adam took the wrong box which contained the other kid's old shoes! But the icing on the cake is when Adam sold his own box of shoes to another customer because he was sure that his shoes were in a safe place (which were actually that other kids old shoes). Now he's stock with some other kids shoes and no more in his size left at the shop. If you see him bummed out tomorrow, just give him a hug……………………..ha ha!

 
Adam K. at one of his finest moments! 

Adam's new Dunks….well at least that's what the box said, this was what was inside it.  

What he was hoping to get. 

It's mid April and I'm still obsessing about the March Madness. Why is that? is it cause I'm just getting too old and living in the past? naw…That ain't it. What ever it is, it is what it is, you hearrrrd. Since I'm still obsessing on what happened on the West LA March Madness in its final week, I'll give you a recap along with some pix. Basically this year we had lots of surprises and there was not a dull moment thru out the whole contest. The crowd had come in to see last year's champ and Nine Star's own Jorge Comelli. He was the crowd favorite and the most likely to win, although there was fierce contestants in the elite 16 representing local talent along with Nine Star team's Andrew "El Potta" Pott.

Jorge Comelli had to face Nate Principato, a kid who had just moved to LA from Boston in hopes of skate superstardom. JC won the rock paper scissors match up and went first. In no time he handed Nate Principato two letters and in another minute he handed him two more. At this point JC was in full control and almost home. So he wanted to kill Nate Dawg with something special, but that something special attempt went wrong and Nate Principato was on. Hardflip rewinds? Are you kidding me. His style was super clean as Jay Janelle (Our Store Manager) put it "he's like from Tony Hawk Proskater". Nate Dawg did the impossible and the most unexpected, he came back from having a S K A T and knocked out last year's champ and crowd favorite Jorge Comelli. Nate Dawg was on fire that night and as the rounds came, he went ahead and just kept knocking people out one by one til the finals. That's where he played the winner from last week, Richard Massie of Nine Star team.

The Final was as exciting as it could get. Two very different styles of skating and lots of crazy variations of tricks went down and after a long 10 minute game of skate Nate Dawg Principato was declared as the 2007 WLA March Madness Champion. Nate Dawg earned himself $250 Nine Star Bucks, Fresh Park Quarter Pipe, DVS Shoes, year supply of Red Bull and a chance to represent West LA Nine Star versus Mission Viejo Nine Star battle of the champions.

14 & under was no different than the 15+ division. Lots of talent and it was nice to see what the kids had learned since the 2006 March Madness. All those hours spent at Nine Star training had really made a difference in some of the kids and we are so stoked to support these little skate rats and their skating habits. It was also very nice to see a lot of parents there in the younger division supporting their kids. Now I know there are soccer moms out there, but we are definitely brewing some skate moms at Nine Star. 

14 & Under final was between Matt "Ziggy" Lemond and Casper Stockwell.  Ziggy went in the final as last years champ defending his title but Casper hadn't shown up for games, he was serious and serious about taking the champs spot. The final was pretty exciting and each skater showcased their special moves, but at the end Matt "Ziggy" Lemond came on top as the victor and held on to his championship for another year. So if you think you got what it takes to beat this kid, then cruise on to Nine Star after school hours and see if you have what it takes.

Enjoy the photos.

Jason Butler came outta retirement and made it into the semis. He's the dude that gets us all our skate goodies and you might see him at the cove skatepark regulating on a regular basis. Ladies, show him some love!

JB throwing down hammers and eliminating foo's!

Homie Elijah and Homie JW showcasing mad skills, someone sponsor these kids before they charge too much!

 Jeron Walker Trey flippin' and $hit

The three Mackateers. JW, Ziggy and Jeremiah of DVS and 9Star

Someone told the cops that Jorge was killing it so they stopped by to make sure there were no homicides being attempted. He was released soon after the officers were informed that he was killing it in a game of skate. Silly cops.

2006 March Madness Champ Jorge Comelli

DJ JP was amping the crowd and the skaters with some gansta $hit.

The crowd and specially Greg was so focused on the Madness 07 that they didn't blink for a second….ok maybe they did but they were still super focused. C'mon just look at Greg's face.

Max and Richard Massie judging the 14 & under contest. Richard was a finalist in the 15+ division.

Richard Massie switch hittin' it.

Nate Principato was hands down the ultimate winner. 

Flippin' it trey style.

The Matix demo was a great success…. check out some pictures below of the action…Thanks to the whole Matix Team for coming by and Thanks to the 9star LA crew for holding it down!!!

thats all folks!!!!

    Eh yo waaflles, this past sunday was the banger to the MARCH MADNESS SKATE TOURNY 2007! brought to you by 9star,RedBull,FreshPark,and i think that 's allof them. So if you weren't here you missed out on some great grilling thanks to 9star andChris Radcliff (for doing most the grilling) and also to everyone who ate the meat product (check out the photos below). The evening didn't end there, we still had lots skating to get done. Kicked it off with the 15 and up over  kids skating for a spot in the finals against WLA, a big power up goes to everyone who skated.

    The fourteen and uunder division finals went down and it was pretty fun to watch, kids are getting way to good way to quick. West L.A. took home the younger division. After it was all finnished the top two kids of the 15 and up division played 3 rounds of skate, the kid with the best of three won, declairing which store got to keep the CUP! Mission Viejo is now the champs! so thats about it, check out the pictures and be shure to get back to nine-star and check out the cup of victory..

cheers, brandon

If you haven't seen skateboarding in high definition you have to check this out. Since our lovely computer monitors are actually HD sets by themselves, this little 150mb download is totally worth it. You have to check it out..great video. Click the picture to download. After you download you have to unzip the file using a program like winzip . After transferring the file to your hard drive you have to rename the file extension to .mp4. At the end of the file just change the .m4v to the .mp4. You can then enjoy this thing…. This is Girl and Choc. video guy…..