Table of contents for 231 Spring 2021 in Slam Skateboarding

Hayley Wilson is one of Australia’s most well known female skateboarders. She is a 19-year-old street skater from Mansfield, in regional Victoria, and often skates in Melbourne with her homies on the Nike team. Hayley’s had footage in Gizmo, Welcome To Melbourne and the more recent Play New. She’s also been doing the rounds of the contest circuit for the past few years. In July, Hayley became the first woman ever to represent Australia in Olympic street skateboarding. She cracked the top 20 of world rankings to qualify and then took off to Tokyo for what was dubbed the strangest Olympics in history. With empty stadiums, and all sorts of COVID restrictions, she still managed to have a good time, making the most of an experience that will forever seem…

Before the pandemic changed everything, Matt Boggis had been touring relentlessly with his band, The Chats. Boggis plays drums with the cheeky and irreverent Sunshine Coast trio who blew up in 2017 and write classic songs that could only have come out of a shed in Queensland. The Chats have never taken themselves too seriously, but they’ve stumbled onto some pretty major successes and done some insane tours throughout Europe and The States. They’ve met people like Josh Homme, Alex Cameron and Dave Grohl; been asked to record a song for Metallica; and even won an AIR Award for the best independent punk album. It’s been a wild ride for a bunch of kids from Coolum Beach. Of course, Boggis is also an amazing skateboarder. And while The Chats have…

When I was asked to write an article looking back at the Olympics, I considered just submitting the words “Keegan” and “Palmer” repeated 1000 times to fill a page and calling it a day. But if you’ve read this far, you’ll know that pitch didn’t quite hit the mark. Instead, here’s my second idea: There are five rings in the Olympic logo – three on top and two below – so let’s follow that format and unpack three highs and two lows of the spectacle we all witnessed when skateboarding premiered at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. HIGHS Goldy Gold Keegan. Fucking. Palmer. The phrase “made history” is thrown around far too loosely these days, but the Currumbin kid well and truly marked his name in the history books with…

Melbourne’s locked down for the sixth time when I speak to Brad Saunders, but he has not been deterred from hitting the streets for his ‘daily exercise’. Later today, he’s planning on meeting up with Jeremy Corea to skate, and then tonight, he’s hoping to shoot another photo for this interview with Wade McLaughlin. Brad is a certified rail chomper, and he’s not afraid to step up to some pretty formidable spots. It would be tempting to say Brad’s got balls of steel, except that he got sacked on a kinker a while ago, an incident which disproved this description. Brad actually ripped his scrotum open. But after a few needles in the nads, some stitches, and an overnight stay in hospital, he was back in the streets doing what…

In March 2019, Perth skateboarder, filmer and friend to many, Blake Manning, was diagnosed with a form of cancer that attacks the body’s immune system: stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma. At 27, Blake has been skating for almost 20 years, filming since he was in year nine, and is a dedicated disciple of the mighty VX1000. Now in remission for two years, Blake reflects on his battle with cancer, his trip to France midway through, his contact with the late Tully West, and his life post treatment. One Year Of Misdiagnosed Back Pain Initially, I thought I twisted something in my lower back. I couldn’t swing my right leg side to side without getting a sharp, pinching pain. Two nights later, I was introduced to back spasms, which lasted a full…

For Keegan Palmer, the interviews and media appearances have all started to blur into one. It sounds exhausting, but that’s inevitably what happens after you become the first guy in history to win an Olympic gold medal for park skateboarding. At the Tokyo Games, Keegan scored a 95.83 in his final run, putting him way ahead of the next best-placed skaters, Pedro Barros and Cory Juneau. It was an insane 45-second succession of tricks, which included a kickflip body varial 540, earning him Australia’s first and only gold medal for Olympic skateboarding. It was an incredible feat, especially considering he’s only 18 years old. Keegan later found himself in a press conference alongside Pedro and Cory, where the Japanese media were asking the other two medallists how it felt getting…

What’s going on, Rome? Like most people, I’m at home in lockdown at the moment. It’s not too bad since I get to see my brother and sister more, but not being able to skate with my mates is annoying. I’ve been helping my brother building bike jumps and doing footy drills, which has been fun. Other than that, I’ve just been skating my little set up at home and doing schoolwork. Nothing has really changed school-wise for me because I do Distance Education. What’s home-schooling like? Up until year six, I was in school, but I think dad noticed from a young age that school would distract and hold me back from skating to the best of my ability. I think I felt that too. It allows me to…