this year's eric stricker memorial award goes to...

skateistan & oliver percovich!

this year’s eric stricker memorial award deservedly goes to the incredible people at skateistan, who have spent the past eight years using skateboarding as a tool of empowerment for youths in afghanistan, south africa and cambodia. founded by oliver percovich in 2007 and with their first facility opened in ’09 in kabul, the non-profit, non-governmental organization works with children from a range of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds in some of the most war-torn and impoverished countries on the planet to build trust, offer educational opportunities and bring hope to youths whose lives and living conditions might otherwise seem exceedingly difficult from our perspective of first-world comforts.

read more, here...

- tws.

check out skateistan.

cuba skate.

one of cuba’s most creative skaters and surfers, yojani pérez rivera reflects on how he and his amigos are #livingoffthewall to make the most of the little they have. mamerto, as he’s known around the island, is among the most active local skaters advancing cuba skate's mission.

cuba skate, an ngo created by american skater miles jackson, is in the process of creating a documentary feature following the lives of mamerto and his scrappy crew, 23yg, to rally the international skate community around its goals:

1. provide much needed skate materials to the cuban youth

2. renovate the only, dilapidated skatepark in havana

3. establish the first skate shop in cuba and foster a bilateral educational exchange between cuban and american skaters

winning vans’ #livingoffthewall contest would help us make the cuba skate documentary a reality and share mamerto and 23yg’s story with the world. 

thanks for your consideration!

check out cuba skate.