Wednesday, May 8

Skateboarding and Hockey with Alex Chalmers

By Dave Finger
EXPN.com

Editor's Note: So I'm sitting here with Alex Chalmers, Vancouver loc and all around nice guy. In a lot of ways, he is the ambassador to the Slam City Jam and the BC skating scene being that this is his home town and he knows all the spots. I caught up with him in the only quiet place we could find - under the bleachers where the athletes get their massages. Yep, that's right, just two regular guys hangin out under the bleachers with some massage.

DF: I'm wondering Alex if you can tell me a little bit about your feelings on this event and kind of like what it's all about to you.

AC: Pretty much this is Slam City's 9th year, and it's just a gathering of all the skaters and people who appreciate skateboarding in Canada and in the States and all around the world. People make a pilgrimage here to watch some of the best skaters come and compete on a good course. And I enjoy having all these people come to my hometown and being like a kind of tour guide and telling everybody where the hot restaurants are and where the skate spots are and stuff. That's just part of the world circuit you know, and when I go to somebody else's town I expect them to be the same with me, so that's how it works here. And I like being the ambassador to Slam City, but I'm not the only one. You gotta look for Renee Renee as well, and all the hard working people that are behind Slam City every year. This year is a little different though, it's being run by some real hard-core skater guys who finally got a hold of the contest, and next year for the 10th year it's gonna be even better.

Alex went all crazy, un-sewed the patch from his backpack and started waving it in the air when I pointed the camera at him.

The course is nothing like last year's. Seems like there's less "break yourself" type terrain that people had to warm up for before they really started hucking themselves. I'm wondering if you can shed some insight on what led them to design the course in such a different way than last year?

Pretty much the contest course seems to change drastically every year and this year when I saw it on paper the first thing I noticed was there's not one hip in there at all. It's got a lot of good stuff for everything, for all the skaters and technical riders, I think what happens is that every year the complaints are lodged and the voices are heard and they say, "we want more of this and more of that" and it's really hard to please everyone. But I think it's a good course, a quality course, there's tricks going down and a lot of skaters are really shining out there and… I like to see the big stuff myself (laughs) but that's all right, these guys are amazing skateboarders, anybody who's out there on that course.

Chalmers and co-ambassador of the event, Renee Renee, watching the vert finals on Sunday.

So you mentioned that these "real skateboarders" got involved with the contest this year - who?

Yeah, for real, New Line Skateparks, a good friend of mine Jay Balmer is running the show now. I've been skating with him for many years, skating the bowls of North Van together, and he finally got a hold of a major share of the event (the organization) and next year it will be 100% him and it's just going to get better and better. There were some questions before as to who was running the event, who owned it and who was making all the money. But now it's like this is for the skaters, done by the skaters and next year is going to be so much better and the year after that will be even better then that one.

You're injured so you're not really competing this year, can you tell me a little bit about how you hurt yourself?

I've just been beating myself up real hard these last couple of years, through skateboarding and being around on tour, the Tony Hawk Tour and traveling the world with Mike Vallely, Tony and Bob down in South Africa. You know I've just kind of thrown myself over some gaps that probably did some things to my back that I shouldn't have done, but now I'm getting it looked after. It's a long process of rebuilding the muscles in the back there and making sure everything is straight, doing lots of swimming, so that's why you find me hangin' out under the bleachers in the massage tent right now.

Alex and David Boyce giving me their best skate hockey faces on Friday before the big match.

Now you kind of have this skateboard hockey thing going on, and I know Canadians love their hockey, but it's turned into this whole Canada VS Dave Carnie thing, and now you're like this figurehead for Team Canada, what's going on here?

Well you see last year we kicked Carnie's ass all over the floor, the Canadian team, me and my friend Mark and Seb, we put his team out to rest pretty much and he had to re-think his strategy. He picked up a couple of superstars this year, he was getting Mike Vallely on his team and then he picked up Pat Black, who's an infamous Jak*, they say he's the Wayne Gretzky of Jaks*, and you know, they know their skate (skateboard) hockey. So he came up with a powerhouse of a team but he just wasn't fully prepared, we got a hold of him before hand. We got our fingers in there and had some chats with Mike V. and set up a little show and turned the tides. And I think Dave Carnie was caught by surprise by Mike V. and my little arrangement that we had.

Can you explain a little bit about what happened?

Well originally in Tampa the Slam City Crew had Mike V. on my team, Dave Carnie cried foul, and I said whatever - the trade deadline has passed. And then he turned it into a USA VS Canada thing so I said, fine you can have Mike V. go ahead. The Canadians won both the gold's in Olympic hockey this year and there's a lot of Canadian teams in the playoffs right now for the Stanley Cup, and pretty much we were out there on the ice. And so I called Mike V. and was like let's do this, let's bury Carnie and give him a taste of his own medicine, he wanted to do like a WWF thing so we turned it into a bit of a wrestling fiasco you know. So Mike V. got his Canadian jersey on and we hog tied Carnie and wrapped him in the Canadian flag and that was that. I heard he wiped his ass with the flag afterwards.

Yeah, he did.

And we'll get him next year for that.

Note: Despite Mike V. switching teams from Carnie to Canada and surprising the USA/Carnie Team with his decision, the final score of the Skate Hockey match was a tie, 2-2.

Chalmers draping the Canadian Flag over Dave Carnie's back in celebration after hoodwinking his opponent. Notice "the traitor" Mike V. looking on in delight.

Right on man, any last words about the event?

Every time I come to this event I just want to put on a public display and show the people what skateboarding is about. This year it might not have happened (because of injury) but we had a good hockey game of it. I want to thank Renee Renee for being the host, and a good host he is. Jay Balmer and the whole Slam City Crew, Chris Perry and the guys that do the music, DJ Science and DJ Emmer, and everybody out there making skateboarding happen and making it better is pretty much who I want to thank. And thanks to all those sponsors putting the big dough in our prize money.

*The Jaks are an infamous west coast crew that are a bunch of bad asses from the days of thrashin, old-school, punk rock skateboarding. Think young Alva, think Piss Drunx, think denim jackets with lots of buttons and safety-pinned patches, think about a solid crew skating and having fun and not giving a f*ck. They have reunions every now and then and skate hockey has always been a focal point for the gatherings, I guess the American Jaks usually beat the Canadian Jaks because they play more often. The original equipment needed for a Jaks skate hockey match was your skate, your stick and a crushed Fosters king can for a puck. The Jaks are over 200 strong, and even though many claim to be a Jak their membership is exclusive and prized in many skateboard circles. To find out more about the Jaks check out the latest issue of SBC Skateboard Canada Magazine.

Related Photos:
2002 Slam City Jam Vert Photos
2002 Slam City Jam Street Photos