Goard Boards the Blog!

List in no order or rank what so ever. Realistic list not like CEO of Birdhouse etc.. 

1. Own your own brand. Do the whole list of jobs yourself or with one other person and create your own company from the ground up. Everyone has a different experience with this but success comes after multiple failures first. 

2. Shop salesman. Work on the floor at a core skate shop selling product to customers. Core being the key word, no Zumiez or PacSun nonsense. 

3. Sponsored skater. Basically you shred all the time and you have boxes of boards sent to you on the reg. Your relationship with the owner of the brand you represent is also like your father and gives you a per diem check when you get him or her massive media coverage. 

Hey so this post is an update on me (James Goard) and a salute to the haters out there. You know who you are :). Skateboarding is fun, creative and competitive so I am doing what I can to stay in the game. But I will say making money is important (and sometimes fun) so if contributing to the sport in this way can help me financially one day then stellar! If not who gives a fuck? Fuck money!

That being said I want to thank anyone who filmed for me in the past year, you guys are the most important part of this on going project and I’m happy to have contributed to your careers as well. 

So, the winter is over and it was really short in Vermont. Skateboarding was done a lot more and was glad to make some friends along the way. Everyone got fire clips this winter and the injuries were kept to a minimum. Found some epic new spots that tested me physically and spiritually (ghosts are real). 

Now Spring is here and I have just accepted an offer at Woodward Tahoe for another Summer of shredding. The goal is to create a more permanent home in California and grow as much as possible as I can. Being a kid is fun especially if it lasts 25 years. 

The road trip out is a solo adventure at the moment. There is always a possibility of flying out but that idea just seems whack to me at the moment. We’ll see what happens with that, but none the less I will be fine to travel out alone. So here is the most current footage I filmed and edited this winter. Enjoy!

I recently had the pleasure of competing alongside some of New Englands up and coming transition skateboarders on this ramp you see above. The ramp is owned by my boy Scott Dixon and in honor of the rad night we all shared I had to interview the guy who lets it all go down at his house. 

Hey dude, your reddit account was deleted.  Sorry this took awhile, it's been a really rough week.  This is really neat though, I've always secretly wanted to do an interview, I can cross that off the ol' bucket list.

1. What is your name, and where are you from?

  My name is Scotty Dixon.  I'm from St. Augustine Florida and live in Hinsdale New Hampshire. 2. What company(s) are you riding for?

 I ride for Vermont Skateboards.   3.  How long have you been living in Hinsdale, specifically at the house?

I moved out to Hinsdale about 4 or 5 years ago.  It's my buddy Tims house.  We were in an awesome punk band called Hinsdale actually, we practiced in the basement here.  Tim got his ass divorced for a much older, much wealthier man, and decided he couldn't live in the house him and his then wife bought and were renovating (that explains all the bathroom equipment you probably saw).  Timmy is an amazing guy, one of my hero's actually. 4.  How did you manage to start building the ramps in your backyard?

I've wanted my backyard to be a skatepark since I was a little pre-pube!  In my town there's this guy named Crazy Carl.  Aside from that weird fucker Todd Falcon he's the only guy I know of who made somewhat of a skating carrier solely based on miniramp skating.  Dude still has this giant skatepark in his backyard, it's like 14 years running or some shit.  Carl was down for skating, and he let pretty much anyone come out to skate.  His attitude influenced me a lot.  I never wanted to have a "locals only" ramp, and be like Mr. Burns or Scrooge Mcduck or some shit hoarding it to myself and whoever I deemed worthy.  Fuck that shit, you gotta share, right? Anyway, I was in Nursing School and knew I wouldn't get a lot of outside the house time in, so I got my buddy Ian to give me his old dilapidated halfpipe and stuck it in the back room.  The problem with that was I didn't want to have an all access ramp open to every skaterat in the region inside my house.  2 years later I started a bitchin' job as a nurse and said fuck it, I'm gonna start building an outdoor ramp so now I can have the best of both worlds. 5.  You have built an incredible set up in your backyard and in the house, can we expect to see any new additions in the future?

I just recently posted about how traveling for things can be nerve racking if you do it alone. But for the most part when you go out of your comfort zone to do something you love, the outcome tends to be awesome. Thats how things went down last weekend in Hinsdale, thanks to Scott for hosting and Juice Magazine, Vermont Skateboards, Beer City, Landshark Wheels, Gutter Grease Technologies and Bridge To Skate. The three who placed definitely earned it.

Since moving back to the East Coast from Truckee California I have stayed focused on skateboarding as much as possible, and finding a full time job. Many people would care more bout the finding a job part, but when you live in the world I do, being happy is more important than being rich. So I’m scraping by and skating every day.

Today I am traveling to the Brattleboro VT area for a skate contest. From Killington this is an hour and a half drive. I have never competed in a formal skate contest before, but I heard that this isn’t really a formal skate contest so theres less pressure. Word.

Although I have all the confidence in myself to place in this competition, I also believe that there could be a moment of sheer terror before I start skating in it for real. That sheer terror won’t last long once the good vibes start filling my head and the room. I love skateboarding with other people and hope that tonight is filled with progression and new friends. 

The Anti-Hero team is at it in Israel! Filled with lots of DIY concrete mixing and making. Also this video shows a lot of OG west coast guys talking about how new and real the growing skate scene in Israel is. If you or anyone you know is from Israel, get on the plane with them next time they go home and skate some of these spots!