The Orange County Skateboarding League held their semi-finals and finals Wednesday at the Vans Skatepark at the Block of Orange.
Middle and high school students, including student teams from both Newport Harbor High School and Ensign Intermediate School, fought it out after a year of skating that encompassed 150 skaters from the ages of 12-18.
“It’s (been) really fun,” said NHHS junior Conner Tamblyn. “I’ve been doing pretty good.”
This is the first year NHHS has participated in the league, said Tamblyn, who has been skating since he was 3 or 4 years old.
“The competitions are the best part,” Tamblyn said. It’s the first time he has had the opportunity to skate competitively.
San Clemente, Costa Mesa, Newport Harbor, Huntington Beach, and Fountain Valley were the top five ranked high schools going into the event with Newport Harbor in third, only eight points behind first place Costa Mesa and four points behind second place San Clemente.
John Pena was Newport Harbor’s highest ranked individual high school skater, tied for sixth and also ranked fifth in the individual street standings. Harbor’s Boan Gage showed up for the event ranked an impressive second in the bowl standings
The OCSL is a non-profit organization founded by Newport-Mesa Unified School District board member Katrina Foley. The skate group aims to give kids access to non-traditional sports such as skateboarding so they can compete against one another as they would in baseball, basketball, football or any of the traditional school sports.
Other board members include professional skateboarding legend Jim Gray, Volcom Art Director Mart Kimenez, Volcom CFO Doug Collier, and former Wells Fargo Executive Armando de la Libertad.
Foley and other board members hope the league will continue to grow and have a long tradition of excellence in Newport Beach.
With a climate so rich in action sports, southern California and Newport Beach are the perfect place to grow sports such as skateboarding into public legitimacy.
For more information on the league and for final standings from Wednesday’s tournament visit www.ocskateboardingleague.org
