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| PAT NGOHO - WORLD CHAMPION |
| BLKPRJKT |
Ngoho will touch every inch of any bowl with something good.
I met Pat Ngoho formally a few years after moving to Los Angeles. I didn't really know all that much about the dude other than his stylish skateboarding abilities. Right off, we clicked on a lot of different levels, art, skateboarding, the lore of the lost art of bowlriding, and so on. What I discovered about Ngoho pretty quickly was that his skateboarding seems to progress even in his 40's which is a lot more than I can say for my own downhill slide. It didn't surprise me that Ngoho won the 2008 World Cup Masters Bowlriding championship title. Contrary to what some fools might believe, you don't win this thing just by showing up. You've got to get out there and rip consistently. That's all there is to it, and that's exactly what he did. We sat down at a ghetto Denny's with some contraband beers and ran through the details of this achievement, and the following is what transpired. Not only am I stoked to have witnessed some of the ripping Ngoho laid down this past year, but I'm beyond stoked to call him my friend, and, the world champion.
CD: Alright Ngoho, you're the world champion, 2008 Masters Bowlrider. So how does it feel to be a world champion?
Ngoho: Yo Adrian!!!
CD: We can re-phrase that if you want... You realize, when you're a little kid, you dream of being world champion at something, Then you grow up and you realize there's a very minute number of people who actually make it to that level.
Ngoho: I get a bit nostalgic about it, we grew up during the Hester Series years, and you had all of the great riders; Dennis Martinez, Kevin Reed, Salba, Bobby Valdez, and then of course Olson who won the whole thing. As a kid, that was it! Those guys set the precedent, to ride different parks, different bowls, trippy bowls sometimes, but all of them were different in some way. Every park had locals and skating was evolving at such a rapid pace at that point in time.
CD: Yeah, the evolution and progression were so fast...
Ngoho: Yeah the progression graph was a straight vertical climb from there on. The first contest, Spring Valley was nothing more than slides, carves and frontside grinds, a few months later at the end of the series guys were doing inverts and rock and rolls.
CD: So in terms of it being actually called a "world championship", Do you think that it's a fair international representation? World cup goes through Oz and NZ, it goes to Europe, I'm not trying to put you on the spot or anything, but is it a legitimate title?
Ngoho: Yeah. for sure, it is global. It is something we all get a kick out of, but you wouldn't think so at times cause the skating can get serious. There are a lot of guys bringing heat at every contest. You never know who will show and who will shine. We had some great sessions this year; Lance, Pat Black and Morri in New Zealand, Cab, Mick, Lester, and Staab in Australia, Sasha, Hosoi, Nicky, Reese, and Miller in Sweden, Everyone at Protec, And Fucking Buck Smith at the Trifecta. There were some great sessions this year!!!
CD: Would you want to see world cup try to expand it into even more places internationally, I mean I know you're all about traveling, but would you want to go more places and pull in more local talent? When you go to Europe, heads can travel everywhere by train, but you get out into some more isolated parts of the world, and even Canada and Asia aren't part of the equation right now. Do you think they ought to expand it?
Ngoho: Manifest Destiny! For sure we all want to go forward, travel, see and skate. I was just in the Middle East for a Demo and they are very hungry for some tranny skating, a good park and a good crew and it's on! I know World Cup is actively seeking to make these connections, it just takes time.
CD: Are you happy with how the world cup thing goes down each year in terms of how it is run?
Ngoho: World Cup puts in a huge effort and I feel most of the time they try to do what is best for the skaters. I would like to see some sort of pre- qualifying especially for the pros, in one contest they had 75 skaters at all levels trying to jump in on the events, it just seems to water it down and you have to wait around all day between your two heats.
CD: From my perspective, they ought to seed guys in ahead of time, not like Lincoln City, where you had 11 pro qualifying heats of 9 guys, that was just retarded... Obviously in the Masters division, there just aren't that many of you but that other stuff dragged on for hours.
Ngoho: Well yeah it did, when you have tiny 11 year old kids mixing it up with Gnar pros who feel like they have to hold back a bit because they don't want to run this kid over, I think now you're compromising the event.
CD: Well that can decrease the level at which guys are skating as well.
Ngoho: Exactly, let them earn their spots and give each contest five wildcards or we could all go enter an ASPO contest.
CD: And as a professional, you should feel as if you have earned your way into that. With ASP and the surfing rankings for example, those things are extremely tight, they aren't going to let just any guy paddle out in the middle of a serious heat at some heavy duty spot.
Ngoho: It sucks waiting around through thirty heats of people pushing through the flat bottom. That is one of the things that made the North Shore Bowl Jam rock so hard, Invite only, cool crew and great skating.
Ngoho floors it through the combi round with a pitched out Smith.
Style counts. Period.
CD: So you mentioned the jam format earlier, I've heard a lot of the Masters guys voice some criticism over the jam format, that for the younger guys, the pro guys, it makes sense for the level that those guys are on, but for you guys, everybody is a little older, a little heavier. For the crowd of course, everybody gets hyped on the energy of the jam, but it can get pretty sketchy...
Ngoho: Concrete Mosh Pit! It is sketchy, it works in some places in others it is suicide, see you in hell.
CD: At whose discretion is that decision made? Is it Duncan's decision, is it Bostick's decision, is it the riders' decision, or does it just sort of happen?
Ngoho: It's what people want!! The thought of carnage and disaster is a soothing adrenalin rush, It's like the coliseum in Rome, why don't we throw some lions in the bowl? (laughing)
CD: So each situation is different obviously... sometimes the ordered jam works, sometimes the chaos is okay? Would you like it more orderly?
Ngoho: In a Jam guys get hungry and they go blind, Lance said it best last year, "I actually got to see guys really RIDE, do their tricks and simply skate the way they skate". With the ordered format, it allows for that kind of expression.
CD: That's the beauty of the masters division, that maybe people wouldn't consider the tricks to be on a super advanced level, but the idea of using the whole bowl and creating a series of lines, putting runs together in a very artistic and creative way, rather than that sort of "extreme" paradigm of the guy who is just looking for that one big banger of a trick, 4 walls and and you get one really gnarly wall out of it. Unless it's someone like Bucky, Omar, Rune, or some of the other top pros who understand how to construct a serious line, you get 6 walls and done from a lot of pro division dudes. This is not to de-value their talents, but in your division you guys are putting together solid, lengthy runs and it's sort of a lost art in a way. I like to think about it in these terms: Once the technical difficulty rises above a certain level, there isn't much room left for style. A kook like Shaun White can spin around 12 times, and it looks like shit, regardless of the physical ability it takes to handle that sort of thing.
Ngoho: I'll just say those of us from the Gold Cup and NSA eras grew up skating a certain way, and now and then it might be cool to revisit that format for kicks.
CD: So if you guys decided to have a masters' rider's meeting, which guys do you think would want the suicidal psycho snake session?
Ngoho: I think it depends on where we are skating, Oregon or Sweden, the more the merrier. Fast closed pool with blind spots, you have just been handed a death lottery ticket.
CD: Well they are trying to get the crowd pumped up for it. You and I are both at the Pro-Tec and we have very different experiences. You're out there skating hard, and I'm simply trying to document it as well as enjoy it. As a not-so-casual observer, I hear everything including the crowd reaction, and some of the most intense crowd reaction comes from from the gnarly close calls and the near misses. And even though the riders are throwing down some of the most impressive skateboarding ever seen, many people in that crowd are getting more hyped on the guy who almost got clothes-lined, the guy who almost got taken out, or even the unfortunate times when guys actually collide. I think Duncan sort of stirs that shit up too, because he knows that kind of shit gets the crowd riled up, he's kind of like P.T. Barnum that way I suppose.
Ngoho: Well I have to say I still liked how it went down this last year. And with the pros starting in order in the final jam adds a different dimension, Omar put down a 2 minute run! He just blew everyone away, It was like "what is he doing??? He's not stopping!" That just put a lot more pressure on that entire final heat. It is a double edge sword. there are some things that need to be worked out but the other side of it are the great sessions all over the world.
CD: Absolutely. So when you win the world title such as it is, do you get anything on top of your massive season's winnings or are just dubbed the "champion"?
Ngoho: It's mostly bragging rights.a small trophy, whatever. Great skating, good people, what more could anyone ask for?
CD: In the end, does it matter who wins?
Ngoho: We are all winners. (laughing)
CD: It's good that over and above the competitive aspect of it, that it's truly fun, otherwise you probably wouldn't fucking be doing it right?
Ngoho: The pros, are in their own world, their level of skating is completely different than what we are doing. We are strictly re-living our past and when you're doing that, you remember sessions, I've skated with Hosoi, Lance, and Caballero since we were groms. So I go out there stoked on those early years,
CD: But you're all still sort of progressing in your own right, either re-learning old stuff or picking up new things. I've seen you pull out some new stuff, things that didn't exist your first time around, newer tricks. And to see Christian Hosoi come out of the shell towards the end of last year, that's pretty amazing.
Ngoho: Skateboarding is, and always has been about progression and that is what drives us to keep skating. Skating forces you to progress.
CD: So are you going to come out and defend your title to the death this year?
Ngoho: Absolutely not, I never had my eye on the Gold. I would like to see Lester, Salba, Hosoi, Buck, Nash, Grosso or many of the other great skaters that we ride with win it. These guys rip and are committed to the skate lifestyle and it would be great to shake their hand and see them stoked.
CD: Well however humble you want to be about it, the bottom line is you skated consistently well all year, you beat out Charno, Cab, you beat all of those guys, simply by virtue of skating well all year. It's not as if you're the only guy who showed up. There are a lot of heavy dudes in the masters and they all hit most of the events.
Ngoho: Lady Luck can be fickle; injuries, sponsors, terrain, who shows, there are a lot of factors. I stayed healthy this year and rode well and yeah the heat was on at every event.
CD: So back to the subject of judging for a minute, not on a personal level so much, but would you like to see some changes with that?
Ngoho: Well I would like to see guys you at least heard of and if not that, how about guys who actually skate bowls. I get stoked skating in front of Kiwi, Olson, Reategui or Hosoi as Judges, they could use a few more seasoned pros from time to time.
CD: Almost more being judged by your peers, rather than judged by who the fuck is that guy...
Ngoho: Some street skater guy, and if there's a street contest, then it better be someone who knows that world. If I were to judge a street contest the riders would say "who the fuck is that guy?" Even though I used to skate street... (laughing)
CD: Fuck, I'd like to see Olson judging at every bowl contest...
Ngoho: Exactly, when Hosoi was up there judging, Reategui was up there, Olson, Aaron Astorga, you think, now these guys I respect. So when you're getting judged by them, regardless of the situation, regardless of the outcome, you walk away cool with the results.
CD: So do you have anybody you want to call out for 2009?
Ngoho: No actually. It's funny, I was talking to Sasha Steinhorst and the masters division is still tight with that same group. I asked him if anyone was jumping over the age limit, and Adam Luxford (AUS) is the only guy who is going to be making the jump. That shows what a large gap in bowlriding there actually was.
CD: So where are the rest of the old dudes? TA is over 50 now, Duane is probably what 48? Obviously there were far fewer pros back when we came up, back then there were those 14 or so guys, now there are 500 million "pros". But really, who would you like to see suddenly re-appear on the scene? Who would you be stoked to skate with again?
Ngoho: The masters division is getting pretty gnarly, because all of the ramp guys from the 80's are showing up, and now even some guys from the 90's. Henry Guttierez, Buck, Josh Nelson and so on...
CD: Yeah, shit, where is Joe Johnson, Ken Fillion, where is fucking Craig Johnson?
Ngoho: After the Rumble in Ramona, after the Quiksilver 80's thing, I could see more of these events start to happen, and I think we'll see some more retro street things too. We might see these sort of dedications to the older guys, the pioneers of skateboarding, I can see an event geared to the Gonz, Hosoi, Cab era of street skating. It has to, we all just love skateboarding too much and you know how it is, you were at the Rumble, that was 100% love right there.
CD: That's very true. Do you think some older guys are hesitant to come back because maybe they haven't done it in so long, or they feel like they've lost their edge, guys that maybe feel like they have a hard time making the distinction between competing or impressing people, and simply coming out for the fun of it? Do you think that's a hard place to come to, to occupy a certain level and then it's over?
Ngoho: Everyone has their own little demons that they deal with. Ramona was great, because guys were just showing up and skating and the pressure was off. I think it was perfect. That sort of non-contest format was just right. When you have a jam format where it's much more of that session style thing it allows people to just come out and be themselves and skate.
CD: We need more of that, and maybe fewer contests...
Ngoho: MAX SCHAAF...
CD: And Wade Speyer... Wade probably hasn't ridden in years, but it was one of the raddest things to see him get up there and take some walls and see people get so hyped on him because he was there just to enjoy the day. In his time, he was already legendary, untouchable...
Ngoho: Wade was insane...
CD: We'd like to see more of those guys come back to it, at least if they were enjoying it, not even to enter a silly contest but just ride with some heads again, just in it for the fun.
Ngoho: That's what it's really all about too, just seeing glimpses of them ride, it doesn't even have to be them in full swing going all out. When we did the Old School Skate Jam, to see Marty Grimes out there, I used to skate with Marty. He wasn't skating at the level that he was in the 70's, but the way that he pumps, the way that he carves, it just brings back memories, and to me that's what it's all about.
CD: Guys like that just show up randomly, and they have that style, that fluid movement...
Ngoho: Powerful. Powerful and fast, the guy was always so underrated, those moments are great you know.
CD: We'll see where it goes from here...
Ngoho: That's the great thing, we don't know where it's going. But there is a great historic part of skateboarding, that people are really starting to tap into.
CD: That's what keeps it going, it's always been a lot like art. Art references itself in a historical context, it refers to the art that came before it, it is informed by it's past. Skateboarding follows that line of process because its such a creative activity, its definitely informed by it's past. It's beautiful to see the young guys coming up whether they are conscious of it or not, being influenced by that and you can see the influence.
Ngoho: Look at Tyler Mumma. He's out there with this very surf-skate style, and doing really individually-minded tricks and he has gone off on his own little path and that's a great thing to see. He is this form of new, modern, post-modern skater. He's saying, I'm going to take this body of skate knowledge that is out there, and kind of mold my own little world from it, and it's just awesome to watch that shit go down. That kid Ben Raybourn, he's got that same thing too.
CD: Nolan Johnson falls in that category too.
Ngoho: Definitely, it's like old school meets new school, but it's a very, very creative and personalized way of skateboarding.
CD: When older guys look at that, it's kind of gratifying to think wow, there are young kids coming up who appreciate the shit that we were doing back then.
Ngoho: Yeah. It truly modernizes it and reminds everyone that a lot of foundation-building was done early on.
CD: Anything else?
Ngoho: Not really. (laughing) Just stoked on skating, this year is going to be a good one, and the year after that too.
Far from the circuit, Ngoho. spreading the soul.
Parting shot: The champ.
-BLKPRJKT / PHOTOS MRZ |
| Monday 29th 2009f June 2009 07:20 |
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