In a corrugated steel oven on a muggy summer Kentucky day, the first stop of the DamnAM went down at the newly opened Sprak Skatepark in Louisville. At the beginning of the week, amateurs from all over the world started rolling in for their shot to get to Tampa. By the time it was practice day on Friday August 2nd, the city was boiling over with gnarly skaters. The very asphalt of the streets was vibrating in anticipation of the first DamnAM Louisville and certainly not the last! Paul Zitzer and Chris Blake (and later Brian Schaefer) took the stage accompanied by several of the Skatepark of Tampa crew to announce the first contest. A mini ramp jam with $250 of cash prizes for the gnarliest tricks. David White Eagle threw down a hand plant and even young Sprak member Reid Anderson did a kickflip rock’n’roll for some cash. Camden Mashore’s kickflip blunt kickflip really stole the show though! This kicked off what was to be one hell of a weekend.
The Saturday Jam Session set 2 skaters into the park for 3 minutes. 81 skaters entered the contest with local legends, and even The Nine Club’s very own Kelly Hart judging. With such a long roster of thrashers to get through, the schedule was packed. Jam sessions were running back-to-back as tightly as possible, music was bumping, and Paul was pumping up the crowd. This fed the awesome chaos of the packed space. With music blaring, sweat dripping and skaters tearing the park up, it was only a matter of time before the group was scrapped down to the remaining 30 skaters. Christopher Setinas and Roman Hager stood out above the crowd, earning their direct path to the finals and to Tampa.
This all just led up to the Skater XL best trick contest. Just when you thought you couldn’t see any more heavy skating in one day, hometown hero Alex Hancock started throwing down a gap to frontside blunt on the Skater XL Hubba. Gabe Schuch started trying to answer this challenge with an absolutely insane gap to kickflip backside 5-0. To finally close out the night, Dylan Williams took home the best trick jam prize for their nollie crook on the pyramid ledge to a front tail down the hubba. This was just before anyone who could remain standing hit The Portal for the hardcore show after party. Those who no longer had to throw down tomorrow could come out and throw down in the pit.
Sunday opened being another hot and humid day for the contest, but that didn’t seem to slow down the 30 skaters left to compete. With the two straight shots, there were 28 in the semi-finals. They had 2 solo runs that lasted one minute each. Best run counts. Only the top 10 would advance to the finals securing their path to Tampa. Matheus Mendes, Julian Jeang-Agliardi, and Gabriel Lavallee really push all the veteran skaters to step up their game. Gabe Vigliotti and Andreas Alvarez were among some of the standouts, but it was Max Berguin’s extensive trick selection and the sheer consistency of his back crook nollie flip out that sold the judges. Cole Wayka, Dylan Williams, Guerlain Girardin, and Cass Hecht rounded out the remaining skaters who earned their spot in Tampa.
However, there was still a final to skate to see who could take home $500 and earn a guaranteed spot into the Tampa AM semifinals this November. The best of 3 runs would count. Each run was 1 minute. Christopher and Roman were no longer buys and had to compete for the top spot. With the skaters, crowd, and judges all feeling the heat, what unfolded was a true spectacle of shredding. With the heat and days of constant skating finally starting to show the signs of wear on the contestants, they all threw down their hardest tricks.
Julian’s backside 270 lipslide 360 out was incredible to see. Matheus showed a trick variety in the finals that very nearly earned him a podium spot. It was Max Berguin’s consistency that earned him his 3rd place trophy. Gabe Vigliotti never gave up on landing his hard trick selection and it paid off with 2nd. He was able to put it together in his final run and lay down a buzzer beater. However, only one skater performed as if the heat, pressure, and intensity didn’t even phase him. The skater that truly stood above all else in the DamnAM Louisville 2024 was none other than Roman Hager. Every trick was big. Every trick had a flip in or a flip out. His tricks were constant and consistent. There was something so elegant about his front blunt transfer over the rail, just to execute the most perfect frontside flip you’ll ever see over the pyramid.
This was your podium; a group of gnarly amateurs. Every skater in the top 12 could easily be our next pros that we hungrily watch their clips and follow their careers. They will be the future of skating. All this happened on 3 humid summer days, in a new skatepark called Sprak, in the Midwest city of Louisville, Kentucky. This contest may unfold a path for one of these young thrashers to leave a mark on the skating world all to their own.
Words and Photos by Rance Reinhardt
