Slam Skateboarding 234 Winter 2022

This edition is a special one for us with the very first female skateboarder to grace the cover of Slam. Hayley Wilson and I have been discussing securing the right shot for a page-one for a while now, and we both wanted it to be something exceptional. With life and limb on the line, given the terror of a two-storey drop on the other side, Hayley laid it down, making this a monumental mag for Australian skateboarding. After spending the past few years consumed by a tiresome comp circuit, the shackles are off, and Hayley has found freedom in the streets. In our feature interview, her “old head” skate buddy and Aussie legend, Anthony Mapstone, had a yarn to Hayley right before she embarked on an international adventure. With a newfound…

Julian Davidson recently came to Melbourne – his favourite Australian city – and stayed with his good mate, Nathan Jackson. Between slugging down coffees, eating Tim Tams, succumbing to the dreaded Covid, and hanging with old friends, Julian managed to wrangle a couple of tricks during his stay, including the stylish shifty kickflip below. Upon Julian’s return to Long Beach, Nathan Jackson checked in with his mate about the holiday Down Under and some of his favourite things about Australia. Hey, JuJu. How are you, my friend? Hey bud, I’m doing really well. It’s Monday here and I’m just handling some things around town. I usually take Mondays to rest my body and handle other fun stuff. Good to hear, mate. It’s always good to rest the body. How was having Covid…

Karl Bayldon grew up on the Sunshine Coast, skating with a local crew, including Sammy Winter, Dave Harris, and Jackson Pilz. He spent his weekends on skate missions to Brisbane and the Gold Coast, eventually getting hooked up by a couple of sponsors. Karl is 35 now and still pushing. He and his fiancée have just bought a house in Birkdale. It’s a Wednesday arvo when I catch him for a chat. “I’m great, man. I cannot complain,” he says brightly. “I’ve just been working, a little bit of skating and training – just normal adult life.” But it wasn’t so long ago that the future looked pretty uncertain for Karl. Four years back, an ultrasound revealed that he had calcifications of cancer on one of his testicles. Karl’s journey since then…

It’s been 12 years since I’ve contributed to Slam Skateboarding Magazine. Between 2006 and 2011, I captured the Sydney skate scene through the annual videos I produced that became a part of the Ookvision Saga. These videos featured the likes of Dane Burman, Dean Palmer, Jake Hayes, Nik and Steve Stipanovic, Billy Lukins, George Kousoulis, Vanessa Miles and many more. The big takeaway from videography was to cherish every moment of skating and being with my mates. This led me on a journey to learn about taking care of my own health and wellbeing. After the heads of my VX1000 became irreparable, I moved between Japan and Sydney, where I worked as an English and special education teacher, and in my private practice as a clairvoyant healer, medium and transformational coach.…

Now that skateboarding is officially a “sport”, thanks to its first appearance in the Olympics, we’re about to see some premium quality skateparks sprouting up around the country. When it comes to getting local officials to pay attention to the need for sporting infrastructure, petitions can sometimes work (and kudos to every skater who has dedicated their time to this route in the past). But nothing gets the Australian Government’s money flowing faster than the chance at winning Olympic medals. Actually, one thing does. That’s when one of our cities is about to host its own Olympic games. In 2032, Brisbane will play host to the Olympics. Events will be held across Southeast Queensland, and Gold Coast skaters are reaping the rewards with the new extension to Pizzey. If you haven’t…

Dave Chami has been in the skate photography game since the days when shooting with film wasn’t merely an aesthetic choice, but the only format available. Hailing from a little town called Pukekohe in NZ, Dave taught himself how to shoot skate photos during his mid-20s in Tokyo, before moving to Sydney, then onto San Francisco to work for the iconic Transworld magazine for almost a decade. These days, Dave is back in Sydney with his wife and two kids, and he works as the TM for adidas. He’s a long-term senior photographer at Slam, and he’s always experimenting with the craft. The most recent case in point was Dave’s ‘Interocular’ exhibition, which was part of Vivid Sydney, an immersive arts festival best known for its large-scale light installations across…