Street League Skateboarding Nike SB World Tour Releases Tour Dates for 2014

SLS Enters Their Fifth Season with New City Stops, a New Media Partner and a New Format

Street League Skateboarding (SLS) today announced the dates for their 2014 Nike SB World Tour, which includes the additions of Chicago and Los Angeles (the birthplace of skateboarding) as new tour stops. Following the restructure of the competitive format to facilitate the rise of new blood into the pro ranks, SLS has also announced their partnership with FOX Sports to televise each main event throughout the tour on FOX Sports 1 and distributed globally through the FOX family of networks.

As the sport’s most elevated and recognized competition platform for professional street skateboarding, the SLS Nike SB tour calendar dictates the year’s skate agenda, for both pros and fans alike. Spanning the weekend of May 16-17, the SLS Pro Open kicks off the season in Nike SB’s downtown Los Angeles facility. The two following stops in Chicago on June 29 and Los Angeles on July 27 will determine the finalists for the Super Crown event in Newark on August 24. See below for details.

Traditionally a shortlist invite-only competition series reserved for the peerless of skateboarding, this year SLS has added the Pro Open event that establishes a forum for the world’s best to shine alongside the elite of SLS and truly confirm themselves as pro-worthy. A select list of 20 skaters will battle it out for an invitation to the only tour that matters, hundreds-of-thousands of dollars, and the chance to make history as the next SLS Super Crown champion. Emerging victorious, the three best skaters at the Pro Open will advance into the 2014 SLS Nike SB World Tour, formally starting with the Chicago event. As the highest requested city by online fan voting, the addition of Chicago as an SLS stop will bridge the West Coast and East Coast skate scenes. Itself rich in skateboarding culture, Chicago is the skate capital of the Midwest and home to SLS pro Chaz Ortiz.

Veteran skater Chris Cole stands strong to defend his 2013 title against younger skate superstars and previous Super Crown champions Paul Rodriguez and Nyjah Huston. Added to this will be the three wildcards emerging from the SLS Pro Open, making the 2014 Street League Skateboarding Nike SB World Tour promises to be the most riveting to date.

MAY 16-17                 Los Angeles, CA – Pro Open, Sixth & Mill Skatepark, 7pm EST

JUNE 29                      Chicago, IL – UIC Pavilion, 7pm EST

JULY 27                      Los Angeles, CA – Galen Center, USC, 8pm EST

AUGUST 24                Newark, NJ – Super Crown, Prudential Center, 9pm EST

For more visit information visit www.streetleague.com.

For all media inquiries contact VOCAL.  

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Street League Skateboarding (SLS) is the first-ever professional league for street skateboarding. The SLS season features 24 of the world’s most exciting skateboarders competing in an easy-to-follow, ISXTM instant scoring format on one-of-a-kind concrete skate plazas, all for the largest prize purse in skateboarding history. Each arena stop of the 2014 SLS season will air live on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sport Go with a live international webcast on Streetleague.com.

For more information, visit www.streetleague.com and follow @streetleague 

Nike SB is dedicated to serving skateboarders, delivering product innovation and creating new consumer experiences. Since 2001, Nike SB has supported a diverse team of inspirational pros and upcoming amateurs who continue to meet the demands of a constantly evolving sport. With influence in all corners of the world, Nike SB is uniquely suited to bring skateboarding to new audiences and grow the sport globally. Based at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, Nike SB is obsessed with finding new ways to support the skateboarder by championing innovation and individuality.

For more information, visit www.nikeinc.com and follow @NikeSB. 

"I Am Thalente" Proves that the Human Spirit can Skateboard

From the Streets of South Africa to California and into the Heart of skateboarding.

I Am Thalente is a verité documentary about once homeless skateboarder Thalente Biyela’s journey from the streets of South Africa to Los Angeles, California and into the heart of skateboarding. With the support of skate companies LRG and Bombshell, and skateboarding legends Kenny Anderson, Guy Mariano, and Marc Johnson, the producers have turned to specialist film crowd funding platform Seed & Spark to finance the completion of the documentary film offering unprecedented incentives and access to some of skateboarding’s greatest.

Nineteen year old Thalente Biyela has been homeless since age nine... At age 10, he was given his first skateboard. Skateboarding gave him an escape from the harsh realities of street life, a way to express himself, and led him to a community of friends who would become his family. His effortless style at a public skatepark in Durban quickly attracted international attention, and last year Thalente was given the opportunity to travel to the states and skate with some of the industry’s most accomplished pros: A dream unimaginable for a homeless kid whose inevitable journey begins and ends on the streets.

Whilst this story hinges on Thalente’s love of skateboarding, it gives insight into the challenges that homeless youths face without family, literacy, role models, or hope. Skateboarding becomes a source of strength and competence for Thalente to rise out of circumstance and make a place for himself in the world. His journey offers a unique perspective on skateboarding, the power of uncompromised acceptance, community and individuality.

Says director Natalie Johns, “I Am Thalente is this young man’s resume, his character reference and his best chance to continue down the path of building a better life. More than this, it is a chance to experience and support one boy’s struggle for survival and unwavering dream to spread the love of skateboarding.”

Johns met Thalente through friends and family in her hometown of Durban and was instantly captivated by his incredibly story. She has documented his journey to the US, his warm acceptance into the skateboarding community in LA, and the guidance by pro skater Kenny Anderson. In the opening of I am Thalente’s Seed&Spark pitch video, Kenny Anderson is at a loss for words to describe Thalente’s affinity for skateboarding: “I don’t know, it’s just like that unexplainable type thing. When you see it, you know it.” Which is perhaps why Johns’ film will be so important to bring Thalente’s story to the screen: audiences will see what words cannot capture.

Street League Skateboarding

Street League Skateboarding (SLS) is the first-ever professional league for street skateboarding. The SLS season features 25 of the world’s most elite professional skateboarders competing in an easy-to-follow ISX™ instant scoring format on purpose-built concrete skate plazas, all for the largest prize purse in skateboarding history.

SLS has commissioned VOCAL to lead all communications for the brand. Through over 1 billion media impressions and profile placements in broadcast outlets such as ESPN and NBC, endemic outlets such as Transworld Skateboarding and Jenkem, to lifestyle publications such as Complex, Los Angeles Magazine, and HBO, VOCAL has amplified the SLS platform for major mass appeal throughout the world.  SLS is now televised live on FOX Sports and through its network affiliates.

StreetLeague.com

For all media inquiries contact VOCAL.