JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Street League Skateboarding Championship Tour kicks off at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville on Saturday with a new look and feel.
More than 40 of the world’s best skateboarders are showcasing their skills in Jacksonville.
It was a no-brainer for Sean Malto, who was the 2011 Super Crown World Champion, to return to the River City, which hosted Street League Skateboarding outside at Riverfront Plaza Park last November.
“The energy was so good to hear that it was kind of an easy thing to bring Street League back for the arena stops to get started in Jacksonville,” Malto said during a practice skate Saturday morning.
The SLS Championship Tour has moved indoors to an arena setting this time around.
Roos Zwetsloot, an Olympic skateboarder for The Netherlands, is thrilled to be back in the River City.
“They were cheering a lot in Jacksonville,” she said. “I really loved it here.”
Preliminary rounds ruled the day Saturday with the championship rounds set for Sunday afternoon.
The sport being on this stage in the city is a big deal to Steve Ziff, an executive with the tour.
“Skateboarding was one of the biggest sports that grew during the pandemic,” Ziff said. “More skateboards were sold than any other sport in America.”
Ziff said the diversity and creativity adds to the excitement, along with the Street League’s live scoring component.
“You can kind of see what the person needs to do to get to the third spot, the second spot, the first spot,” Malto said of the scoring strategy. “It kind of builds pressure like that.”
The rest of the tour includes stops in Seattle and Las Vegas and then wraps up in November with the Super Crown World Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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