Competition this Saturday @ EPIC

I have a skate competition this saturday.  It'll be my 2nd one skating sponsored division which is much harder but it's better to be challenged and when you do get that trophy (which  might take some time) it means more cause you're skating against reallllly good skaters...

Peep my new skate video........2009 Skate Contests

Just a quick video showing some highlights of my 2009 skate competitions....I had a really good year, got a few trophies and had a lot of fun!  Thanks mom for supporting me and filming & helping edit my videos!  Here's the video:

CHRISTIAN LANZA 2009 SKATE COMPETITIONS

Priorities...

As much as I love skateboarding, I know that school has to come first....I work hard and am proud to say I get good grades.  It's been a hard year so far as a freshman.  Taking Spanish 2 has been my hardest class but I'm still managing to stay on the honor roll which is great.  And I'm taking Chemistry honors and AP English and AP History next year so it's going to be even harder but I'm happy my teachers think I'm able to handle these classes.  It might mean a little less skate time but I think I should be able to balance it all.

Here is a pic of me with my honor roll certificate:

Happy Birthday to Me

15 years old today...

Custom One-Offs showin support....

This picture was taken at my first CASL competition of the year for 2010.  The competition was held at EPIC indoor skatepark in Rocklin, CA.  Jeremy (my sponsor and owner of custom one-offs) came out with his friend Nick from Anycal Clothing to show support.  Unfortunately I placed 6th that day (you only get trophies up to 5th place and I was off by .03 points).  It was my first time skating in street SPONSORED division.  With all the rain and bad weather we've been having, it's been really hard to get any practicing in.  I'm hoping the weather will clear up soon and I can get down to what I love to do, skating. 

Thanks to my sponsor for supporting me....

Follow Me!!

Support and follow me......check out this COO shirt my sponsor Jeremy Jones of Custom One-Offs made for me....

here's the front:

Custom One-Offs Photo Shoot

Just a few shots from my first COO photo shoot....My sponsor CUSTOM ONE-OFFS HOOKED ME UP with lots of COO gear!My sponsor Jeremy, owner of COO

Check out my 2009 Skate Highlights Video

CHRISTIAN LANZA 2009 SKATE HIGHLIGHTS VIDEO

Save my Skate Park!

One of my local skateparks was closed down for 5 months this year which really sucked because there aren't any parks close by to skate at.  They opened it back up temporarily but are having problems with vandalism.  If it doesn't stop the park may be shut down for good and covered in dirt which would be such a waste because they spent $500K to build the park.  The director for another parks department / skate park in the city of Marina (where we compete some of our CASL contests) had mentioned that if any of us skaters needed help from him on trying to get a skate park built in our city or helping our skate parks, to call him.  My mom talked to him at the CASL 2009 State games competition and he offered to come down to our city with his skate team to check out the park and meet with our city's parks department.  Hopefully it will make a difference and help keep the park open so we have a place to skate.

Here's a picture of me, Evelyn Abad and the SK8OTB skate team from the City of Marina.

We spent the entire day from 11am to 5pm skating and only stopped cause it started raining.  It was fun filming and skating.  Evelyn hadn't skated a skate park since 3 months ago cause she got a concussion after the Tim Brauch 2009 competition.  Her mom let her skate since we were meeting with the parks departments.  Hopefully she can skate more parks soon.  We got a lot of video footage over the past few days.  Check out Evelyn's Winter 2009 skate Video....for not skating the parks for several months, it hasn't affected her skating skills at all...she still rips it up!  all footage in the video was filmed by me and edited by Evelyn Abad...check it out!

EVELYN ABAD 2009 WINTER SKATE VIDEO

SPONSORSHIP

I just recently got sponsored by a company called (COO) Custom One-Offs
Their website is under construction so check back soon: http://www.customoneoffs.com/

CASL State Games Championship 2009

I placed 4th at the State Games at Woodward West for my division (street 13 and over - unsponsored)

Had a lot of fun skating woodward for the first time though it's really slippery to skate on but am looking forward to going back in February when we have our competition there.  That place is SICK!

C.A.S.L. Competition in Marina, CA November 7, 2009

CASL held our last regular skate competition in Marina, CA.  The have a skate park with a teen center connected to it that's pretty sick.  You can check it out here:

City of Marina CA Skatepark

I'm in the bottom right picture in the middle.

I placed 3rd in this competition.  And I scored $50 bucks for landing a trick my dad asked me to add to my run!  I can definitely use the extra money.  I also won a new deck:

After the competition was our annual awards dinner.  I was surprised to find out that I made 5th place overall for the 2009 year.  I only just joined in September so that was pretty cool.  There are some great skaters in my division so I was excited to even place for the  year since I started so late.

Best of all, I qualified for CASL's STATE GAMES at Camp woodward West in December.  I have always wanted to go there so I'm really excited about that.

My friend Evelyn Abad came for the day to get some footy of my runs and support me.  It's great having friends who are passionate about the sport of skateboarding and can understand why all you want to do in your free time is skate, skate, SKATE!

Here we are outside the City of Marina's banquet facility, waiting for the awards ceremony to start.

Summer Fun 2009 - Skatin with Friends....

My friend Evelyn Abad made this fun video from me and our friends skating over the summer 2009. 
Summer Fun 2009 Skate Video

C.A.S.L. Competition in Ben Lomond, CA - October 25, 2009

I did pretty good at this competition.  Placed 2nd in Street and won Best Trick.  It was my first skate trophy (I just started competing this year) and medal. 

That's me on the top row, 3rd from the left.

Got my game face on...(that's me in the plaid hoody)

Here is my 2nd run video...this is raw footage, I'm working on a video from 2009 and should be ready to post it in a few weeks so check back.....By the way, the announcer mispronounced my name in the video...it's Christian Lanza (pronounced Lawnza) not Laynze.  I messed up a little bit but for the most part I was pretty happy with it and hey I got 2nd and best trick so it was a good day!

CASL Ben Lomond, CA 10/25/09 2nd Run Christian Lanza

I'm in the picture on the bottom left.  2nd kid from the right.

2009 Tim Brauch 11th Memorial Skate Competition

My friend Evelyn Abad told me about the Tim Brauch Memorial Skate Competition.  She has skated this event for several years and was awarded the Spirit of Tim award 2 years in a row.  Tim Brauch was an amazing pro skater from the Bay Area, California where I am from.  He died in his mid-twenties.  There is a movie about his life, you can see a clip here:
Supercharged: Tim Brauch

Tim did a lot for the skateboarding industry, as well as for our local skateparks and the kids who skate there.  I never got a chance to meet him because he died when I was very young, but I went to the premiere of Supercharged and sat right in front of his family.  The movie really shows you what an outstanding skater and person Tim was.  It was cool to see who he was and why so many people loved him in the skateboarding industry.  The Tim Brauch Memorial Skate Competition is a big event here in Silicon Valley every year and 2009 was my first year participating.  I placed 5th place in the Street Ams Competition for ages 13 and over.  My friend Evelyn won the Spirit of Tim award (2nd year in a row). 

The contest was a lot of fun and it was cool to see all the pro skaters: Christian Hosoi, Steve Caballero, Sergie Ventura and more rip it up at Lake Cunningham Skate Park in San Jose, CA.

Evelyn made a cool video with clips from some of our competitions here:

Tim Brauch Memorial 2009 Video Montage
I'm in a black t-shirt, white helmet, blue jeans.  I had a really good 2nd run and landed every trick.  It was pretty exciting.  I didn't expect to even place, but then when they announced the winners, they said 5th place CHRISTIAN LANZA!  It was definitely an exciting weekend.

This skateboarding event is highly publicized.  It was cool to google my name and find so many websites that had articles on the Tim Brauch Memorial Competition.  Here are a few links:

Tim Brauch Memorial Site

Transworld Article on Tim Brauch 2009

There are lots more, but you get the idea. 

Brentwood Sk8Warz 2009

I competed my 2nd year at the Brentwood, CA Skate Contest.  Last year was S-K-A-T-E and this year was Sk8warz.  I did pretty good.  Placed 5th place in my division.  And got to meet DRAMA from MTV's Rob & Big and Fantasy Factory.  He was a celebrity guest at the event. 

Became a member of CASL (California Amateur Skateboarding League) - Northern Cali

There aren't a ton of skateboarding competitions for amateurs in my area, so I joined C.A.S.L. which stands for California Amateur Skateboarding League.  We compete every month which is great and get to travel to different skateparks in Northern California.  We also get to compete at Camp Woodward West which is a HUGE indoor skatepark.

You can check out C.A.S.L. here:


C.A.S.L.

ELEMENT SKATE CAMP.....

This was my second year attending ELEMENT SKATE CAMP. I took 1st place in the Street Contest and won a TON of cool stuff!

This is pretty sweet, you skate off the ramp into the lake....

Who is Christian Lanza??

Hi, my name is Christian Lanza.  I am a freshman in high school and eat, breathe, sleep SKATEBOARDING.  I created this blog to document my life as a skater.  When I'm not skateboarding, I am studying / doing homework (no, not all skateboarders are punks, I actually am an honor roll student and care about getting good grades which  means ELEMENT SKATE CAMP in the summer! ).  I also enjoy playing my x-box 360 and if I'm watching tv, it's probably FUELTV.  Thanks for checking out my blog.

Picture taken at 2009 Zumiez Couch Tour (Pleasanton, CA)