“SINCE NOW” – Shima Skate Manufacturing Contest

Shima Skate Manufacturing recently announced a contest for a chance to win some new skates and gear by producing a 3-5 minute edit telling your story and why you love skating so much. This only takes about 45 seconds to explain and the rest of this nearly 17 minute edit by Dave Lang is basically what Brian Shima and his team would have submitted if entering the contest themselves.

For many kids this may be boring, but for others it is really cool to see things like the first little curb in front of his house where Brian learned to grind and other somewhat trivial things that generally get overlooked in the bigger picture. While listening to him talk I like to imagine a miniature Shima wobbling around on blades, stepping up and rubbing the sole of his skate to the curb, trying to get the idea of grinding for the first time, completely oblivious to where this whole sliding on stuff would one day take him. Brian also talks about his motivations behind starting a skate company of his own, talks about his desire to bring new blood into the sport, and shows a trip they took to the skate park to hook up a little kid with a new pair of skates.

They talk to other SSM team members about how blading has changed and improved their lives. Mostly interviews, but there are some skating clips to go along with it. John Bolino talks about how he was able to get away from an apparently bad situation back east and get out on his own. Montre talks about how much they get to travel and just how many people they get to meet. They interview other members of the team, including Billy O’Neill, which was actually the first I had heard he was skating for them. After a while it kind of begins to feel like an informercial for SSM as they mostly just talk about their respect for Brian and how much they stand behind the company. For the most part it is just a commercial, but it is interesting; it is like an anti-commercial, commercial.

Brian also talks about catching his first bit of inspiration to start a skate company from a visit to Medium back in the day, he talks about his mother’s inspiring work ethic, and he talks about what it’s like to really dedicate your life to something. There isn’t a whole lot to critique about this edit without finding yourself simply talking about what they are talking about, so I’m just going to shut up and let you listen to them yourselves. The edit is put together really well, and for me at least, held my attention all the way through. If you aren’t entirely interested in seeing the behind the scenes sort of thing and just want to see some shredding, you would be much better off catching any one of their recent montages.