Soul Bowl // Huntington Beach, CA // 25-July 2008

So, this year for the 2008 Soul Bowl, I was going to be out of town for a family reunion. Since the reunion wasn't until Saturday, I decided to shoot the girls' contest to at least get some coverage this year. As usual, the girls' event had a great vibe and seemed more like a session than a contest. After battling some kind of bug for the previous two weeks, last year's winner, Mimi Knoop, came into the weekend feeling the best that she had, but still not 100%. "I was just concentrating on staying on," she told me in an email. Not only did Mimi stay on, she killed. Mimi skates with power and style and with tricks like ollie nose grinds, big indys, front and back inverts, frontside bonelesses and fastplants, it was going to be an uphill battle to take the top spot from her.

Since the field of women bowl skaters isn't the biggest, it opens up the door to the younger group of girls who are making a name for themselves. Girls like Lea Taylor (12), Allysha Bergado (12), Megan Brown (16) and Amelia Brodka (18) are all on the list of up and coming bowl skaters. Allysha, at only 12 years old, already has a 4th place finish at the Pro-Tec Pool Party this year.

The first heat saw some new faces in the lineup this year. Megan Brown, out of the I.E., has been on the bowl scene for a while now, locally, but this was her first showing at the Soul Bowl. She had some nerves going, but always skates very aggressive and in doing so, had a near head-on collision with another first-timer, Gaby Ponce. Gaby, out of New Jersey, a relative newcomer to the west coast scene (well, new to me anyway), was dropping in to some chest-high backside airs. She even landed a 5-foot judo and attempted a kickflip indy about 4 feet out. Her skating showed she was more of a halfpipe rider than bowl rider, but give this girl a couple of years and some decent practicing grounds and she'll be on her way to stardom. Amelia Brodka, also out of New Jersey made her Soul Bowl debut as well. Amelia has a few tricks up her sleeve and once she puts them all together, she will definitely be in contention. Lea Taylor and Allysha Bergado went toe to toe in the first heat with Lea taking almost as many runs as minutes in the jam throwing some consistent airs and grinds, while Allysha rode the bowl very well and mixed up her tricks with airs, inverts, ollies and grinds. Both Lea and Allysha will be big names in the years to come. Rounding out the first heat was Amee Jay Papelera (16), who skated well, but not quite to her potential.

The second heat brought the superstars. Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins is always a crowd-pleaser. Her airs are stylish and big. Even though she didn't place top three, she looked like she was having a whole lot of fun, which is what it's all about. It was good to see Annie Sullivan out from Colorado. She skated well, but the other girls were a bit too much for her this year. Karen Jonz skated hard and technical. With a nollie pop-shuvit and heelflip indy among clean airs and ollies, second place was hers. Julie Kindstrand couldn't link it all together for a top-three finish. She took a good slam bonking her head pretty good. She still kept skating, blurred vision and all. Cara-Beth Burnside wasn't in on the practice session because of a migraine and still had it during the contest. She pushed through the aches and skated like she was feeling no pain. Liens over the hip, inverts, feeble grind fakies and les twists are all in CB's repertoire. It was enough to land her in the third spot. In the end, Mimi Knoop was just too much for the other competitors. Mimi took home a check for $3,500 and with a win at this year's Pro-Tec Pool Party, has got to be feeling good going into this year's X Games. In my opinion, power and style are what makes a skateboarder fun to watch. Mimi's got both.

I had to leave before the final results, so once I find them, I'll post them up. Click here for the photos.