Issue 2

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The second (and much improved) issue of Balance features interviews with Iain McLeod, Chynna Weierstall, Mike Koliner and Matt Lorch. 34 pages, over 10,000 words and more than 25 pictures to entertain you while you kill some time on your lunch break.

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Content


Iain McLeod
Chynna Weierstall
Mike Koliner
Matt Lorch
Presented by
vol. 1
#
2 vol. 1
#
2
Contributing photographers...
In this issue...
Iain McLeod......................................
Chynna Weierstall.........................
Mike Koliner....................................
Matt Lorch.......................................
pages 3 - 10
pages 11 - 20
pages 21 - 26
pages 28 - 31
Ozzie Sandoval-
Orange County, CA
13 years involved with skating
3 years involved with photography
Dave DiNuzzo-
Pittsburgh, PA
9 years involved with skating
3 years involved with photography
Al Dolega-
Detroit, MI
13 years involved with skating
2.5 years involved with photography
Vincent Morretino-
Indianapolis, IN
12.5 years involved with skating
11 years involved with photography
Workaholics...
Editor & Art Director
Vincent Morretino
This Issue’s Writers
Dave DiNuzzo
Al Dolega
Vincent Morretino
Additional Photographers
Cameron Card
Megan Peterson
Dustin Thompson
Interview & Layout: Vincent Morretino
Photos: Ozzie Sandoval (unless otherwise noted)
4
Who did you grow up skating with, and how did they
inuence you?
I grew up skating with a lot of dierent people over the
years. Whoever wanted to blade with me, I guess. e
main ones were my brother Colin, Tom Prendergast,
Je Stockwell, Connor O’Brien, Vince Morretino, Danny
Bedola, George Lucas, Carl Sturgess, Scotty Nelson and
Scott Ledinski. en I met the San Diego heads through
Brian Bell, Mike Leif, Kevin Smith, Chris Haey, Lyle
Shivak...I’m sure many, many others I’m forgetting.
All of them had a major inuence on me.
Who was the most instrumental person in keeping you
interested in skating?
Lot’s of people, there’s not just one person. I think it’s
more of a competition with myself to not fallo just
because I’m getting older. Music inspires me a lot as well.
Where did you used to get your skating gear as a kid?
Team Paradise in Huntington Beach and San Clemente
Sports in San Clemente. I got a lot of gear from the one
in San Clemente, like Majestic 12s and VG 4 on my
birthday.
Who were some of your favorite skaters growing up?
Pretty much all of the Future Prospects (FP) guys.
I really respect how they portrayed rollerblading.
What was it like the rst time you moved away from
home, and did you struggle with the meager salary of
a professional rollerblader?
It denitely taught me about life. Aer high school,
I moved to San Diego into a 2 bedroom house with Mike
Leif. His family owned the property, so the rent we paid
was only $300 a month! Aer that I ended up moving to
Irvine/Santa Ana with Rachard Johnson and his girl-
friend. I was getting paid well by Deshi at that point, but
I ended up moving out because the parking situation was
terrible, my car got broken into twice and towed twice.
What exactly happened with Deshi? Are you still upset
with how that went down, or was it a blessing in disguise?
Basically I got an email one day addressed to all the
riders saying they were no longer going to be selling
Deshi skates, USD, Kizer or anything else in the US.
My paychecks aer that were less and less. So I decided
I might as well just try to skate whatever I wanted and
just have fun. Having a real full time job would be paying
me more than breaking myself for something that wasn’t
going to support me. It was time for a change. I always
wanted to try out Remz aer trying Connor’s skates one
day. I called up Kato, and he’s been hooking me up ever
since.
Can you describe how you, Colin and your mother came
to live with your grandparents?
Well when I was in middle school my mom broke her hip
and was unable to work for a while. My mom is a single
parent, so my brother and I ended up moving from
Mission Viejo to my grandparent’s house in San Clemente.
ey moved to San Clemente over 30 years ago from
Minnesota, and owned a huge house. My grandfather
was a city planner. ey pretty much ended up help-
ing raise me in addition to my mom. eir house was
notorious for having friends from all over staying all the
time. A few years ago they sold their house to retire to
Utah. I see them all of the time. In fact they’re out here
visiting right now!
What was your best experience traveling overseas?
Was it weird when you rst realized that you have fans
outside of America?
So many good experiences, it’s hard to narrow it down.
I think when I got to visit Stonehenge, that was pretty
crazy. Poland, Spain and Sweden were also really fun.
It was a great feeling knowing there were other skaters
outside of America that liked my skating. I remember
one time at the Playstation skate park in the U.K.,
I signed shirts for a line of people for 30 minutes or more
before I could skate, then signing a bunch of girl’s
underwear and tits at the next spots. at’s about the
time I thought to myself, this rollerblading life is not so
bad, haha. I wasn’t nervous traveling outside the county
because I had already traveled all over the United States,
and had friends in England so it was cool.
What’s your secret for smooth talking the ladies?
I just asked my girlfriend this question, and she replied
“I don’t think you have a secret.” Haha, she’s sassy.
Iain McLeod. Not Iain McLoed, Ian McLoud or
any of the other misspellings that have been so
common over the years. Iain has been skating for
over a decade, and has sacriced more than you
know to entertain and inspire us. It is with great
pleasure that I can present you with some insight
into what goes on in the mind of Iain McLeod.
(Continued on page 5)
5
What’s the average day look like for Iain McLeod?
Well, I wake up, play on my computer, feed my goldsh
and watch them swim, I go get a morning breakfast with
a morning brew of iced coee. en I go to work, come
home and then I lie in bed and watch T.V. until
my girlfriend and I fall asleep. ursday nights, some-
times before and aer work I skate, and weekends I’m
always skating.
Who or what motivates you to keep skating?
Lot’s of things. I’ve put so many years into it I don’t think
I will be stopping anytime soon. People that are around
my age or older, even if they might have a full time job
like Connor who is still killing rails and doing hammers
all the time. Brian Aragon inspires me a lot. Makes me
feel like I still am young and have many years le in
skating. I want to see skating grow. I want to be remem-
bered for doing some crazy shit, and pushing skating to
the next level. I think this is what I was born to do.
Would you consider your part in the ONE video to be
your comeback section? Not that you le, I know that
you were focusing on some important stu for a while.
No. I would think my 2 parts in Teach em Well were
sort of my comeback section, because I hadn’t had a
section before that in a while since Hot 102.R. I feel
I did a good job for that video, and pushed myself, it was
more complete. I like the ONE video, but my section was
denitely rushed. Mostly due to the fact that my whole
part was lmed by Connor and we both work full time
and he was busy lming other people as well. I only had
a couple of weekends to lm that part.
What are some things that you are horrible at?
Making up my mind, and saving money.
What are some things that distract you when you are
trying to lace a particularly dicult trick? Do you think
about getting hurt when you skate, or do you just deal
with it when it happens?
I listen to music when I skate so that distracts me from
other people. I think about doing the trick and nothing
else. If I’m trying something big, I usually wait until the
end of the day. Like the Costco gap. I tried it three times
and couldn’t skate for a week aer because my body hurt
so much. I’m not afraid to fall, sometimes I like it.
It helps to get a little angry to get motivated to fully com-
mit to something.
Besides Remz, what other rollerblading companies or
shops are keeping you up-to-date on fresh gear?
Intuition helped me out growing up. Right now, I’m not
ocially riding for any skate shop. SDSF hooks me up
from time to time, though.
Have you noticed that today’s skate videos are not really
lled with personalities and dialog that are quotable,
but mostly just focus on skating? For instance, take the
opening to Brian Bell’s Wanted or Louie Zamora’s sec-
tion from VG 14. Why do you think this is?
Well, I do think there is a lack of character like there was
in old school videos. New videos do seem to have a lot
of “Joe Somebody” doing all the tricks, but lacking the
personality of someone like Josh Petty. ere still per-
sonalities in rollerblading, I just think it’s not the same
as how it was growing up. ere can never be another
Champion Baumstimler, Josh Petty, or Je Frederick.
But there’s always new faces coming out. Maybe that’s
something videos should concentrate on more, showing
some interesting people to highlight the skating.
What are some things that sponsors can do to take better
care of their riders? Like Adam Johnson starting up a
donation section on the Vibralux website, where you can
donate cash to any of their riders of your choice.
ey can start by paying their riders. AJ is doing it right,
I think he’s one of the only people to pay skaters for being
part of a clothing company and for lming for a video.
What is the nicest thing you have ever done for someone
else?
is made me think of something that happened to me
the other day. I was on my way home, and had just
picked up some food with my girlfriend. I was stopped
at a red light, making a right hand turn. ere was a car
stopped in front of me, so I cut right into a gas station
to shortcut around it, and we see this girl crying, say-
ing that she was stranded because of some bullshit. She
was hitchhiking. Aer some convincing from my girl
we ended up driving her 45 minutes to her house. Not
to mention the time it took to drive back. My food was
ice cold when I got home but I earned extra man points
with my girlfriend.
(Continued on page 9)
Soul grind on the rail for speed, rolled the flat, then 180 safety bush gap,
Mission Viejo, CA
Topsoul, Mission Viejo, CA
Do you know how happy you have made some people by
going back to sweatpants?
Haha. Yes. I still wear jeans too, and basketball shorts
are my favorite thing to skate in.
What rollerblading websites do you visit? Ever go onto
the Be-Mag messageboard?
I look at Rollernews and Be-Mag, mostly. I go to the
messageboard, but apparently I registered my email a
long time ago to post on there and I forgot my password
so I don’t really post anything, haha. I just lurk and
creep. I’m a creepo.
When discussing stylistic inuences in rollerblading on
messageboards, your name comes up a lot as an example
of consistent and uid technique. Does that make you
blush?
Haha, I don’t know really. at’s cool if people think that.
Some days I feel I like how I did something, sometimes
I hate my own skating. I think I remember Dominic
Sagona saying once that if you do a trick and it felt good,
chances are it looked good. at’s something that makes
sense to me. I try to think about landing a trick solid
with no slops.
Did you ever keep any of your signature skating products
from your sponsors over the years?
I have my 2nd Regime wheels hanging up in my room.
I also have a Deshi poster of myself 180ing a double set
that I brought home with me from Sweden. Other than
that, I don’t have anything else. I think my parents or
grandparents have lots of things in storage. ey’re pretty
sentimental. I’m looking forward to checking it out later
in my life sometime.
If someone handed you a check for $1 million, what
would you do with it?
I’m not sure. $1 million in today’s world can buy me a
normal house in Orange County, since this area is so
damn expensive. I’d probably just use the money to
nance the things I want to be doing with my life.
Owning some sort of skating company would be nice
though.
Any words of advice about what to expect aer an injury
that prevents you from skating for awhile?
Give it time. Look at Billy O’Niel.
Where is your favorite place to go and relax? What’s so
special about it?
e Ladera Ranch Lampost, and Starbucks. My RK lady
friends work there, we get the hook up. I call it “home
base” because we always start our day there and meet up
in-between spots.
Is there anyone that you would like to say thank you to,
or acknowledge for inuencing your life in a positive way?
ank you Vince for being a hommie, Remz, Scribe,
Vicious, RK, my girl Megan, my friends, my family, God.
Anyone who reads this, THANKS!
Iain busted his shin while shooting for this interview.
He got stitched up at the emergency room, and should
be out skating again in no time. anks for being a
trooper, Iain. Get well soon.
9
Tru-Fish, Laguna Niguel, CA
Photo by Megan Peterson
Tru-Fish, Laguna Niguel, CA
Photo by Megan Peterson
Bloody shin bash, Mission Viejo, CA
Interview & Photos: Al Dolega
Layout: Vincent Morretino
This ledge has claimed more than its fair share of ankles and ribs, but Chynna
didn’t want to play it safe. AO Topsoul, Midland, MI
Al - Let’s get the basics out of the way Chynna, the boring stu. How
old are you, where are you from, how did you start skating, all that
simple stu.
Chynna - I’m 17 years old, from Roseville, Michigan, and…I forgot
the rest of what you said. (laughter)
Al - is is going to be…problematic, I think.
(laughter)
Al - OK. How did you start skating?
Chynna - I always used to roll around the neighborhood in recre-
ational skates, then I saw the movie Brink on the Disney Channel,
and thought it looked really cool and wanted to try it, so my dad
bought me some aggressive skates.
Al - How old were you? Didn’t you skate for a little while, then you
quit, then you started again?
Chynna - I started when I was nine, but then I quit until about 12,
and I haven’t quit since then.
Al - So about ve or six years. Tell us who your sponsors are and
how you got them.
Chynna - My sponsors are Eulogy Wheels, Razors skates, Landslide
Skate Park and Modern Skate Park. I got Eulogy from an online edit
I made and…uh…how did I get Eulogy?
Al - I tipped Isaac o about your skating. I get all the credit!
(laughter)
Al - What about Razors, and skating for two skateparks at once?
How’s that work?
Chynna - I dunno…
Diana - ere was conict at rst but then…
Chynna - …I mean, do they know?
Diana - Yeah, they both know.
Al - e razors thing is a ow position, and it goes through
Modern, right?
Chynna - No, it doesn’t go through either, it goes right through Mac.
Al - at’s awesome, because he told me years ago that Razors had a
“No Girls” policy. So apparently you’ve broken that wall down.
Anyways, so you skate for Landslide and Modern, competing parks,
and they’re both cool with it?
Diana - James from Modern knows and is cool with it, and wants
you on the team. Landslide, I’m pretty sure knows?
Al - We think they know. ey’re about to nd out. (laughter)
What about injuries? What’s happened so far there?
Chynna - Well, I hit my head a lot (laughs). e rst time I got two
black eyes and a giant bump on my forehead…second time I got one
black eye and a bump.
Diana - And your broken nger…her nger was bent 90 degrees.
Skating your practice rail…
Chynna - Yeah, my 2 inch high p-rail.
Al - And your shin…
Chynna - Oh, yeah! We went to this big down rail and Al was
trying to make me do it. I jumped, got scared, and busted my shin
open on the rail and got eighteen stitches.
Savannah - She never has any skin on her elbows. And her knees are
twice the size of normal knees. And her shins are lumpy.
Al - at’s normal rollerblader stu though.
Savannah - But her brain has swelled. at was scary.
Al - at’s weird that you hit your head both times wearing a helmet.
Chynna - Yeah.
Savannah - at’s what you get for street skating in the snow.
Diana - I wanted to touch on her being drug-free, alcohol-free, stu
like that. I think that’s important, it keeps her focused on skating
itself, and not dropping into to party side of things, which for me
personally, is so easy to do. “Let’s skate a little and then go out
drinking!” She’s never had a drink, non-smoker, doesn’t do drugs…
it helps her keep her focus, and a lot of guys should take note of that.
Savannah - She’s in skating for skating, not for this whole party scene.
Al - And that’s perfectly ne for some people, whatever, but Chynna
not being like that shouldn’t be an issue.
Diana - I denitely respect the fact that she is, for lack of a better
term, “above the inuence”…so much more than a person like me,
and a lot of people that I still hang out with, that do that…go to the
comp, are entertained by the comp, and then just wanna get wasted.
Al - Chynna, where’s the motivation or the reason for not doing it
come from? Is it just purely a performance thing? You don’t want to
potentially mess up skating the next day?
Chynna - I dunno, I just don’t see the point to it. I don’t see the point
to getting myself messed up. I like being who I am and going o my
own energy. No matter what I did [skating or not] I probably still
wouldn’t do it.
Al - You’ve got plenty of it, you don’t need any additional energy.
Savannah- Peer pressure doesn’t really work on her.
Al - OK, so what notable achievements have you had so far. Contests,
video sections…what’s stuck out to you so far?
Chynna - Well I got rst place at SuperChick 2008, and then rst
place at the 2008 SuperGirl Rail Jam in Huntington Beach, Ca.
I’m working on a section right now for 2 Much Flavor.
Al - e SuperGirl thing, that was pretty sweet, it was a new thing,
kind of like an all-girls’ X-Games…you got invited out to that
because of skating in the AIL, right? Who hooked that up?
Chynna - It was Pam Velasquez, she knew me from skating at
Woodward, and SuperChick…ASA asked her who should go and
she suggested me.
Al - It was a rail jam format, which is something I’ve never really
seen before in a televised thing like that. You skated well, and the
edit that was on TV was pretty sweet, and you won a bunch of
money for that, right?
Chynna - Yeah…I won $2,500.
Diana - You know guys are pissed reading that right now! Get
pissed! Get pissed…
Al - How do you feel about skating with or against the guys? Do you
feel that women’s’ skating should compete on the same levels, or the
same divisions as the guys?
Chynna - at’s a hard one. I think we should skate with guys
because it makes us better, like you feel better when you can place
higher than guys… you don’t have to win rst, you can just be able
to keep up with them. I love skating with the guys. It’s fun to keep up
sometimes.
It seems like nowadays, just being a rollerblader at the skate-
park will get you a few stares. Add being a girl with bright red
hair, however, and you’re bumped up to “curiosity” status.
And if you’re also better than most of the guy rollerbladers
there, your name can only be Chynna Weierstall, and you
might as well be in a circus sideshow, as far as the gawking
masses are concerned. ey can barely keep themselves from
running into each other from staring so hard; you’re too busy
learning ve new tricks that day to notice or care. Your sister
Savannah, friend/mentor Diana Ward and I also had to
practically steal your skates to get you to sit still long enough
to interview you.
13
(Continued on page 16)
I couldn’t decide between a joke referencing “YMCA,” or a rap song,
so make up your own. Front farv, Detroit, MI
Page 15
Chynna and I traveled long and hard to skate this ledge; about 100 feet from
my front door. AO Christ Fishbrain/Crucifish, downtown Detroit, MI
16
Diana - I think it’s important for her to skate with the guys, and
other females who can, should. It sets the bar higher, and It makes
females’ skating look better as a whole.
Al - What do you think the ideal format would be? Have the girls
skate with the guys but be judged separately? How should it work?
Chynna - at’s a good idea…you can go both ways though, have
some comps together and some not...I dunno. It’d be hard to choose
which comps to do it with.
Al - Like at Bittercold this year, you and Fallon (Heernan) really
represented, and skated not just amongst the guys, but against
them.
Diana - Fallon placed, what, top ten or twelve? So that was denitely
a female who legitimately got to the top of one of the hardest com-
petitions that we have, at this time, and she got there legitimately,
from her skating, and skating well.
Al - I think that’s testimony that even if there is a physical barrier
between most guys and most girls, as far as build and muscle and
all that stu, you can pretty much overcome it. Maybe to oset
that barrier, the girls could just have something like a handicap,
like with golf? You automatically get ten more points if you own a
vagina…
Diana - at’d be so wack. I think we do have physical limitations
but it just makes it that much sweeter when we do step above the
larger percent of the guys. And by we, I mean, not me.
Al - Haha, yeah, I don’t think that would work very well. I was being
facetious, really. I think that many girls tend to overplay that physi-
cal… handicap, or whatever.
Diana - I think the girl’s level of skating is rising to the point where
they’re starting to match up with the guys. As long as everyone’s still
being judged on style, and the skater as a whole and consistency and
all of that, there’s no reason why they can’t skate with the men in the
big contests. But I also think it’s appropriate at times to have female
comps where we’re just skating with each other, because that’s fun
for us too.
Al - So you need both.
Diana - I think if we could get more females interested in the sport,
and more females actually skating, you’d see a lot of skill level rising.
Al - Well, there’d be more competition between the girls, too.
ere’d be more of them. A lot of the girls out there only see another
girl skater like once a year, when they go to an event, or whatever…
Savannah- Yeah we’re lucky to have so many girl skaters in the
Detroit area. We have...
Al - Eight, I think. Who at least skate once in a while. Even if they
aren’t all full-time skaters, that’s still four or ve times as many girls
as most other scenes have. So that’s unusual. Chynna, what have you
done with that money from SuperGirl? You still have it?
Chynna - Umm, I’ve used it for random skate trips, and to go out to
California with Diana for a week.
Al - at just happened, how was that?
Diana - It was fun. We skated with Aarin Gates, and it was really
cool to see Chynna and Aarin skate together, because they both
skate street really well, so…it was epic.
Al - So, San Diego with Aarin, then L.A.?
Diana - en we went to L.A. and it slowed down a bit, it was during
the week so I think everyone had to go to work.
Al - It seems like girls have more of a presence in skating nowadays,
just from you, Fallon, Fabiola still…Jenna Downing…
Diana - Aarin Gates! Fuck yeah, Aarin Gates. She deserves a lot
more attention than she’s seen.
Al - Chynna, do you ever feel that any of the attention you receive is
unwarranted? Just because you’re a girl?
Chynna - I think I do, sometimes…like, I’ll do a soul grind, my rst
trick, when no one’s ever seen me before, they’ll think it’s like, amaz-
ing. Once I start skating with people, and they’re used to me, it’s as
if I’m just like one of them. ey won’t really notice the girl thing
anymore.
Al - I guess I meant at competitions, or with sponsorship, or what-
ever. Reactions from people who’ve never seen you before or still
haven’t, online or whatever.
Diana - She doesn’t really hang on messageboards and stu like
that, so she’s not experiencing that. When she’s skating she’s very
focused, and introverted, so she’s not really out there bs-ing it up,
like I do.
Al - Chynna, what are you excited for most in the next coming year?
You’re going to SuperGirl again, in a week or two, right?
Chynna - Yeah…if it happens.
Al - What’s up with that?
Savannah- It’s not very exciting, with all the drama…because they
get paid less than everyone else.
Diana - Well last year the pot was $2,500, and now this year it’s half
that… $1,250. So even on this side of things [girls’ skating], roller-
blading is still shrinking, still seeing less money all the time.
Savannah - And the girl skaters just want to boycott it. And if they
(Continued on next page)
17
do that, it’ll just be taken out completely, it’s stupid. ey should
just be thankful.
Al - Yeah, we kinda gotta take what we can get. Or what you can get.
Rollerblading overall has to take what any rollerblader can get for it.
Diana - I mean [the girls] can boycott it, but they’ll just give the
pot to someone else. It’s not helping their ratings to have these girls
skate on TV...in our sport anyway.
Al - It has to be helping their ratings somewhat, they had it on the
show last year.
Diana - But it seemed like it was just there. Just a ll-in between
skateboarding, snowboarding, whatever. If that was the part that
didn’t get good ratings, then we see less money this year.
Chynna - We had one of the biggest crowds though, out of everyone.
ere was a ton of people watching us. I guess the WB doesn’t want
it… doesn’t want to sponsor inline now.
Al - Really? Wow. Where’d you hear that?
Chynna - My dad talked to the ASA people.
Diana - Even the reaction on Be-Mag was intensely negative, to see a
female rise up and do well.
Al - Yeah, I remember they were negative about the event as a
whole, too. It wasn’t really…
Diana - Extreme jealousy.
Al - ...yeah, it wasn’t really about Chynna or Fallon or whoever
individually, they just didn’t like the idea that…
Diana - ey needed to be reminded that it was an all-girls event.
Girls from all of the “extreme” sports.
Chynna - Didn’t they say something like, why do girls get on TV but
not the guys?
Al - Yeah, exactly. at’s funny because at this point in rollerblad-
ing, who cares?
Chynna - Someone’s on TV.
Al - Yeah, rollerblading is on TV. Publicity. at’s what we need.
Rollerblading, period, on the screen.
Diana - Sometimes people do think that girls’ skating is interesting,
so maybe it did deserve its own avenue at that time.
Al - Plus it’s not like it was a bunch of guys’ sports, and then they
put girls’ rollerblading, saying, rollerblading is lesser, or whatever. It
was all girls’ sports- skateboarding, snowboarding, biking, every-
thing. Hopefully it still happens and you do well again.
Diana - I remember when [that Be-Mag thread] happened, we were
on a road trip and we were reading it on your phone… so much
hate.
Al - Yeah. Jealousy…You’re making the playa-hatas hate, Chynna.
is basically brings us to my next subject- the interactions between
the 99% of rollerbladers who are guys, and then the 1% that are
girls. Two things: what’s the coolest or nicest thing a guy has said or
done, and contrasting that, what’s the weirdest, or creepiest?
Savannah - One time a skateboarder snaked me, and got so pissed,
he tried to throw his skateboard at me, and then I went to do a trick
and he started screaming at me.
Diana - I’ve got all kinds of incidents really, and I bitch about them
on Be-Mag constantly, so look for that there.
Al - Nothing pops out to you Chynna? You don’t have to name who
they are, so don’t be embarrassed.
Chynna - Some stop skating when I come around…like, I’m skating,
and I’ll start doing some tricks, and some guys will just sit down
and stop skating.
Al - Do you catch any kind of attitude with that? Are they sitting
down just watching, what’s the vibe you get from them?
Chynna - Umm…kinda pissed, and…intimidated? I dunno.
Al - So you intimidate them.
Chynna - Maybe… (Laughter)
Savannah - Remember when that little kid asked you to sign his
skate? Little kids have asked Chynna to sign their skates.
Chynna - at was cool.
Al - What about at events and stu? When you’re around the
“industry” or “famous” skaters? What kind of reaction have you
gotten?
Chynna- ey’re cool. It’s been good.
Al - Do you think you get treated dierently than the guys? Better,
worse or just dierently?
Chynna - I think I get more props sometimes. Just because I’m a girl
and I can do stu…I dunno.
Al - ey’re noticing it more.
Chynna - Yeah.
Savannah - [Out street skating] homeless people always notice it
more. And our friend Ivan is always screaming “Is that a girl?!”, just
to get people to notice.
Al - So you’ve also got a section coming in 2 much avor, we’ve gotta
wrap up lming for that in the next couple of months…what else is
coming up in the next year?
Chynna - Umm, I can’t wait to get outta high school.
Al - Why?
Chynna - It’s boring. (laughter)
Diana - Tell them about when people nd out about your skating.
Al - Yeah, you changed schools this year right? So the people there
don’t know that you’re Little Miss Famous Skater-Girl, but at your
last school didn’t they know?
Chynna - No one knew. It was like ve people who knew.
Al - I thought you got some coolest hobby award, or were on the an-
nouncements or something.
Chynna - Oh, that was in the school paper. No one reads that!
Savannah - Yeah, it was for having a weird hobby. But Chynna’s rst
day at her new school, she had a black eye from hitting her head.
Chynna - Yeah, everyone looked at me like I was the craziest person
in the world. ey just wouldn’t say anything.
Al - What kind of reaction do you get from “normal” girls? Not just
about skating but getting banged up?
Chynna - ey don’t understand what I do.
Savannah - Yeah, a lot of people think I’m in a roller rink, or ght-
ing other girls in roller derby or something.
Al - So do you prefer it like that? Where you can go to school and
be anonymous? Or do you think it’d be cool for people to recognize
what you do? Because you’ve put pretty much your entire life into
skating. Or do you just not really care either way?
Chynna - I think it’d be kinda cool if people knew, but it’s not really
a big deal to me if they don’t.
Al - Yeah. It’d probably just be a lot of hassle. I mean, you’d have the
people, you’re walking down the hall and they say “Ohhh, skater
girl!”, or whatever, and it gets old aer a while. at’s the only thing
they know about you, so that denes you in their eyes.
Chynna - Some kid used to call me that. Every time I saw him.
Al - We asked about the reaction from “normal” girls, what about
“normal” guys? e dudes at school?
Savannah - She doesn’t really socialize with people at school. She’s
just the quiet girl.
(Continued on page 19)
Page 18
At what point exactly does a royale become a shuffle? You can’t really lock
onto this ledge, but you’re not quite surfing it like a shuffle, either. Front
Royale/Shuffle off the end, from the first block, downtown Detroit, MI
At what point exactly does a royale become a shuffle? You can’t really lock
onto this ledge, but you’re not quite surfing it like a shuffle, either. Front
Royale/Shuffle off the end, from the first block, downtown Detroit, MI
19
Al - So what are your plans aer high school?
Chynna - Not really sure yet, I’m denitely going to go to college
though. Community college, around here.
Al - at’s good, you can save your money…your twenty-ve hundred.
Chynna - Ballin’!
Al - Your dad is super supportive, but not “coachey”. Did he ever want
you to play normal sports, or do anything else, or has always just
been supportive but let you do your own thing? Do you think he ever
wishes you could actually earn a living rollerblading?
Chynna - My dad just likes seeing me do what makes me happy, no
matter if I’m making money or getting anywhere with it. He likes
being around and watching me skate, it makes him happy to see me
do good.
Savannah - He’s actually tried to skate twice, once at Woodward and
once at Skate Plaza on a curb. He thinks rollerblading is really fasci-
nating, he’ll watch skate videos with us…he does wish rollerblading
was big so Chynna could be seen, but he doesn’t ever regret her start-
ing rollerblading.
Diana - I asked him once, “Do you ever get tired of all the big road
trips and driving around, all the hassle associated with getting places
and being there on time, the money and everything?” He said, “Well,
if I had a little boy that played sports, hockey or whatever, I’d be doing
the same thing.”
Chynna - He’s always down for road trips, no matter where we go.
Savannah- Traveling’s the best part for him, I think. He’s a fun dad.
Al - He’s not that dad that’s all “coachey” and wants their kid to crush
the competition and be the next Chris Haey. But there’s also a lot of
kids who have parents that don’t give a shit that they skate, or even
actually actively discourage it. Your dad has the best mix of attitudes
I think- he’s supportive without being intrusive. He lets your skating
be what it is, what you want to make of it, he supports you doing it
but doesn’t try to change what it is. You’re really lucky to have that
family support.
Diana - And your mom still can’t watch it. She seems terried to see
her daughter get hurt.
Al - Well, you are coming home with black eyes and stu! (laughter)
Chynna - Yeah, if I have clips or anything, I won’t show her the
falls. I’ll skip through them and show her the other clips. I mean she
doesn’t come around and watch me skate, but she’s always there for
me when I’m getting hurt, to take care of me…just to be my mom.
She takes care of me more with the rest of the stu, other than skating.
Savannah - So Chynna, how would life be dierent if I didn’t skate?
Are you glad that I skate too?
Chynna - Of course I am. How would it be dierent, I dunno…
Diana - It’d be hard to get around. And you wouldn’t always have
someone to skate with. I’m sure that’s been helpful on a lot of levels.
Al - at reminds me, you’re getting your license soon. How do you
think that will change your skating dynamic?
Chynna - Well, not having a license really sucks. I gotta wait for
people, or get picked up or dropped o somewhere. Once I have it
I’ll probably skate way more, and I’ll be able to skate more of what I
want to skate.
Al - But the downside of that is that you gotta pay for it, so how are
you gonna do that? Just win more contests?
Chynna- Maybe. Get a job probably.
Diana - When you get your license you better not stop coming
around. You gotta come pick me up once in a while, OK?
Savannah - You gotta drive me everywhere. And I’ll give you no gas
money, like you always do to me.
Chynna - at’s how I do.
Al - It’s payback time bitch! - How do you think it would change
everything if Savannah never started skating?
Chynna - Well, for sure skating has made us a lot closer. Before, we
just hung out once in a while, now we’re together all the time. We
watch videos together, hang out, we can go skate and just have fun.
Savannah - Yeah, we’re denitely a lot closer.
Al - Chynna was skating for a few years before you started, what was
the spark that got you interested?
Savannah - I’d never really seen pros skate, I’d never really watched
Chynna, I just knew she rollerbladed, I didn’t really know what it
was. I went to Bittercold to watch her compete for the rst time, and
I was blown away. I told my dad I wanted to rollerblade and he didn’t
believe me, so then Chynna let me wear her skates and we made a
mini-edit of me learning to grind on a little p-rail. We showed my
dad and the next day he bought me skates from Landslide.
Chynna - Having Savannah around, she just makes me laugh, and
I have more fun skating. Because I can get really shy, and Savannah
comes around and starts dancing, or saying stupid things, and I’ll
mellow out and have fun.
Al - at’s good, it helps keep it from being high-pressure all the
time, because I know you push yourself pretty hard. You have a lot
more motivation than a lot of guys do so I’m sure it’s good to have
someone there to help relieve the tension once in a while.
Savannah - Yea, she can skate alone for hours.
Al - Where’s that come from?
Chynna - I dunno, I just have fun doing it, and I guess it kinda just
gets things o my mind. It’s just something I’m good at, I don’t know.
Diana - It gets everything o your mind, and the only thing you’re
thinking of is skating, and a few hours later you kinda drop back into
the real world, and think, wow, I was really there, for a long time..
Al - O in rollerblading space.
Diana - Yeah, you totally escape real life.
Chynna- If I’m angry, or sad or something, I can’t skate. I try to
skate and I just get frustrated and I’ll stop.
Al - I think a lot of people are the same way.
Savannah - She’ll get frustrated so we’ll just go for a walk and hang
out. Calm down and get coee.
Al - at’s another good thing about you being sisters… I think a lot
of rollerbladers have friends that they pretty much just rollerblade
with, and they might hang out with them once in a while, but they’re
not gonna go do something like that. ey don’t have the exibility to
decide not to skate and then go hang out and do something else.
Chynna - If it wasn’t for my sister and my dad, I probably would
just be skating my box in my back yard all the time.
Al - Making YouTube edits with eight zillion views. I always love all
the super creepy comments on YouTube and Rollernews that you get.
ere’s always some funny ones, like “damn girl, you so ne” and
“move that thang”...
Savannah - “Gettin’ that wet-wet”… (laughter)
Chynna - Too far, Savannah. Too far. (laughter)
Al - e dude from Rollernews loves you, anything you put online he
puts on Rollernews.
Diana - He knows quality.
Al - at’s how word about you spread initially though, your YouTube
p-rail edits and stu. You were making them when you were like 13,
and they were getting tons of views.
20
Savannah - Yeah, and she actually makes her own p-rails.
Chynna - When I was out in California some guy recognized me
from one of my box edits from about three years ago.
Diana - When you skated the desk. He was so juiced, it inspired him.
So your inuence is wide-reaching.
Chynna - When I was at the airport, the lady that took my boarding
pass saw my name, and said she just saw a girl on TV skateboarding,
and I was like, “was it rollerblading? at was me!”
Al - Was she excited?
Savannah- She was all smiley.
Al - OK, time for shout-outs.
Chynna - Of course, my sponsors. Landslide has always been so
supportive. e owner at Modern, George, lets me skate his amazing
park for free. And then Razors, I’ve gone through like a million pairs
of skates and frames and without them I’d probably be broke.
Eulogy has supported me the longest. Isaac’s been the biggest help.
He helped me get out to SuperGirl, and I always have more than
enough wheels and bearings. Brandi Goulet for sure, for helping me
with Woodward and stu…my dad, because he’s so supportive…
and Savannah…you and Diana, for always skating with me and
telling me tricks to try and stu…
Al - You’re my real-life tony hawk game. I can’t do the tricks I think of
so I just have you do them for me. Anyone else?
Chynna - Ivan, K2Alex (Alex Hancook), Bryan, and Nick…we skate
all the time. Especially Ivan, he always just like screams and hits me
and gets me juiced.
Savannah - Ivan always gets background props at every comp. His
line is always “Can I get a hell yeah?!”, and everyone responds.
Diana - He’s getting background props in this interview.
Chynna - Yeah, you always hear him screaming my name out of
nowhere.
Al - He’s like your own personal hype-man.
Chynna - Savannah of course, and Diana especially…when I rst
started skating, I was so intimidated and she pulled me out and
made me skate with the guys.
Al - Yeah, you’re a pretty shy person so if she hadn’t done that, you’d
probably still be skating by yourself.
Chynna - I’d still be o by myself, skating the vert ramp.
Chynna, Diana and I would like to dedicate this article to
Savannah, who less than 24 hours aer we recorded this
interview, broke her jaw in three places, and several teeth while
skating. May your road to recovery be short and easy!
Anyone who’s been to the Skate Plaza knows how slippery it is when any amount of water touches
it. It was starting to sprinkle as Chynna laced this inspin back royale (aka fakie 270 back royale),
and I barely had my gear packed up when it started pouring. Kettering, OH
Interview: Dave DiNuzzo
Photos: Dave DiNuzzo, Cameron Card, Dustin ompson
Layout: Vincent Morretino
Front Savannah
Photo by Dave DiNuzzo
What made you start skating and who were some of
your inuences early on?
My neighbor was a rollerblader. I thought it looked
like fun so I asked for rollerblades on my 11th birth-
day. I haven’t stopped skating since. At the beginning
of my skating career, I looked up to a group of skaters
from my home town. ey called themselves the KKC
or the Kount Kulture Crew. Aer the KKC fell apart,
I met Ryan Parker, Brant Pickup, Andrew DiPaolo,
Mike Dephilips and Mike Sharps. ese guys were
amazing and trying to keep up with them has
denitely molded me into the skater I am now.
Outside of that, skaters like Brain Shima, Aaron
Feinberg, Colin Kelso and Chris Farmer.
In an age of computers, digital media and 3-D
animation, what made you decide to stick with
traditional art such as painting and sculpting?
Well, aer my rst year of art school I am not sure
where my art is moving. Who knows, maybe in the
next few years I will be doing my work on the
computer. Other than that, the reason I have stuck
with it is because it is more fun than sitting in front
of a computer and pushing buttons.
How do you feel being an artist has impacted your
style and approach to skating?
Now I have a greater appreciation for the architec-
ture that I destroy when skating, but not much has
changed in my approach. I guess my style has changed
over the years, but I don’t think that can be directly
tied to art.
Let’s ip it around, how has rollerblading inuenced
your style and approach to art?
Rollerblading and Art are two separate parts of my
life. Not to say that they are exclusive from each other.
22
I don’t think about skating when working on art and
vice-versa. Perhaps subconsciously the two inuence
each other.
Do you feel your skating has changed or been aect-
ed by moving from your home scene in Pittsburgh to
go to school in Baltimore?
Yeah. People in Baltimore are gnarly. It’s been pretty
tough to keep up with their level of skating.
What type of experiences have you had trying to bal-
ance a full time college schedule while still skating at
the level you do?
I have had to work through injuries on my ngers and
wrists in order to nish pieces. I don’t have time to
get hurt during the school year, but that doesn’t stop
me from skating. I feel that art and skating are two
necessary parts of my life, so it’s not hard to nd time
for both.
I rst met Mike about 5 years ago at Camp
Woodward. His insane amount of talent and
steel balls were in full eect, even back then as he
earned his nickname “Deathwish” amongst all of
the bladers at camp. He has since rened his style
without losing the ability to throw down hammers
on almost every type of terrain. His skating abili-
ties are rivaled only by his talents in the world of
art. Whether he is owing lines around a park,
painting self portraits or sessioning a handrail,
Mike never fails to impress his peers and anyone
else who happens to witness his talents. No matter
where the road of life happens to take him one
thing is for sure: Mike Koliner will be a major
player in the future of rollerblading.
Photo by Dave DiNuzzo
(Continued on next page)
Do you regret not making the move out to
California like many other rollerblades who grew up
in Pittsburgh?
Not at all. I love California, but I denitely like the
east coast more.
You are known for your unique style and knack for
laying hammers. How do you motivate yourself to
do big stunts despite knowing the potential conse-
quences?
I don’t second guess myself while skating, and if I do
then I don’t try the trick.
Since your appearance on MTV’s Scarred do you
ever get recognized by people on the street while
you are skating? Any good stories come from these
encounters?
Yeah, every now and then people recognize me. It’s
usually little pre-teen girls that don’t have boobs,
nothing to brag about.
You have lmed for several videos over the years, is
there any one project that stands out from the
others?
Shot From Dark. I traveled to L.A. to lm for it,
which was really cool because before then I hadn’t
traveled for skating other than going to Philadelphia
and Ohio. California was an overwhelming change
of pace. ere were so many amazing spots and tons
of good skaters. anks go out to Ryan Kofman and
Dustin ompson.
Describe your experiences working with roller-
blading legend Chris Edwards on a regular basis.
Has this relationship had any inuence on you as a
skater?
Working with Chris at Mr. Smalls is cool. He has tons
of wild ideas like: building ridiculously large sub-box-
es and throwing a Mexican esta/skate contest. ere
is never a dull moment working there. He has also
helped me out nancially and by giving me a studio at
the skatepark. In terms of skating, Chris pushes me to
skate park with more condence.
AO Soul
Photo by Dustin Thompson
23
Where do you see yourself in 5 years both as a skater,
an artist and in life?
I’ll just make a list of things I would like to have done.
1. Graduate college
2. Become a professional rollerblader
3. Travel the world
4. Have my own home
5. Keep making art
6. Gallery Show (if my work is good by then)
Any nal thoughts, shout outs or words of wisdom?
Be yourself. Skate. Have fun.
Tru-Topsoul
Photo by Dave DiNuzzo
Photo by Dave DiNuzzo
Tru-Fishbrain
Photo by Cameron Card
Tru-Fishbrain
Photo by Cameron Card
Interview, Photos and Layout: Vincent Morretino Interview, Photos and Layout: Vincent Morretino
Lofty zero spin parallel,
Indianapolis, IN
Lofty zero spin parallel,
Indianapolis, IN
Matt Lorch is the quintessential OG skater in the
Indianapolis, Indiana area. He has been skating
since almost the beginning of the aggressive
inline movement, and shows no signs of slowing
down any time soon. With a common sense
approach to self-preservation and longevity, he
has maintained a happy and healthy “skate life”
with few interruptions. Matt also has a huge
heart and is lucky enough to have experienced
some things that most Americans will only see
through documentaries on the Discovery Channel
and in foreign lms.
What’s your name, and how old are you?
My name is Matt Lorch, and I am 32; almost 33.
How long have you been skating, and what was your
rst skate setup?
I’ve been skating since the spring of 1994, and my rst
aggressive skates were the Lightning TRS skates with a
at setup of Kryptonics 55mm wheels and steel wrap-
around grind plates. at was before grooved grind
plates were common. I got them at a local Indianapolis
skate shop. I also got the rst Hoax video. It was my rst
real skate video. My friends and I constantly watched it
during the summer of 1994.
Did you ever nd competing to be fun, or did you
just strap on your skates and not care what anybody
thought?
Competing was fun. Skating was so new, and it was
fun to travel and meet new people to skate with. But I
have only competed in 3 competitions back in the day.
I competed in the Am Jam Series. It was put on by Ben
Kelly from Ohio. e rst one was in 1995. I skated in
the second one in 1996 in Kettering, Ohio, the Chicago
N.I.S.S. that same summer, and then the third Am Jam
event in 1997 in Owensboro, Kentucky. I stopped skating
street a while back, and just focus on skating park.
So, by eliminating the street aspect of rollerblading,
you would be prolonging your “skate life”?
Kind of. I mean, I don’t skate big handrails or do huge
gaps, which are a big part of street skating. I also quit
street skating because I didn’t want to deal with security
guards and police ocers. As an older skater, the anti-
authority element of street skating just doesn’t appeal to
me anymore. I prefer not to be kicked out of spots, and
with skating a skate park, to me, it’s just more ecient.
You don’t waste energy going from spot to spot, no one
will kick you out, the park is designed especially for what
you are there for. I realize that it can lack the camarade-
rie that street skating can bring when in groups,
but for someone like myself who is older and has limited
amount of time, both literally and guratively, it’s more
fun; especially now. Back in the 90s, if you wanted variety,
you really had to travel for it.
What’s your secret for being able to skate for so long?
Ever since I came back from Africa, really, my focus has
been on stretching. First, I skate around and warm-up,
I stretch while my muscles are warm. It really helps with
exibility. I cross-train by running a few times per week.
Plus, I am a rm believer of wearing a helmet, knee pads
and shin guards, keeping my skates nice and tight and
learning the proper technique for grinds.
at’s right, you spent some time in Africa with the
Peace Corps. Please describe where you served, and
what you did with your time in a developing country.
In June of 2003, I became a Peace Corps volunteer in the
Republic of Benin, in western Africa. It’s a small country,
comparable in size to Kentucky. It’s located between
Nigeria to the east, Togo to the west and the countries
that border it on the north are Niger and Burkina Faso.
I taught English as a Foreign Language in what would
be the equivalent of 7th grade and 10th grade levels.
What kind of credentials did you need to be able to
teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Benin?
My rst degree was in English, which I got in 2002,
and I also had some volunteer ESL (English as a Second
Language) work here in Indianapolis before I le.
My rst 3 months in the country was actually all
training, and one of the training elements was a month
of learning the teaching styles, classroom management
techniques and lesson preparation techniques. e groups
of people that I was with weren’t just a mix of English
majors. ey were people that were journalism majors,
French majors, romance language majors and even a
business major.
Have you been back to Africa since your time as a
volunteer was over?
Since I came back in the fall of 2004, I have not been
back to Africa.
Do you plan on going back someday?
One day I’m sure I’ll make it back to Benin. I look for-
ward to having a career in Africa in non-government
organization, and I plan on going aer I get my Master’s.
28
(Continued on next page)
I know that you are now uent in French. Did you
choose to go to Benin because its national language
is French?
Well, at the time, I only had a basic knowledge of
French, like what you’d get in high school, and only one
year of French in college. But on my application, the
Peace Corps saw that and thought I might t well in a
French speaking country.
How many languages do you speak?
I speak just two, English and French.
Aren’t you studying Arabic this semester?
Yes, I just started.
at will be a nice addition to your language
collection. How did what you learned as a volunteer
with the Peace Corps help you get into the eld you
are in today?
In 2006, I had started studies at Indiana University-
Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), for graduate
studies in non-prot management, and I still wanted to
be involved with working in African aairs here
in the city; especially for a non-prot organization. So,
I started volunteering and working part-time for the
African Center of Indianapolis. I have been with them
ever since.
OK, back to skating. Who inuenced your skating,
either local skaters or professionals? You never know
who may be reading this.
I loved watching Jon Julio skate, Dustin Latimer, even
back in the day T.J. Webber. Well, my friend Roman
and my friend Gavin Fridlund inuenced me a lot, but
as for pros, I have been attracted to people with creative
styles and can making skating look good. I love Alex
Broskow’s skating. I like how Je Stockwell can ow
really well and put together lines. Other creative skaters
like Mathieu Ledoux, who is bringing elements of
Parkour into the sport. Creativity is a big thing, especially
now that I am getting older. I am constantly looking
for things in our local skate park that get overlooked.
It makes a skate park that has been around for over 10
years seem almost new.
Any thank-yous?
Just the people that have skated with me in the past and
inuenced me, and the people that skate with me and
inuence me now.
29
Backslide, Carmel, IN Backslide, Carmel, IN
Quarter pipe to mini-ramp mute 180 transfer, Columbus, IN Quarter pipe to mini-ramp mute 180 transfer, Columbus, IN
450 mute hip transfer, Carmel, IN 450 mute hip transfer, Carmel, IN
Topside Pornstar over the small ledge, Carmel, IN Topside Pornstar over the small ledge, Carmel, IN
Presented by
vol. 1
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2 vol. 1
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2

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