At first look, they might just look like any other ordinary young kids out for a day of fun in their casual jeans and oversized shirts, but in the skateboarding world—the names Nyjah Huston, Jake Hayes, Matt Miller, Tommy Flynn, Wes Kremer and Cyril Jackson, are revered and considered icons of the extreme sport.
And as soon as they get on a skateboard—ordinary would be the farthest word to describe them.
Recognized as six of the best skateboarders in the world, Huston, Hayes, Miller, Flynn, Kremer and Cyril Jackson make up the DC Skate Team—bringing the sport around the world and taking it to an entirely different level.
The DC skate team were recently in the country as part of the DC Shoes 2013 South East Asia Tour. The tour each had a unique element in each city for the DC team. In Manila, a custom made park has been built inside South East Asia’s largest shopping mall, the SM Mall of Asia. In Singapore, the DC team will be doing a demo at Somerset Skatepark which is situated only a short stroll from the world famous shopping strip of Orchard Road. In Jakarta, the demo will take place at Green Skatepark, an expansive recreational park in Jakarta’s east.
It also gave Filipino fans a chance to get an up close and personal skateboarding experience through in-store signings and skateboarding exhibitions.
According to DC Shoes Philippines brand manager Gino Gilladoga, Manila was chosen because of the active online interaction of local skateboarding fans.
“The DC Shoes Facebook page has one of most number of followers in the Philippines and because of the overwhelming clamor of fans they decided to make Manila their first stop,” Gilladoga told OrangeMagazineTV at the Kickoff party held at the 7th High at the Bonifacio Global City.
The following day, the DC Skate Team went to the SM Mall of Asia where they signed autographs for their fans at the DC store and performed some of their signature tricks at a custom-built skatepark made specifically for the event.
On their third day, the group then went to around the city and filmed themselves as they did their tricks in several famous places in Manila. The Department of Tourism even gave them a permit to skate in Luneta Park. The footage will be used for a special movie feature to be released next year.
“We are very much excited with the arrival of DC’s athletes in Manila. The emergence of international celebrities and athletes visiting our country the past year has made Philippines a destination for arts, music and action sports,” shared Edilyn Yu, DC Shoes Philippines’ brand associate. “This is for Filipino skateboard riders and enthusiasts alike, to bring the skateboarding community together and to encourage Filipinos to pursue their love for the sport, that one day a Filipino skateboarder may join the international scene as well.”
Asked why DC shoes are used by the best skateboarders in the world, Gilladoga explained, “Our shoes are perhaps the most technical skateboarding shoes in the world. We position ourselves as the modern skateboarding footwear brand putting together the best technology used in basketball, tennis, running shoes etc, but still make it look neat as regular or lifestyle shoes you can wear anywhere.”
DC Shoes is available at SM Mall Of Asia, SM Aura, SM Pampanga, SM North Edsa-The Annex, SM Cebu, SM Megamall, Trinoma, Eastwood Citywalk 2, Gateway Mall, Festival mall, Robinsons Ermita, Robinsons Galleria, Harbor Point Subic, Nuvali Solenad 2, Shangrila Plaza Mall -East Wing, Ayala Cebu, Centrio CDO and Abreeza Davao.