FACEPLANT SKATE TOUR 2008 - Hood River

HOOD RIVER SKATE PARK *****

On July 18, 2008, a pretty big group of us from Team FacePlant headed to Hood River to skate and film. What do I have to say about Hood River Skate Park? Love it, love it, love it! Hood River is really spread out with tons of stuff to skate. They have a large street course and a good amount of vert to skate. On the street side of things there are plenty of hips, ledges, hubbas, rails, step-ups, banks and stairs to keep you busy just skating street. All of their obstacles seem to be fairly well repaired and kept up. On the vert side of things there is a gnarly, gigantic half-pipe sheeted with Skate-Lite. There was a competition taking place while we were there in a nice pool with various bowls...good coping too. We only were able to skate that in the morning. There is also a mini-bowl to try out mini-ramp type tricks and long grinds. Great set-up. Great environment. I give Hood River Skate Park a 5 star rating.

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Christian Jung

FP SkateChurch Pastor

Team FacePlant Hood River Video

FACEPLANT SKATE TOUR 2008 - Gresham, West Linn and Tigard

TIGARD SKATE PARK ***

In July of 2008, Josh, Kyle, Jonas and I hit up a couple of parks one day. Tigard Skate Park was the last one we skated that afternoon. It's actually not a bad park. The big attraction is a huge vert area with giant walls and a step up on the other side. You can drop in from one end of the park and try to get enough speed by getting high up on the wall to be able to ollie up a huge step up at the other end of the park. There are also some other small bowls and some manual pads and rails around the perimeter, as well as a stone dinosaur. We didn't get a chance to skate for that long, but the park definitely has potential. I give Tigard Skate Park a 3 star rating.

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WEST LINN SKATE PARK **

That same day, Josh, Kyle, Jonas and I first went to West Linn Skate Park. You have to drive up into the hills of West Linn to find it. When you get there, it is amazing to see that they built a skatepark with so many obstacles in one little area. The park is basically a tight little snake run with lots of vert bowls. Similar to Tigard, there is a street course around the perimeter, but it is so scary to skate because if you get land wrong on the street course, you can fall into the deep end of a pool. Again, we didn't skate it for very long. It might be fun if you could find a line. Overall, I give West Linn Skate Park a 2 star rating.

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GRESHAM SKATE PARK *

One day, in July of 2008, Josh, Cole, Brandon, Jonas and I skated Gresham Skate Park. We actually thought that a new park was built in Gresham and found nothing but a cement slab with a pyramid in the middle, a small quarter pipe, stadium style steps with lame coping and a couple of small boxes. It seems like a good park for little kids learning how to roller-blade. We skated until we got bored. I give Gresham Skate Park a 1 star rating.

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Christian Jung

FP SkateChurch Pastor

Team FacePlant Gresham, West Linn and Tigard Video

Team FacePlant Skate Demo in Vancouver, WA

Team FacePlant Skate Demo.

A friend of ours, Eric Nelson, formerly of The New Divide and currently the youth pastor at a church in Woodland, WA invited a group of us from Team FacePlant to put on a demo at a school in downtown Vancouver. I guess he is also on staff at a day camp for younger children this summer. We agreed and on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 we loaded up the spine, a box and a rail and drove downtown and put on a demo for two sessions of children, one hour each session. Josh, Collin, Brian, Victor, Caleb, Brandon, Jonas and I, along with Andrew and Paul were able to make it to the demo. Because it is through the public school, we weren't allow to openly share our faith, but we did tell them that we were from FacePlant Ministries Skate Church. We got to tell them who we are and how we got into skating. We were able to teach them what the names of certain tricks are as well as free skate on all the obstacles. We also had a question and answer time with the kids. Overall, I believe that we were well received and were able to show how skateboarding can be a positive thing. We were also able to teach the kids about how importanat it is to be safe while skateboarding. Thanks Eric for letting us come out and skate for the children.

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Christian Jung

FP SkateChurch Pastor

Team FacePlant Skate Demo Video

Kyle and Josh from Team FacePlant Video

FACEPLANT SKATE TOUR 2008 - Glenhaven

GLENHAVEN SKATEPARK ***

On July 11, 2008, Josh, Kyle, Victor, Jonas and I cruised over to Glenhaven Skate Park in Portland, Oregon. We heard some scary story about a skater getting jumped by some mean guys and getting hurt really bad. We just prayed for the Holy Spirit to protect us and went anyway. It turns out to be a pretty nice skatepark, though a little on the small side. Most of the park is a giant street course with a bank leading to a five stair, some boxes, hubbas, rails and steep ol' trannies...a little too steep unless you like that sort of thing (you know, slipping out and getting hurt, rolled ankles and such). There are a couple of smaller bowls and a school with a couple of waxed ledges. The guys had fun. We put together a nice little video. Overall, I give the park a 3 star rating.

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Christian Jung

FP SkateChurch Pastor