HUNTER OSHEA FILMED AND EDITED MARCH’S VITAL MONTAGE. I GOT SOME TRICKS IN THERE. CHECK IT OUT.

I GOT THE NEWEST POWELL AD THIS MONTH WHICH CAN BE FOUND ON THE BACK COVER OF THE SKATEBOARD MAG ISSUE #51 AND IN THE NEWEST TRANSWORLD MAGAZINE. I ALSO GOT ANOTHER PAGE IN ISSUE #51 IN THE VANCOUVER ARTICLE, DOING A FEELE GRIND. CHECK IT OUT.

I was out in Phoenix this past weekend for the PHXAM contest. I got some footage in the best trick montage. Big Spin Heel Flip. Check it out.

I got a trivia page in the newest SBC Magazine. Grab a copy and see if you can answer all the questions right for your chance to win my entire kit, compliments of all my sponsors (see sponsor page). Or go to sbcskateboard.com.

Sponsored skater tests park

Amy Steele, The Times

Published: Friday, April 04, 2008

Sponsored Amatuer skateboarder Jordan Hoffart had a huge smile on his face as he tried out the new skate park at Thomas Haney Secondary School this week.

“It’s incredible,” said Hoffart, who competes in skateboarding competitions around the world.

As he showed off his skater moves, a crowd of teenagers intently watched from behind the construction fence that’s still up.

View Larger Image

Maple Ridge’s Jordan Hoffart executes a move at the new skate park at Thomas Haney Secondary on Tuesday.

Amy Steele/TIMES

Hoffart, 23, remembers attending skate park committee meetings at the Neutral Zone in Maple Ridge when he was around 12. The committee was trying to get a skate park built in the community. It took until 2008 for it to come to fruition but Hoffart said the wait has been worth it.

“It’s like a decade late but I’m glad it happened,” he said. “The engineering has evolved. It’s like a piece of art, an artistic landscape. Kyle and New Line are one of the best skate park designers in the world and to think it all started in a community centre where we were building wooden ramps.”

New Line Skate Park is the company that won the contract to build the skate park. Its founder Kyle Dion is an avid skateboarder who still lives in Maple Ridge.

The new park combines a skate bowl along with urban skating elements such as railings, stairs and sloping granite slabs.

Hoffart is amazed the skate park has been built right outside a high school.

“Growing up we would skate for 15 minutes outside a high school and they’d kick you out,” said Hoffart.

Things have changed dramatically over the last decade and skaters now get much more respect due to its growing popularity. It’s now a multi-billion dollar industry.

“People are accepting it as an athletic sport that takes skills instead of people looking at (skateboarders) as rebels, dirtbags, low lifes,” said Hoffart. “That was the reality when I was growing up. People thought you were low lifes.”

Hoffart said he saw a recent stat that found skateboarding is the third most popular sport for kids under 18 in the U.S.

“It blew my mind,” he said.

When asked why he loves skateboarding Hoffart said, “It’s freedom. It’s a feeling of being able to create anything you want with it.”

Hoffart now divides his time between Vancouver and Huntington Beach, California. The new skate park will have its official opening on May 10. Hoffart tried out the park this week because he’ll be competing in Europe when the grand opening happens. Dion told the TIMES construction is now complete and he expects skaters will get a chance to try it out for the first time this Friday evening or Saturday.

© Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Times 2008