On May 11th, the Vans AVE 2.0 test event will officially kick off in Shanghai, where many of Vans' professional skaters will be in attendance.
The story of the shoe's owner, Anthony Van Engelen, is much more exciting than the shoe, "one of the former skaters of Alien Workshop", "co-founder of Fucking Awesome", "Skater of the Year 2015", ...... In this issue of [Skateboarding Black History], I will listen to the editor slowly tell you one by one.
1. The opening of a bad hand
Legendary skater Anthony Van Engelen (known simply as AVE) was born on November 20, 1978 in San Diego, California, USA. AVE, WHO HAD JUST JOINED THE GAMBLE OF LIFE, HAD A BAD DECK OF CARDS, HIS PARENTS DIVORCED SHORTLY AFTER BIRTH, AND HE WAS RAISED BY HIS MOTHER. But soon her mother remarried, and AVE was raised by her stepfather.
Due to the poor financial conditions of the family, AVE had to follow his stepfather to move around. The stepfather is a former Marine with a very hearty personality and he is very good to his stepson. For the young AVE, it was a blessing in misfortune.
When he was 8 years old, his family asked AVE what he wanted for his birthday, and he said he wanted a skateboard. So Ave's grandmother bought a Kamikaze skateboard from a kid on the beach for $10 and gave it to him. Soon after, the skateboard was crashed by a car, and AVE was very sad, but his stepfather later gave him a Lee Ralph Pro from Vision.
AVE's stepfather and stepfather's brother
At first, AVE didn't learn to skateboard seriously, only basic skills such as sliding and turning. THEN HE MET A FRIEND WHO COULD DO OLLIE, AND WHO WAS VERY ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT TEACHING AVE HOW TO BE OLLIE. As soon as you learn ollie, the world of AVE seems to open a whole new door.
Some things are not acceptable, and people with high talent are making rapid progress. After playing street action for a while, AVE gets sponsorship from Volcom and meets his good friend Ian Gant. Ian Gant then connected AVE with a sponsorship from Channel One.
2. Bad boy skies
Things have developed so far, it seems that everything is going in a good direction, but the reality is always bright. At the age of 16, AVE dropped out of high school because she hated school too much. Except for skateboarding, he hides at home and has nothing to do, but his mother hates skateboarding very much.
The rebellious AVE secretly planted some kind of thing in the backyard of the house, and after being discovered by his mother, the mother and son had a big fight.
In the following days, AVE began to play "running away from home", running out to play skateboarding with friends every once in a while, and it took at least four or five days to go home once he went out, and he sold the boards and clothes given by his sponsors when he had no money. On one occasion, when AVE was away from home for too long, the family went to the police station to report the missing person. THE STORY ENDS WITH AVE RECEIVING HARSH CRITICISM AND WARNINGS FROM HIS POLICE UNCLE.
Although the "runaway from home" incident came to an end, the dispute in AVE's family was not over, and his mother gave him two ways, either to go back to school, or to go to Russia to find his stepfather and let his stepfather discipline him well, AVE chose the latter without hesitation, but soon he regretted it!
At that time, there were no cheap and useful skateboards in Russia, and American sponsors could not send them, so AVE quit skateboarding for seven months.
The living conditions in Russia are very different from those in the United States, and the AVEs face many difficulties such as language barriers, no friends, unaccustomed food, cold weather, and mafia forces in the places where they stay. Although his mother would send him an extra $300 a month for living expenses, AVE did not want to stay in Russia, so he took the opportunity of Christmas to negotiate with his mother that he would obediently return to the United States to go to school.
After returning to the United States, AVE's love for skateboarding was ignited again, this time even more violently.
3. Thousands of dollars are easy to get, but confidants are hard to find
As the saying goes, rely on your parents at home and rely on your friends when you go out, the first half is useless to AVE, but the second half is very appropriate. It's easy to know that it's hard to find, but some of them are half a lifetime away when they meet, and that's the case with AVE and Jason Dill.
The story begins with AVE leaving Russia and returning to the United States, and after negotiating conditions with his mother, he returns to the United States to go to school and skateboard. A few months later, he met his friend Jason Dill, and skateboarding was not on track.
Whether it's Jason Dill or AVE, it is estimated that they would not have imagined that this friendship would stay with them for the rest of their lives. As for why AVE and Jason Dill get along?
"Dill is my younger brother. I love Dill, he's sweet and gentle, but he's an absolute freak. Dill and I had similar upbringings, and we have a lot in common in that regard. When it comes to skateboarding, he's always been one of my favorite professional skaters. But sometimes, I really want to shaved him. But that's the way it is between friends. ”
After getting acquainted, Jason Dill pulled AVE to 23, and after a while, the two moved to Alien Workshop.
In 1999, AVE was promoted to a professional skater. Faced with the trust of his friends and team, he also tried his best to skateboard. In 2009, AVE's solo part in Alien Workshop's skateboarding video "Mind Field" was voted the best solo video of the year by Transworld.
天下无不散之筵席,2013年Jason Dill和Anthony Van Engelen 离开效力多年Alien Workshop。
In fact, to be able to stay in this year, the two bigwigs have already done their best, they have experienced different periods such as recovery after the Alien Workshop's purge, continuous decline, almost bankruptcy, acquisition and continuous rotten, and have achieved each other's glory and accompanied each other's lows.
而Jason Dill和Anthony Van Engelen 离开Alien Workshop的直接原因是他们想自己成立滑板品牌,Fucking Awesome应运而生。
But AVE and Jason Dill weren't content with just one Fucking Awesome, they conceived another brand. But the project didn't go well and it took a few months to get ahead with the support of Benny Magliano (director, producer, videographer).
之后好友John Fitzgerald和Donovan Piscopo相继离开Alien Workshop,AVE趁势抛出橄榄枝。 之后由John Fitzgerald和Donovan Piscopo主理的Hockey Skateboards正式问世。 而在Jason Dill出事后,AVE扛起品牌大旗,一直帮忙管理公司。
4. Legendary skaters create legendary shoes
In addition to Alien Workshop and Fucking Awesome, there is another brand that has been linked to AVE's career, and that is Vans.
As early as 2003, AVE had a wonderful performance in "The DC Video", and its popularity soared. Two years later, however, he didn't want to wear bulky DC shoes in favor of Vans.
At that time, Vans' team manager, Quy Nguyen, happened to see AVE wearing Vans' skateboard video, and immediately called to invite: "We have a competition in Vans in a few days, are you interested in playing together?"
In 2015, Vans released the classic skateboarding video "Propeller", and AVE was honored with Thrasher's skater of the year for his wonderful performance in the video.
However, AVE almost quit the project before the Propeller project began: "At that time, Vans had been working on it for a while and I was already behind. I can't handle too much pressure, a 3-5 year project is too much burden for me, I have to face my age, I am afraid of getting old...... After that, I try not to focus on the big picture and try to make the most of each day. Being part of Vans' video shoot was one of the best experiences of my life, turning my original thoughts around and challenging the myth of age. I am very grateful for this project. ”
After years of working together, Vans wanted to launch a professional skateboard for AVE, and it was a dream for many skaters to have their own professional skateboarders, but AVE was off the beaten path, and he turned down Vans' offer.
Because AVE didn't want her profession to be an ordinary pair of skate shoes, she had to design a pair of shoes that were both upper-class in terms of performance and appearance. But if this is the case, the project must be a lot of work, and AVE is not willing to spend effort to do it, so he chooses to refuse.
"Because I don't want to waste my efforts, I want my professional to be a pair of shoes that are super skateboarding, and I don't want to simply move the wave pattern and change the design to a new shoe. I want to try something different, but that would be a hassle. ”
However, the Vans team did not give up on this project, and continued to persuade AVE, and finally AVE was convinced. This pair of obsessive-compulsive perfection Vans AVE PRO is loaded with almost all of Vans' skate shoe black technology, and the performance is superb, and it has been a huge hit since its launch. In 2020, Vans once again launched an updated and upgraded version of the AVE PRO Pro skateboarding shoe.
Due to the success of the Vans AVE Pro series, this year Vans has teamed up with AVE to create a new AVE 2.0 shoe.
Decades of skateboarding are not easy for any skatter, let alone a second career at the age of 37.
AVE once said, "As a skater, I can only skateboard, but that's enough!" I hope that skaters will look back in a decade or two and you will not regret every decision you made.
Text: Sunny Sunny Editor: Little Monster