By Chris Rockwell

On Friday, our King Duce Skate team went down to the Vans Warped Tour Skate Competition in Sacramento and nearly swept the entire event. Interestingly, the only kid that placed higher was sponsored by the event sponsor, Vans. Hmmmm…

Anyway, Skylar Bowers stopped by my place Sunday morning to check out the new King Duce skate decks and tell me about the event. He was still buzzing.

“There were tons of people coming over from the concert to check out the half pipe competition. There were 15 finalists and we came out and handled business!”

I asked Skylar what he plans to do with his prize money and he said,“I’m getting two of the new King Duce decks, for sure! They’re sick!”

The King Duce skate team is a great mix of riders, many from my hometown. They possess the attitude and game to compete with nearly anyone in their age bracket. And Friday they displayed that in front of the biggest crowd of any competition in Nor Cal.

The official results: Dylan Hilton placed 2nd; Skylar Bowers 3rd, Zak Shaner 4th and Nick Gaines placed 5th.

I’m stoked on these guys because I’ve watched them continue to grow and improve. In particular, I’ve gotten to know Skylar and Dylan Hilton pretty well since they started riding for KD back in the early days. Today I consider them to be like little brothers. They know how to compete and want to be big. And they understand what I tell all our young athletes and musicians,

“There is always someone out there who’s putting in the time and wants to be great. So, how bad do you want it? Are you willing to put in the work?” Apparently they want it pretty bad. And it’s exciting to see that fire.

It motivates me and holds me to the same rule. Small town kids with big dreams, something I can definitely appreciate.

I hope all their dreams come true.

Duce Up!!