A-Team Trick Challenges

[whaaaaat]

The question on SkateTrivia.com today was about the old A-Team trick challenge ads. Totally brought back some memories I'd forgotten about. I tried a quick search but couldn't find any copies of the ads. Anyone have them? Would be fun to look back at what they tricks they were offering $1000 for ~20 years ago.

[wax poetic]

I remember one was a crazy ollie north type thing. 

[headtowall]

Didn't someone like Chris Cole submit and do one? Did i make this shit up?

[EdLawndale]

I remember we all thought it was slightly misleading that they included the decimal point and the two zeros to the right of it in the ads.

[Cheshire Cat]

Didn't someone like Chris Cole submit and do one? Did i make this shit up?

I think Cole had a similar style competition about trying to do some NBD tricks - or at least tricks people wouldn't do normally - and people had to send him his footage? iirc it was around the time he was getting on DC / selling his own branded boards on his website.

Having said all that, I haven't researched this in the slightest and I could be getting a lot of this wrong.

[Tyroneshoelaces]

Didn't someone like Chris Cole submit and do one? Did i make this shit up?

I also remember this for some reason, and i'm not getting confused with the Danny thing either im pretty sure.  if it wasnt cole it was someone else who became pro later.  did he do mullin's nose manny nollie 360? 

G-Mos: some weird foot grab board.  pinching the middle from each side.
Dave Mayhew: kf bs nosegrind nollie flip?

what were the others?

[Paul Cicero]

If I remember correctly it’s mentioned in this the tricks Cole did from the challenge - no timestamp as there’s no way Im sitting through this again:

https://youtu.be/TtrvPg34_hY?si=CAP_Du8ak8Ooy0SF

[metchup]

This is best quality I could find, but Marc Johnson's was a switch nosegrind half cab flip out


edit:
Dave Mayhew kickflip nosegrind nollie flip out

[Pooh Drunx]

Didn't someone like Chris Cole submit and do one? Did i make this shit up?

All of it is true. There were tricks that each A-team rider did and they used video grab sequences for the ads.

Gersh did a "hospital" over a pyramid. (ollie one footer but the board goes all the way up between the legs credit card/pogo style, and you land back on it)

MJ did a back 5-0 v heel out i think. or vheel front five. something like that... and yes chris cole did it or submitted it and won or something. there was definitely some cobra recognition for the MJ trick.

Cant remember the rest. i think chet had like a 540 fs flip on a QP i think..... cant even imagine what mullens was. Mayhew....?

[peacepappies]

if i recall correctly, danny garcia won one of them (nose manual nollie 360 flip, maybe?) but since he was already flow for blind (or another world brand), he was technically ineligible to win

remember reading this too. They made him am to make up for not paying him

[whaaaaat]

This is best quality I could find, but Marc Johnson's was a switch nosegrind half cab flip out


edit:
Dave Mayhew kickflip nosegrind nollie flip out

Awesome - thanks for posting! That Gershon "hospital" flip ha!

[Willie]

Cole did submit one. They didn’t use his make for the follow up ad but he got a mention.

Cole has admitted a few times that once Rodney reached out to him he kind of kooked it and was pestering Rodney about flow/sponsorship.

[TheDraught]

Expand Quote

Didn't someone like Chris Cole submit and do one? Did i make this shit up?

[close]

All of it is true. There were tricks that each A-team rider did and they used video grab sequences for the ads.

Gersh did a "hospital" over a pyramid. (ollie one footer but the board goes all the way up between the legs credit card/pogo style, and you land back on it)

MJ did a back 5-0 v heel out i think. or vheel front five. something like that... and yes chris cole did it or submitted it and won or something. there was definitely some cobra recognition for the MJ trick.

Cant remember the rest. i think chet had like a 540 fs flip on a QP i think..... cant even imagine what mullens was. Mayhew....?

Mullen probably still pondering what trick to put in the ad. That dude should think less and skate more.

I don't doubt he's very smart but skating is his talent. If he was another Einstein, Tesla or Von Neumann we would know by now.

[figureitout]

They discuss and show them here, I’ll time stamp after work.


https://youtu.be/LSD2RJXws_Q?si=-Glfx8PZPZjdrHiy

[tkp]

They discuss and show them here, I’ll time stamp after work.


https://youtu.be/LSD2RJXws_Q?si=-Glfx8PZPZjdrHiy

https://youtu.be/LSD2RJXws_Q?feature=shared&t=713

Definitely remember seeing Rodney's half cab crook nollie heel shove (nollie varial heel?) which led to everyone at the local skate park learning crook shove outs.

[Tyroneshoelaces]

i feel like all of them were landed except gershon and maybe mayhew?

[Watson]

If I remember correctly Cole did the nose manual nollie 360 flip but did it across a couple tables or something and they didn't let him win because it was supposed to be a quick in quick out type of thing but it did open sponsorship doors for him.

Don't even know why I bothered typing that all out.

[mattchew]

Was always mystified by that gershon maneuver, so wild.

[artskool]

Most of these tricks seemed basically impossible at the time, but I imagine if there was cash on the line today they'd all be stomped in days.

Would it even be possible to run this today without having to resort to circus tricks?

[mfweeno]

Most of these tricks seemed basically impossible at the time, but I imagine if there was cash on the line today they'd all be stomped in days.

Would it even be possible to run this today without having to resort to circus tricks?

Didn't the Berries do some sort of trick bounty a while back? I recall seeing a bunch of switch blizzard flips with berries hashtags.

[deathturd]

For a Kickflip Gershon, start at 1:35

[benboardbreaker]

I was never really in to the A-team since it seemed like a team put together, and not a team that where friends and skated together which was the most common back then. but these ads was pretty amazing marketing in my opinion. I haven't thought about this trick competition for many years. thanks for bringing it up.

[GS77]

I thought Gershon’s trick was called a Casper? Didn’t Yoshi do those in early 411s?

[oyolar]

Expand Quote

Didn't someone like Chris Cole submit and do one? Did i make this shit up?

[close]

I think Cole had a similar style competition about trying to do some NBD tricks - or at least tricks people wouldn't do normally - and people had to send him his footage? iirc it was around the time he was getting on DC / selling his own branded boards on his website.

Having said all that, I haven't researched this in the slightest and I could be getting a lot of this wrong.

I think that was PJ on DC for his pro model and you’d win the marble bench he did them on but I don’t know if anyone ever did it because they stopped advertising it pretty quick.

I think Danny Garcia was flow for Shaolin so that’s why he wasn’t paid.

[oyolar]

Expand Quote

Didn't someone like Chris Cole submit and do one? Did i make this shit up?

[close]

I think Cole had a similar style competition about trying to do some NBD tricks - or at least tricks people wouldn't do normally - and people had to send him his footage? iirc it was around the time he was getting on DC / selling his own branded boards on his website.

Having said all that, I haven't researched this in the slightest and I could be getting a lot of this wrong.

I think that was PJ on DC for his pro model and you’d win the marble bench he did them on but I don’t know if anyone ever did it because they stopped advertising it pretty quick.

I think Danny Garcia was flow for Shaolin so that’s why he wasn’t paid.

[Mall Grab Mike]

A-Team was started in retaliation for Plan B leaving World and starting Armageddon Distribution. They manufactured a team just to shit on Plan B. On a side note, Caine Gayle was on A-Team for a hot minute before Plan B grabbed him. I have the first team shirt with Caine's name on it.

[whaaaaat]

For a Kickflip Gershon, start at 1:35

haha hell yeah. Used to skate that old Seattle Center park when I was a kid, it was hard.

[Banned from the room]

I remember one was a crazy ollie north type thing.

What you mean? Like do a one foot get a thousand bucks?

Fuck I'll one foot the Hollywood high rn for ahhhh 600 and a two way bus ticket.

I'll try it till I can't get up. Might even land one. I can still do a crosswalk every try. I do it like everytime I got to the store.

I'm fuckin ready. Ill throw a krook on twice for 1500 total

[ToySanta]

If I remember correctly it’s mentioned in this the tricks Cole did from the challenge - no timestamp as there’s no way Im sitting through this again:

https://youtu.be/TtrvPg34_hY?si=CAP_Du8ak8Ooy0SF

14:25-16ish. They don’t show the trick, but he does have a nice long manual kickflip at Love.

[PatrickSkateman]

Chet Thomas’ trick was a fakie hardflip late backside 180 on a quarter pipe.

The contest was for unsponsored skaters, but Chris Cole rode for a small board company called Alliance at the time he entered.