Diamond Jam 2022

According to a well-circulated legend, a teacher broke their toe trying to move an obstacle at Martinez Playground, AKA Blue Park sometime last year.

This same legend dictates that the teacher’s toe breaking somehow led to the removal (and relocation to Under The K-Bridge Park) of the bevy of skater-made obstacles that had accumulated in the park over the past several years. This locked the skaters of North Brooklyn into a collective head scratch, wondering where to spend entire days of their lives without being able to depend on their most predictable locale. What is skateboarding without the possibility of getting stuck at a spot?

Time does heal all wounds, and the park has slowly begun to fill out again. In the spirit of seizing the opportunities the park’s renaissance presented to us, we decided to build an obstacle for the park and throw a best trick contest to celebrate its arrival.

With the help of Carhartt WIP, Pat Smith & Coda Skateboards, and Labor Skateshop, we designed and built a diamond plate ledge with…a little twist. Despite some daunting rain clouds, skaters showed up and proceeded to rip. After some tough deliberation we ultimately decided on three winners:

One of the 20 or so tricks Ben Patrick did to earn third place.

Third Place went to Ben Patrick. Ben did too many tricks to name, though we are fairly certain fakie crook half-cab flip out while wearing a vest is an NBD.

This trick? On this obstacle? That’s why Fabrizio Caro got second!

Second Place was Fabrizio Caro with a 360 flip smith grind into the wedge.

Buzzer beater BSNB. Johnny Cumaoglu did this in the last 3 minutes of the contest. First place was a no brainer after that.

First Place had to be Johnny Cumaoglu for his coast-to-coast backside nose blunt slide .

Big thanks to everyone who came out, to Aaron Christiensen for designing our flier, Jake Durham for filming and editing the video, Adam Burns for MC-ing, and to Carhartt WIP, Labor and Coda Skateboards for sponsoring the event. Hope you Blue Park heads enjoy the obstacle and see you at the next one!