images/Currents_1/17_Egoitz_Bijueska_front_tail_WST_Park_Rome_Kenji_Hurata-5256_2.jpg

Currents: The Basque Phenomenon

Written by Niall Neeson

If energy flows like a river then we can expect it to have eddies and swirls and deep, slow-moving stretches.

Within the Word Skateboarding Tour- actually, within skateboarding more generally- you begin to notice, over time, anomalies in the progression of ability which aren’t universal.

Not trends, not movements- something less self-conscious than that. You begin to see something close to unintentional collective expression.

While in a media tent during the Olympic Games, journalists noticing skateboarding for the first time would periodically drift over and ask “How come the Japanese are so good at this?”

How come indeed.

We will unpack that particular conundrum at a later date, but it set me off thinking about the tides and charts and ebbs and flows of skateboarding greatness throughout the world.

Within that wide, expansive conversation, one crazy feature always leaps out: the Basques in Park.

Peio Gonzalez kickflip indy WST Park Rome Kenji Hurata 0472

Peio Gonzalez: WSR Ranking- 32nd Ph: Kenji Haruta

To zoom out a bit: right now, the Spanish skateboarding team have a total of eight Park skateboarders within the top 40 of both genders.

For the purposes of European sporting comparison, neighbouring France have six, enormous Germany have two and plucky Britain has five.

So: we can say with some confidence that- outside of competitive skateboarding’s Big Four (USA, Brazil, Japan, Australia)- Spain is outperforming the rest of the field in Park right now.

Now- there are a few broad-brushstroke reasons as to why that might be: the undoubted greatness of Coach Alain Goikoetxea as a talent scout, better weather on average than most European nations, and so on.

If you twist the focus on the microscope, however, another statistic jumps out at you which really goes to the heart of the matter.

Of those eight Spanish Park skateboarders in the WST, fully five of them come from the autonomous Basque Country, a comparatively tiny region of the Iberian peninsula with a total population of not much more than two million people.

To put it another way: more than sixty percent of Spain’s continent-leading Park Skateboarding team come from a place which accounts for less than five percent of the nation's population. How do you like them numbers?

And what the actual you-know-what is going on there, exactly?

Naia Laso backside 360 WST Street WCH OQS Dubai Bryce Kanights

Naia Laso: WSR Ranking- 4th Ph: Bryce Kanights

Within the storied history of Spanish skateboarding, the Basque chapter is a revered one. The Atlantic coastal community has produced skateboarding greats too many to mention here over the last thirty years- but among them the names of Ibon Marino, Txus Domínguez, the Elorriaga family, Javier Mendizabal, Diego Doural, Urko Merikaetxebarria and the aforementioned Alain Goikoetxea all ring out.

One of the clues as to why the Basques are disproportionately rad has to be the preponderance of fantastic skateparks there. Foremost among them is the grand old dame La Kantera; one of the world’s great proving-ground skateparks which sits proudly atop a bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

1331788054407 2

Equally high-standard, if less famous, parks can also be found in Olabeaga, Aiete, Leioa and Gernika- which is certainly a higher than average concentration of concrete pits per square mile than anywhere else in Europe.

In saying that: if it were just a question of great skateparks creating great Park skaters, then we would be in a concrete arms race- and there are a lot of places with great skateparks that aren’t putting five skaters into Olympic contention.

So- it can’t be that; or, at least, it can’t just be that.

It seems likely that it is not the presence of these skateparks in the Basque Country itself but the reason why they are there which speaks to why so many great skateboarders come from that small, unique place.

Alain Kortabitarte heel flip indy WST WCH OG Paris Bryce Kanights

Alain Kortabitarte: WSR Ranking- 31st Ph: Bryce Kanights

As a seafaring people (they are also expert longboat oarsmen), the Basques have a very long surfing tradition.

Although many of Spain’s population centres lie along the country’s Eastern, Mediterranean shoreline, the Mediterranean Sea is landlocked- and therefore doesn’t get surf like the Atlantic seaboard does.

In fact, the Basque Country is sometimes referred to as ‘Europe’s California’ for that reason.

As with California, the culture of the concrete wave followed along, and as a result this part of the world has one of Europe's oldest skatepark cultures, too.

Gadea Moja crailslide WST Park Rome Kenji Hurata 4579

Gadea Moja: WSR Ranking- 31st Ph: Kenji Haruta

The nexus of world-class skateparks and rich surfing history undoubtedly form part of the overall story of Why The Basques Are So Rad- but, as with all wonderful things, the total is greater than the sum of the parts.

There is one overarching reason why they are so special: their singular spirit.

I’ve never met a Basque person I didn’t immediately like, and nothing they did ever changed my mind afterwards.

They are just a remarkable people at heart: easy-going, cultured, passionate.

Mix those three elements of surf history, epic skatepark culture and what the French call that esprit de corps together in a melting pot and you might in the resultant vapours see a momentary glimmer of something which articulates just what is so fantastic about Basque skateboard culture.

Possibly you could say Florianopolis in Brazil can approach that magic, but beyond that not even San Diego County can compare in terms of wildness per head of skating population.

Egoitz Bijueska ollie WST Park Rome Kenji Hurata 5219

Egoitz Bijueska: WSR Ranking- 17th Ph: Kenji Haruta

As Spanish Coach Alain Goikoetxea himself suggests:

“I would say there’s a lot of surf and skate culture in Basque Country- and we have a lot of skateparks and skate schools; also the commitment of parents to help their children improve.”

With Spain currently leading the continent of Europe in Park Skateboarding on the WST, other nations could learn a lot from looking closely at their programme, and the oversized role of that one small corner of Europe within it.

The rest of us could learn a lot from those people, full stop.

Energy swirls and flows in skateboarding, and something exhilarating and fantastic is happening there, today. If you ever get the chance to go, absolutely do. No matter what level of skateboarder you are, you will love it: guaranteed.