Premier Skateboard Association (PSA) will kick off its inaugural season at Sofi Stadium on July 9, 2023. The PSA is an “athlete’s first” organization presenting a competition where skateboarders will compete one-on-one. Each competitor will perform on three different obstacles for three minutes each.
“My favorite part of that format is you have time to actually land some tricks,” said PSA competitor Adrianne Sloboh. “You can mix things around, it’s very laid back, it’s very chill and there’s no other contests that really let you do that in that format.”
The obstacles resemble public places with skate park elements. The format was created to resemble skating with friends, according to Olympic skateboarder Manny Santiago.
“Most competitions are like one-minute runs or just single tricks and sometimes that doesn’t really showcase the fun that we have when we’re skating,” Santiago said. “The three minutes allow you to be more realistic in the sense of what it is what we do when we skate, which is land tricks, fall, laugh, have fun.”
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The female and male grand prize winners will both receive $250 thousand and a chance to hoist the “Green and Gold” championship belt, created in partnership with the World Boxing Council. The prize money is the largest amount ever to be rewarded to a female skater. Sloboh noted how pay equity was important to the PSA.
“That’s something they always communicated to us that they wanted everyone to get the same amount of pay,” she said. “This league is so different and so unique.”
Legendary skateboarders Chris Cole and Ryan Sheckler will also be competing in the PSA.
“To get them back for the fans it’s even really special for us skaters to skate alongside the guys that we grew up watching,” Santiago said. “There’s just a lot of amazing things that are happening with this contest.”
The PSA will hold competitions in San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Brazil, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Miami this season. For Sloboh, it will be the first time she traveled out of the United States.
The association originated in Santiago’s skatepark in his backyard early in the pandemic shutdown. Sloboh, a native of Simi Valley, was in attendance when the PSA started.
“I wasn’t really sure what we’re getting into,” Sloboh said. “From going to unsure to the day of and just seeing everybody skating and everyone just having a good time, it was a lot of fun.”
Sloboh has been skating for approximately 14 years. She noted how hosting the PSA kickoff “sets the tone for the rest of the season.”
“It’s really unbelievable,” she said. “It’s really gonna be a kickstarter to where this whole thing is really gonna go.”
To buy tickets for the PSA competition at Sofi Stadium, please visit Ticketmaster.com.
