Interview by Tedd Cookerly
Skateboarding as and event for the Arnold Sports Festival was brought on in the mid of September of 2009. When given this huge task with a short amount of time the first person that I called was Spike Goodnow of Blueprint Skateboards. Spike has been a friend and brother for more than 13 years now and has been my biggest line of support in the planning of this event. From the first call, Blueprint Skateboards was onboard as an official sponsor of the event and how could they not be! Blueprint Skateboards is one of the largest and most loved international skateboard companies in the world and when you think about how international the Arnold Sports Festival has become this is a perfect fit. Need we mention Blueprint Skateboards will host a demo the first night of the Cow Town Showdown that will bring the Veterans Memorial walls down? So now without further ado, 10 questions with Blueprint GM Spike Goodnow:
What were you initial fist thoughts about skateboarding becoming an event for the Arnold Sports festival in 2010?
I have to be honest when I first heard that Arnold would be involved I thought it was a little weird. Then after hearing details about the festival and finding out who had been hired to head up the event it was a no brainer.
What are some of your goals in sponsoring this event and whom would you like to meet while you are at Veterans memorial for the Cow Town Showdown?
Goals for the downtown showdown are simple spread a little Blueprint love around to all those loyal fans out in the mid west. Who I hope to meet is everyone I possibly can meet so many people have helped Blueprint grow in the mid west need to say thank you a lot for sure.
Two days of skateboarding mayhem is about to go down…are you going to jump in there yourself and mix it up, watch as a spectator or just get crazy and throw down your 20 bucks and get the big prizes?
I don’t think I will be jumping in anything but I will be watching, judging and throwing out Blueprint products.
Skateboarding now more then ever seems to speak too many people on many levels, how is skateboarding speaking to you and your support of the event?
Skateboarding has always spoken to me as a way to channel creativity and promote freedom. Supporting more main stream events affords skateboarders the opportunity to see how other people outside the industry run events and learn from their wealth of experience.
What should everyone know about (store) and what should we expect to see from you at the Cow Town Showdown?
What I think everyone should know about Blueprint skateboards is that we have been doing business for over 13 years and recently became one of the few skateboarder owned and run companies in the industry. What you should expect to see is blueprint riders making skateboarding look fun and stylish.
Sponsoring an event like The Cow Town Showdown is a big undertaking; we are all excited to find out about what kind of approach you will take towards being part of the event and what we can look forward to seeing at your booth?
Our approach will be pretty straight forward show up rule the event and throw out tons of product for the kids. Our booth should be pretty interesting we will be releasing some amazing new boards and a sneak peak at our new clothing offering.
Tell us about the last time that you were on a skateboard and how did it go. Be honest, skateboarders fall all the time and was there cussing?
The last time I was on a skateboard was almost a month ago filming for the Blueprint United nations on www.theberrics.com I broke my foot and have been laid up ever since.
As always the Arnold Sports Festival places a heavy emphasis on fitness, what do you do in your daily routine that makes you a fit person?
Honestly skateboarders take a pretty unique approach to fitness regiments and schedules are not things we tend to enjoy. I am a bit older now so I stretch a lot more these days and take more vitamins and supplements along with a couple trips to the gym every week.
With so many events going on throughout the weekend, was there another event that you would like to attend and what about it attracts you?
I would have to say the table tennis and the arm wrestling are going to be off the hook.
So Arnold himself comes up and asks you one question, what question do you hope he asks and what will be your answer?
The question would be: What can I do to help skateboarders decimalize their sport?
My answer would be: More legislative action on our Governors part, more interaction between elected officials and the skateboarding community. It is impossible to change what you do not know. I also think this would promote more young people to vote for things other than American Idol.
Last modified: 2009-08-02 @ 12:00 am
