By Holly Fertsch
It’s an exciting time to be a skater in South Jersey.
Skate AC is breaking ground on a new skatepark, is offering free skate lessons for the summer, and pro skaters took over the Back Sov park in Atlantic City for the second annual Sov Takeover event, kick-started and funded by a local skater from Ocean County who moved out west and made it as a pro.
Ronnie Kessner’s drive to give back
As a kid, Ronnie Kessner’s older brother used to take him on “skate trips” to Philly. There are several famous skate parks in Philly, most notably FDR, the largest DIY skatepark in the United States. Love Park has also become regarded as a famous skate spot. Here on the East Coast, those are some of the only famous skate spots around.
Skateboarding, as we know it today, was started in California by surfers. Perhaps as a result, skateboarding pros and famous skate spots tend to be concentrated on the Pacific coast. Ronnie himself moved out west as a young adult, knowing that moving to California was the only way to give himself a good chance of making a living through skateboarding.
What’s unusual about Ronnie’s story is that after becoming a pro (for Shane O’Neill’s skateboard company, April) and achieving his dream, he came back home to give back.
Ronnie has reached remarkable success through skateboarding. His recent skateboard deck (a board sold with his name on it; pros are mostly paid through their board sales) is currently sold out.
However, eking out a living through skateboarding can be difficult. Many pro skaters are not rich, unless they reach the level of, say, Tony Hawk (who actually got most of his money through his video game, not through skating directly).
That’s why Ronnie’s generosity is mindblowing. He personally funded the event to make it happen.
Last year, the first time Ronnie Kessner organized the Sov Takeover with SkateAC, Jason Klotz of SkateAC explained that Ronnie paid for each pro to travel to South Jersey and even bought pizzas for everyone at the event.
This year, the Sov Takeover had more sponsors. This year’s sponsors included Thrasher, April, Nike, Spitfire, Thunder, and Mateina. Sad Boyz, a burger joint run by friends of Ronnie’s, catered the event. There was also free yerba mate and water, which was a life-saver in the heat. Ronnie and the pros gave products (including skateboard decks, stickers, T-shirts, and shoes) and cash to best trick contest winners. Though, truthfully, they gave out prizes to almost everyone who landed any trick in the competition. At the end of the contest, they tossed the remaining merch into the crowd. Jason Klotz, founder of Skate AC and commentator of the event, kept the chaos to a safe level in the contest and the product tosses by reminding everyone to watch out for each other. It is a testament to how well-respected Klotz is that everyone heeded his warnings.
When I asked Ronnie about funding for the catering, he explained that he personally bought the food for the event so everyone who turned up to the skatepark would get fed.
As for who provided the money for the competition’s cash prizes, it turns out that $500 came directly from Ronnie’s wallet.
To be clear, Ronnie wasn’t bragging about his generosity. I had to dig to find out who funded the event. The answer is the same as last year: Ronnie has quietly organized and funded this initiative to expose South Jersey to professional skateboarding, simply because he felt it was the right thing to do to give back to his home state.
The pro demo
A handful of pro skaters took over Back Sov skatepark. The pros included Brandon Westgate, Marcello Campanello, John Shanahan, Ish Cepeda, Neen Williams, Tom Asta, and Stephen Carty.
At 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 28, Kessner and the other pros gave a demo to show how it’s done before the competition opened for local skaters.
The pros showed off their persistence as they tried tricks again and again until they were happy with them. Among the most insane tricks of the day was Ish Cepeda doing a back smith kickflip on the ledge into the cellar door obstacle. According to Ronnie, he was also impressed with Blake Carpenter doing a switch backside flip over the bump to can.
Confused by the skate jargon? Don’t worry! This kind of stuff is beyond the comprehension of many skaters too. Just know it’s high-level skating that is difficult for nonprofessionals to pull off.
The heat was extreme that day, but they still gave it their all. Despite the oppressive heat, there was still a huge crowd to watch the pros.
New features: a cellar door and ledge
Have you ever been walking around a city and seen slanted cellar doors protruding from the sidewalk? They look a bit like a ramp, but often with a textured metal surface and handles jutting out from the doors. (Thankfully, the skate obstacle at Back Sov omitted door handles from its design!). I often wondered how hard they would be to skate on. This competition answered that question: very hard!
Intrepid skaters braved falls as they tried out the park’s newest obstacle: a cellar door and adjacent ledge. Initially, very few landed any tricks on it despite cash prizes to motivate them. Kessner and the other pros paused the contest to rearrange the obstacle, turning the cellar door into a kicker for the ledge and giving encouragement. Once the competitors started to understand the obstacle, they went flying over it at incredible speeds. One competitor landed a front 180 and a back 180 over a ledge, using the cellar door as a launch ramp.
The Kessner family built this obstacle themselves before donating it to Back Sov.
By the way, head over to Ronnie Kessner’s instagram (ronniekessner) to see footage of him seemingly effortlessly skating this obstacle that gave so many competitors so much trouble. It wasn’t hard to see why he went pro, considering that!
Where were the women?
One thing I would’ve liked to see change from last year’s takeover is more women competing and more female pros taking over the park. However, as far as I could tell, all of the pros and competitors were male this year. It’s hard to blame Ronnie or Back Sov skate park for this. After all, I didn’t compete, despite being a woman who skateboards. Ronnie also brought his friends (who are also professional skaters) to participate in the pro demo; it makes sense that most of the pros that he’s friends with are guys. While April Skateboards does have incredibly talented female pro skaters on its team, like Rayssa Leal and Chloe Covell, those girls are still teenagers and based in other countries, making travel to South Jersey much more unlikely.
The unfortunate reality of professional skateboarding is that not many girls learned to skate, especially at such a high level, until the past decade. This reality is reflected in pro skating; most female pro skaters are from a younger generation, having grown up in an era that allowed them more access to the sport.
At Back Sov, there are free skate lessons every Sunday for anyone interested in skating, all ages accepted, and I hope more women take advantage of this. The Weird Girls Surf Club, an all-female board sports club, also skates at Back Sov often. Hopefully, as more and more women learn to skate, I’ll start to see more women at skate events. For any women reading this, I hope to see you at next year’s Sov Takeover!
