Dunedin Free Press Community - 2010 Pool Gig at Stirling Skate Park

Hollywood Summit Show's 2010 Pool Gig Contest Takes Place Sat. June 26 at Dunedin's Stirling Skate Park

The Hollywood Summit Show's 2010 Pool Gig took place Saturday, June 26th at Dunedin's Stirling Skate Park. The Skateboard contest is a filmed production of The Hollywood Summit Show.

Winners of this year's contest, in which local skaters competed in three age divisions to face off in a final for First Place, were Alex Sorgent, in First Place, Todd Webb, in Second Place and Mick Wallace in Third Place. Winners in the competition's Street Division included Dark J for Best Trick On A Bence, Jeff Santee, for Highest Ollie and Anthony Marshello for the Game of S-K-A-T-E. Mick Wallace won Best Trick in the Flow Bowl competition and Alex Sorgente won for Best LIne Of Tricks. As the name implies, the competition's main event was its Pool Contest. Scoring was based on points for trick variety, style and level of difficulty. Two live bands played as participants competed.

Alex Sorgente, 11, also took First Place in last year's competition, followed by "Ragin'" Haze Miller, 10, in Second Place and Miss "Gnarly" Marlee Miller, 14, in Third. Watch video from the 2009 contest.

The Hollywood Summit Show's Morgan "Hollywood" Monroe and Tom "The Ripper" Spano hosted the contest along with Matt "Harbor" Sendejo. Morgan Monroe has been skateboarding since 1973 and has actively enjoyed surfing, dirt biking and mountain biking all his life. He moved to Malibu in the 90's, working as an actor and in other parts of the Hollywood Film industry. He remains an active member of the Screen Actor's Guild today. Co-host Tom Spano has a long history in extreme sports including professional skateboarding and mountain biking, and also enjoys surfing, wakeboarding, boating and scuba diving. He is also an active actor.

The Hollywood Summit Show fuses extreme sports and reality TV into a platform for "No Name Rippers" who dream of someday having a chance to emerge. It opens the door from the subculture of skateboarding into the mainstream family lifestyle without changing its roots.

Monroe, Spano and Sendejo, the event's three organizers, bestowed Mayor Dave Eggers and The City of Dunedin with a plaque commemorating the event on June 19, as they did for last year's contest in April 2009. Last year's plaque has been displayed in City Hall since. View video from last year's presentation.

Contest prizes included a seven foot Trophy Medal and Surfboard Prize Pack for First Place, along with a Skydive City Gift Certificate, a four foot medal prize pack for Second and a 2.5 Foot Trophy Prize Pack for Third Place. Skaters can also win prizes for Best Trick and Best Line of Tricks in the Flow Bowl Competition and Best Trick on a Bench, Highest Olly and a game of S-K-A-T-E in the Street Competition.

The day culminated in a Red Carpet After Party at Club Blur, also a Birthday Celebration for host Morgan Monroe, serving cake from Peace, Love and Cake, the event's official bakery, and coffee from Buttons Brew along with other food and refreshments. The party also honored Bruce Walker, "Godfather of Florida Skateboarding" for his contribution to the sport. and premiered the new release from Bruce Walker Films, The Payoff. Three live bands, Tribal Style, Slinky and Localism will perform.

A portion of proceeds for the contest will go to the City of Dunedin's Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center, The Surfrider Foundation Oil Spill Cleanup, Grind For Life and The Ian Tillman foundation.

The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world's oceans, waves and beaches. Founded in Malibu by a handful of surfers in 1984, it now maintains 90 chapters with more than 50,000 members worldwide. Grind For Life provides financial assistance to cancer patients and their families traveling long distances to doctors and hospitals. In addition, they educate and inspire these patients and their families on cancer survival and recovery. The Ian Tillman Foundation, established in 2005, is a non-profit dedicated to the prevention of brain injury through the distribution of safety helmets and educational materials to children and adults in the local community engaged in any skating or cycling sport. The Foundation provides free helmets to those who pledge to wear one.