Standby Collective

Revolución – Evolution

standbycolective — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:32:32 +0000

La evolución nunca termina, perseverancia, adaptación, coraje, instintos, supervivencia y autoestima son las cualidades que nos permitirán seguir adelante.
Dedicado al skateboarding en Cuba y a todos los que ayudan a la escena skater cubana en el mundo entero.
Revolución – Evolution es una coproducción de Standby Collective y YMG Films filmado desde principios del 2011 y estrenado en Cuba en Mayo. En casi 40 min abarca lo mejor de todos los skaters de La Habana y otros extranjeros que han patinado junto a la escena skater de la isla.

The evolution never ends, perseverance, adaptation, courage, instincts, survival and self-esteem are the qualities that enable us to move forward. Dedicated to skateboarding in Cuba and all those who help the Cuban skater scene in the world. Revolution – Evolution is a collaboration of Standby Collective and YMG Films filmed from early 2011 and premiered in Cuba in May. In nearly 40 minutes covering the best of all skaters in Havana and other foreigners who have skated with the skate scene of the island.

Skaters:
Yohani Pérez (Mamerto) / Che A. Pando / Humberto Rodríguez (Bankai) / Raciel Pereda (Raper) / Fernando Verdecia / Yoan Galiana / Reinaldo Vicet (Karem) / Elvis Morales (Pachuko) / Frank Gonzáles / Roberto Gómez (Gamby) / Hector Águila / Claudio García / Carlos San Juan / Ahmed González (Mechu) / Marcel / Manuel Reyes / Lian Carmuza (Chino) / Manuel Cabada (Manolo) / Gabriel Lara (Gabo) / Ariel Gómez / Andy Fonseca (Vikingo) / Orlando Rosales (Roly) / Carlos (Blacky) / (Vampiro) / Wilfredo Fernández / Carlos M. González (Mota) / Antonio Martínez (Tony) / Pedro / Clark Hassler / Michael Mackrodt / Todd Jordan / Ian Heart (Envision) / Tom Wilk (Canadian Tom)

A Royal 70 Project – Recycle Reuse Revolution

standbycolective — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:12:25 +0000

With two bicycles, a couple of surfboards and skateboards, a one-year-old angel that goes by the name Kahali Asha Cuba and a handful of Cuban friends, we are travelling the island’s beautiful and amazing coastline. From Havana to Baracoa and places in between, we are setting out on a journey to not only share the experience of surfing and skateboarding with local kids, but also to create awareness for the needs of Cuba’s surfers, skaters and children. We will be documenting just how much pleasure and smiles your unwanted, unloved and unused surf, skate and musical equipment can create on the Island.

Source | Royal70

All eyes on Cuba May 2011 – Attention all skaters

standbycolective — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 19:53:30 +0000

As the Royal 70 project prepare for an all out assault on Cuba’s coastline in August with the Recycle, Reuse, Revolution project the guys at Sugar’s Drop Shop and Cuba Skate are warming things up for us with their own assault. If you can help these guys out then please do. Its all goes to an amazing cause.

Attention All Skaters!!!
We are collecting old skateboard equipment to be refurbished and raising funds to buy new skateboards that will be taken to Cuba. There is a growing skate scene in Cuba but there aren’t any skate shops or any money to buy gear. Skaters only have the equipment that is brought on to the island by tourists so if a skateboard breaks there isn’t going to be another one to replace it. Unfortunately, skaters in Cuba have gone weeks or even months looking for another deck to ride and if you skate you can imagine how bad that must suck! Please bring in your old wheels, trucks, decks and even T-shirts or donate a couple of bucks and we will put it down on some new stuff.
We have no political agenda, we are just a family of skaters who see a need and want to help.
We plan on hand delivering the equipment ourselves in Cuba in May.

We would really appreciate your help in getting our brothers and sisters back on board.
To help these guys out visit www.sugarsdropshop.com

Source | Royal70

American brings skateboarding diplomacy to Cuba

standbycolective — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 23:40:47 +0000

By Patrick Oppmann, CNN

Havana, Cuba (CNN) — Rene Lecour’s plan started out simple: Take his son on a skateboarding trip to someplace “epic.”

While he and his son, Kaya, were searching the internet, they saw videos of Cuba’s skateboarders making do with beaten-up and jerry-rigged boards.

Economic shortages and the U.S. embargo make it difficult to get most sporting equipment there. For skateboarders, it was nearly impossible.

“We both said right away, ‘We are going there,’ ” Lecour recalled.

Lecour owns a chain of skateboard shops in South Florida and thought his contacts in the skating community would make it easy for him to bring boards to Cuba.

He was wrong.

“I e-mailed every single skateboard company I know,” Lecour said. “The only two responses I got were unfortunately one person who said we shouldn’t be allowed to go because of the embargo. Another ‘genius’ said we shouldn’t come because all the skaters are all communist.”

As a first-generation Cuban-American, Lecour had already been dreaming of visiting the island where his parents where born. The recent relaxing of travel restrictions under the Obama administration makes visiting easier for Cuban-Americans and for people on cultural exchange trips.

But he didn’t want to go empty-handed.

A former DJ whose arms are crisscrossed with tattoos, Lecour put out the word that any board, no matter how worn or weathered, would be welcomed by the Cubans.

Slowly, as he and his family got ready for the trip, skateboards began to trickle in.

“The response from the kids has been amazing,” Lecour said. “It’s easier for a 9-year-old kid who skates to understand the need than for a 30-year-old head of a skateboard company, who just doesn’t get it.”

A week before the flight to Cuba, he held a skateboard party for people wishing to donate. Heavy metal rock played at a skate park in Miami’s Kendall neighborhood in the background as dozens of teenagers practiced their moves.

The boards continued to pile up in front of Lecour.

“This is really awesome,” he said as the reality of the trip sank in. Cuban skaters like Che Alejandro Pando Napoles rely on generous foreigners like Lecour.

Pando said there are skate parks around the island but no skate shops. There is nowhere for skaters to buy their first boards or replace ones that break, he said.

“Sometimes, it holds back your progression,” Pando said. “You see a set of stairs and you say, ‘I am not going to do anything down there because I will break my board. I’d rather keep my board healthy than do that trick I really want do.’ “

Pando lives for skating, a point he drives home by showing visitors his wedding video where, after the ceremony, he, his bride and wedding party roar away on skateboards.

Before coming to Cuba, Lecour had been trying to get in touch with Pando, the closest thing to a leader in Havana’s skate scene. Within an hour after landing, Lecour randomly bumped into Pando on the street in a kind of only-in-Havana coincidence.

The two skaters quickly made plans to skate together and distribute the duffel bags full of boards and gear that Lecour brought with him.

Walking into the skateboard area at Havana’s Parque Metropolitano, Lecour immediately saw several dozen skaters and realized that he hadn’t brought enough equipment to go around. Pando told him not to worry and said they would hold a skate competition.

As the local skaters flew off ramps and attempted tricks, the Americans’ eyes went wide. Lecour; his wife, Yirka; son, Kaya; and family friend Shane were stunned that the Cubans skated the way they did with the sorry gear they had.

“I don’t how that guy uses such small wheels on that board,” Lecour whispered.

Soon, the contest was over. While most of the skaters didn’t win boards, they seemed happy with the hats, T-shirts or sunglasses they received.

The skaters who won boards wore ear-to-ear grins.

Lecour says he doesn’t want to be portrayed as “the gringo coming to the rescue.”

“The Cuban skaters have been incredibly generous. They keep inviting us to meals and to get together,” he said. “I am already thinking of my next trip and all the gear I am going to bring.”

Source | CNN

Charity Initiative – Skateboards For Cuban Youths

standbycolective — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:23:55 +0000

A generous family based in Miami, Florida, has launched a project to help children who have nothing. The Lecour family hopes they can help Cuban youths find the passion of skateboarding and lift themselves from the poverty and oppression they face daily. The family is holding a charity event this weekend to raise funds and collect new and used skateboarding parts and clothes.
“Ten year olds get it,” Rene Lecour, the son of a Cuban immigrant, told me today. He reminisced about watching his son, Kaya, fix the skateboard of a boy he met in a local park. Kaya used his own parts and didn’t ask for anything in return. He did it out of the kindness of his ten-year-old heart. That was five years ago.

When I asked Rene Lecour where he found so much heart he told me, “Older people don’t get it,” speaking about the idea of giving back. For example, finding sponsors for the Cuban event has been difficult. People don’t care or they don’t have any idea what Christmas looks like for boys and girls in Cuba.
Lecour is the contract operator for the Dade County skateboard parks through the trade name Sugar’s Drop Shop. He is well-known for hosting charity fundraisers for disadvantaged children in Florida.
“I decided if I was ever in charge (of a skateboard park) I would use that business to focus on charities I like,” Lecour told me. “We had a canned food drive but we didn’t take the food to the food bank. We took it straight to the homeless ourselves.”“I have two sons. That is how I am raising them,” Lecour told me. “Teaching them to give to others.”
Lecour said he got the idea for the Cuban charity after watching a documentary by Phil Brown called Skate Cuba. Young people perform skateboard tricks but have almost nothing to make field repairs with.
As the island nation goes flat broke, with massive layoffs planned, poor people have barely enough to eat. Not one skateboard shop exists in all of Castro’s Cuba. There is only one skateboard park that Lecour knows of. The makers of Red Bull built it in order to get their products onto Cuban shelves. No one maintains it. A skateboard is a luxury reserved for the rich guys living in the United States and even Mexico.
“We’re going down there to liberate the youth with our skateboards,” Lecour said. “It sounds crazy but it’s all that they have. It’s keeping them out of trouble and it gives them a sense of just being themselves.” Lecour said to the Miami Herald.
Those who can’t come to the contest in person are invited to send their used skateboards or skateboard parts in the mail, or drop them off at his shop. Cash to buy new skateboards is always appreciated, especially since the manufacturers have refused to support the Cuban effort. This is an ongoing effort. The Lecour family plans to continue their efforts working with distressed youth.
“My wife and three kids can take 66 pounds (each) into Cuba,” Lecour told me. “We will take skate boards, parts and tools to repair their park,” he continued. “We plan to leave everything we have in Cuba. We will come back with the clothes on our backs and empty suitcases.”
This is a family affair. Lecour’s wife, Yilka, does the books. Kaya is the oldest son, 15 and an avid skateboarder. Daughter Oryanna is a cheerleader and keeps the boys on the straight and narrow during skateboarder events. The baby of the family is Cheyenne, nine.
“My family supports me 100%. We say Yilka has the spirit of a pit bull and the body of a Chihuahua.”
Lecour says skateboarding has turned lives around. He started fixing skateboards mostly for free in tough Coconut Grove. Pretty soon there were boys skateboarding in front of his house instead of looking for trouble. The boys made skateboarding a focus in their lives.

“My kids really enjoy helping other children on the Islands. It seems like it is doing some good. You have kids who are stereotyped (in a bad way) and they get into a positive sport and clean up their act,” Lecour said.

You can send your new or used skateboard, parts or donation to: Rene Lecour, 105 GRAND AVE, Miami, FL 33133. Phone #786-537-2016. You can also email Rene at sugarsdropshop@yahoo.com.

Article Author: Tim Paynter

Taken from | royal70.net

Out Of Bounds

standbycolective — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:30:29 +0000

Winner to the best Independent Skate Video in the Short Short Film Festival Mexico (SSFFM)

TR3S

standbycolective — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:24:49 +0000

Three Skaters from diferent countries, Cuba, Dominican Republic & Mexico riding in Habana Streets

Demo from upcoming video by Standby Collective

Cosmic Dust

standbycolective — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:09:28 +0000

Surf Session, La Habana

Feat:
Humbert Rodriguez (Surfer & Skater)

Cosmic Dust from Standby Collective on Vimeo.

STANDBY

standbycolective — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:07:27 +0000

Skateboarding video demo in La Habana

Skaters:

Humbert Rodriguez (Cuba)
Fernando (Cuba)
Mamekto (Cuba)
Enrique Manuel (Cuba)
Elvis Morales (Cuba)
Falihery Ramamonji Janez (Madagascar)
Che Alejandro (Cuba)
Karem (Cuba)
Manuel Cabada (Cuba)
El Vikingo (Cuba)
El Gambao (Cuba)
Rudy Antonio Matias (Republica Dominicana)

STANDBY from Standby Collective on Vimeo.