by Scott Moroney

December 1985, Manchester NH, National Guard Armory Building are three phrases that may not get most people excited. For myself and a few thousand it was the greatest collection of Freestyle Talent the world had to offer in one place. As a new Freestyler attending this competition it was better than any gift or news possible. If offered the choice of skipping the 10th, 11th, 12th grade or being in Manchester on that cold morning, I would be looking for hot cocoa, pushing to the front row near the Pepsi/GT ramp and never looking back .

What was so special and important to me about this particular day was not just that all my Freestyle Heroes (Mike Dominquez, Ron Wilkerson, Dennis Langlais, Chris Lashua, Woody "WoodBall" Itson, RL Osborne, Rambo, etc...) were a few feet away, but that for those short hours I was in a building full of people that were just like me. They listened to the same comments such as "get a job pink bike boy", "what you can't drive a car", "those shoes are so gay (checkered Vans") and my personal favorite "what will you ever be riding a bike".

Everyone in that building had a vision and worked their butts off to build the sport of Freestyle from the riders to the parents to the sponsors who took a chance on some new sport and an idea that kids could be "good kids" without playing four years of high school sports. The competition results are not important here, but the result of this event are tremendous for a large number of individuals. This was the first time the governing body of Freestyle had staged the AFA Finals on the East Coast which allowed the East Coast fans and competiors to get a chance to see and meet the California Stars. Also the East Coast had it's chance to put our skills up against the high publisized West Coast Talent.

Agian competition results are not important here, but let's just say the West Coast was surprised how much ground the East Coast had made up in terms of talent, skill, and numbers.The moral of the story. I learned a tremendous number of tricks by watching the competition and it was the thrill of a lifetime to interact and be part of the "scene", but the impression left with me is what is most important. Being a part of an event such as the Manchester Finals and feeling not like a spectator but a participant helped me feel like all my efforts and long hours of practicing were validated, I was a part of something that was innovative, and gave me the confidence that the sport that I loved was embraced by others just like me.