Robert Brink - Writer

Damn Am of the Year: Luan de Oliveira

March 7, 2010 | Skip To The Comments (2)

Damn Am of The Year: Luan de Oliveira
Words: Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag April 2010

“I can only imagine being one of the other skaters who made the finals at Tampa Am ‘08” says SPoT’s Ryan Clements, “I would be thinking, ‘Fuck, well, at least I can shoot for second place.’”

And that might just be the simplest and most effective way to sum up why Luan de Oliveira was singled out by the SPoT crew as 2009’s Damn Am of the Year. It’s the type of sentiment you often hear out of many pro’s mouths prior to entering contests against Chris Cole or P-Rod.

And like Cole and Paul, Luan is blessed with the gift of seemingly being able to win a contest at any given time, assuming he chooses to. What adds insult to injury (or possibly just adds envy) is that huge-ass grin on his face the whole time he’s doing it.

It’s a good grin, though. Hell, you’d be ginning too if you could flip your board in and outta ledge tricks like that. Or have such pop and flexibility that everything you do is stupid high and caught really well. Or spin with such control that you’ve contributed to the standardization of bigger spin flip trick variations skateboarding.

Most of us can only fantasize about what its like to roll around for five or so minutes, trying trick after trick, with a difficulty level of 11 on a one-to-ten scale, and not miss one of them. Luan lives that fantasy. Yes, if you were Luan, there’d be plenty to smile about. Don’t be mad—be thankful. He’s out there progressing and evolving the whole of skateboarding for all of us to enjoy.

The story is fairly simple: In 2007, a virtually unknown skater from Porte Alegre Brazil, Luan showed up in Lake Forest, California at GvR and won it. All anyone knew is that Flip had already snatched him up and he was on éS flow. Had someone looked him up on the Internet around that time, all they might have found was a self-filmed video from 2006 of a shirtless Luan skating a janky-ass ledge in Brazil doing every backside tailslide variation known to man in one session. It’s impressive. Check it out.

A few months after GvR, Luan won Tampa Am ‘08. Then, in 2009, his part in Flip’s Extremely Sorry might have lead one to dub Luan this generation’s Rodrigo TX or this generation’s equivalent of PJ Ladd in Wonderful Horrible Life. Power, style, control, jumpability, technical prowess, new tricks—a from-out-of-nowhere skateboarding machine with an ability that’s almost hard to comprehend through video alone—but we sure do want to see more of it.

Then Luan won Damn Am Costa Mesa and Tampa Am ’09—becoming the only skateboarder in the 16-year history of Tampa Am to win it twice.

After seeing the caliber of Ben Hatchell’s runs at Tampa ’09, everyone in the place knew that if anyone were going to beat Ben, it would be Luan and only Luan. If Luan were skating in the Pro with the very same run, he would’ve won it. Seriously. The dude is scary good. Come to think of it, Tampa Pro is coming up. And as most of you already know, Luan is the newest pro for Flip skateboards. It’s only right. Having him return to Damn Am or Tampa Am in 2010 just wouldn’t be fair to everyone else … although the three-peat would be worth talkin’ about. But then again, so would winning his first Tampa Pro contest after back-to-back Am wins.

It’s no secret that Brazil is known for producing tons of amazingly talented skateboarders. To the point where we’ve become a bit desensitized to it actually … maybe even bitter. The “Oh, he’s just another great skater from Brazil” mentality is one we’ve all experienced at one time or another. Luan breaks that mold. It’s kinda hard to hate on him without sounding like and angry, jealous douche bag because you’re baggin’ on the happiest-looking dude on a skateboard right now.

We can sit here yappin’ about Luan and why he was chosen as Damn Am of the Year ‘til we’re blue in the face, but really, that new pro model board of his does most of the talking, now doesn’t it? Oh, and those back smith to tre flips out don’t hurt either. Congrats, Luan. Looking forward to seeing what you bring to professional skateboarding this year and beyond.