THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606110171
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 112 lines
They're the Pied Pipers of the in-line set.
Wherever Mark Billik and Rick Stark go, close behind follow legions of long lean youths, bent forward and skating hard.
``If you build it, they will come,'' Billik said Sunday while watching a competitor warm up on the obstacle course for the National In-Line Skate Series Mid-Atlantic regionals at Mount Trashmore.
The youth wheeled up a steeply scooped ramp on the ``death box,'' then leapt onto the down ramp's rails for a crouched fast track back to the tarmac - a flawless ``soul grind'' in skate jargon.
The weekend event was ``sold out'' with 150 skaters vying for top spots in men's and women's street and ``vert'' (vertical) classes.
Of the almost 40 competitors from Hampton Roads and other Virginia cities, 24-year-old Janel Bellavia of Arlington came closest to a first-place win, racking up 157 points on the street course. Besting her by only four points was Dawn Everett, 17, of Monterey, Calif., world women's title holder.
Billik and Stark organized the tour, which draws enthusiasts from around the world. The Virginia Beach event was the second of 10 stops in the summerlong trials. Four winners from each event will be flown to Huntington Beach, Calif., to compete in September world finals.
The two men, best friends since the third grade, put their heads together three years ago and jumped into an unfilled sports niche, said Billik, 31. ``We knew that no one was doing anything with aggressive skating,'' he explained.
Stark, 30, said it was a combination of insight and luck that gave birth to the competitions. ``It was a window of opportunity,'' he said. ``If we didn't come up with it, somebody else would have soon.''
Both men have marketing backgrounds, though neither was or is a competitive skater.
Their brainchild - Anywhere Sports Productions - also promotes golf tournaments and other sports events, including some for charity.
The skate meets offer kids a chance to rise to the top and shine. . . . kids like Champion (his real name) Baumstimler, a 14-year-old from Odessa, Texas.
``He was a complete unknown,'' Billik said, pointing to an airborne, somersaulting youth. ``Then he shows up at three or four stops, and now he's got sponsors that fly him to all the events.''
Baumstimler clanked down loudly onto a rail as expertly as a jet pilot sets down his plane, then performed a ``mackio,'' sidling fast down the incline on his left skate while holding his right ankle in his hand behind him.
Baumstimler, like other top in-liners, is making a living with his athletic prowess, Stark said. ``Some are earning $1,500 a month. They make a name for themselves at the competitions, then sponsors pick them up. We've made every new name in the game.''
Other lures are the latest in sports equipment and flights to competitions throughout the United States.
In-line skating originated in Canada decades ago when the skates with four wheels in a line were developed to help keep ice hockey players in shape during off seasons. But the sport didn't catch on until the late 1980s. Now, an estimated 23 million enthusiasts enjoy the sport worldwide.
And it's not just for kids. Stark said that middle-aged skaters fare well in trials. Two women - one 42 and the other 52 - recently competed on the vertical half-pipe in a California meet, he said.
``It's all over the world,'' Stark said. Competitors in the Virginia Beach meet came from Japan and Puerto Rico, as well as from many regions of the United States.
Mike Lopez, 16, of Richmond waited for his turn on the track Saturday. It's the 11-by-24-foot half-pipe he likes best. ``I like the feeling of going up, being in mid-air, holding your feet, looking down,'' he said.
Hardest of the maneuvers on the street course's ramps and rails is a ``brawny'' - a front flip with a half twist, Lopez said. ``I heard somebody did it today, but I didn't see it.''
Ryan O'Dwyer, 14, of Chapel Hill, N.C., wouldn't be able to get in-lining out of his system, even if he wanted to. ``It's impossible to conquer,'' he said, watching the trials. ``There's always something more.''
``They look like cats, the way they land on their feet,'' said Ora Karat, admiring the skaters' antics.
Just then a helmeted, knee-padded youth performed a forward flip from the top of the obstacle course's ``death box'' and skidded down a metal rail to the pavement. He skated off without missing a turn of the wheels.
Karat, nearby, sucked in her breath. The ``soul grind'' was a thriller even for someone who's used to seeing it performed. Karat is a freelance photographer traveling with Anywhere Sports Productions' entourage of 40.
Karat was bitten by the in-line bug when her sons, now 20 and 22, took up skating before they entered grade school. One of them is now a professional ballet dancer, and his mother attributes his successful career, in part, to the love of skating he developed early on.
``We're playing New York next,'' Karat said, her eyes sparkling.
In New York, kids who've ``never been out of the city or on an airplane'' will get their chance to rise to the top of the ranks of in-liners, Billik said. ``These kids are so talented, and this opens doors of opportunity for them.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by NANCY LEWIS
Ray Mendez of New York City rides the rails of the ramp during
Sunday's National In-Line Skate Series Mid-Atlantic regionals at
Mount Trashmore. Mendez's dare-devil maneuvers earned him a
first-place tie in the Men's Vertical competition.
Graphic
WINNERS
Results from Sunday's National In-Line Skate Series Mid-Atlantic
regionals at Mount Trashmore:
Women's Street - Dawn Everett, Monterey, Calif., first; Janel
Bellavia, Arlington, Va., second
Men's Street - Calvin Sayles, New York City, first; Rawlinson
Rivera, New York City, second
Women's Vertical - Katie Brown, first; Kelly Matthews, New York
City, second
Men's Vertical - Chris Sayer, Canada, and Ray Mendez, New York
City, tie for first by CNB