The game of “skate” (S-K-A-T-E) is to skateboarding as “horse” (H-O-R-S-E) is to basketball. Normally skating is an individual sport, and aside from contests, there aren’t many ways to compete with fellow skaters…unless you play “skate”. It may not sound like much, but when you get the best skateboarders in the world in a single elimination bracket style “skate” tournament, it’s gonna be one helluva show.

Enter the berrics. A skatepark warehouse owned by two of the most iconic skaters in the game: Eric Koston and Steve Berra.

With these 2 skaters and their long list of sponsors, the berrics is a skater wonderland.  It’s the perfect stage for the biggest game of skate the sport has ever seen: The Battle at the Berrics. At the time of writing this article, the tournament has just entered the second round and more than half of the original 32 skaters have been eliminated.

Here was the original list of heavyweight competitors: Joey Brezinski, Chad Tim Tim, Jeron Wilson, Mike Carroll, Arto Saari, Chico Brenes, Mike Mo Capaldi, Furby, Chris Roberts, Steve Berra, Marc Johnson, Johnny Layton, Billy Marks, Danny Supa, Brandon Biebel, Nick Mclouth, Paul Shier, Clint Peterson, Mikey Taylor, Benny Fairfax, Erik Ellington, Danny Montoya, Bryan Herman, Jimmy Cao, Daniel Castillo, Andrew Reynolds, PJ Ladd, Tyler Bledsoe, Eric Koston, Rob Dyrdek, Sean Malto, Donovan Strain.

Here are some of my favorite match-ups from round 1:

Erik Ellington VS Danny Montoya: This down to the wire battle has tons of close calls to put you on the edge of your seat.

Jimmy Cao VS Bryan Herman: Two machines throwing down every trick in the book.

Arto Saari VS Chico Brenes: Gotta love the effort from Arto putting legit height on every trick.

Eric Koston VS Rob Dyrdek: It’s a beatdown, but it’s a star-studded draw.

PJ Ladd VS Tyler Bledsoe: What a comeback. Both of these guys refuse to die, until…

Follow the competition on  The Battle at the Berrics or by searching youtube for footage.

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