Mini Ramp Skaters #4: Cody McEntire

Cody McEntire can do some pretty magical things on a mini ramp. Between his ability to pop tricks quite high (particularly on transitions) and his extraordinarily gorgeous one-of-a-kind flick, putting these skills to a mini ramp results in some pretty unreal tricks and lines.  In his classic Smoke and Mirrors part, he opens up before the music with a sick line that when I compare it to some of Ben's awesome lines that I wrote about yesterday, really shows how talented Cody is. And then at 2:11 is an extra high nollie big spin back tail backside flip out for good measure. In Business As Usual, he whips around a deadly front blunt at 0:35 and does what I consider his signature transition trick at 2:09: a frontside 180 fakie 5-0 flip out with his awesome personal style of kicking his back foot out or something to catch the flip. Cody's Real Street part has a couple of nice mini ramp/lip tricks starting at 0:22 and his Love it or Leave it part has a terrific section from 2:21-2:55 just mini ramp tricks. The late back foot flip noseblunt has got to be an NBD for sure!
Now the video parts show Cody's all around amazing skating interspersed with sweet mini ramp stuff, but the clip posted above along with this Mini Ramp Session are what truly puts him as one of the best mini ramp skaters out there. I think it's safe to say he has THE BEST switch 360 flip on a mini ramp or transition in skateboarding. If you don't check out his other video parts mentioned earlier (although they'd be totally worth it), please just check out these two minute-long clips and have your mind blown.

Ams that Should be Pro #1: Felipe Gustavo

Right now, Felipe Gustavo is basically Schrödinger's professional skateboarder.  He is considered both am and pro at the same time.  After competing in a pro contest at SPOT, he's now listed as pro on their website, yet Plan B has not released any pro model decks for Felipe, which is the real turning point for professionalism.  Either way, just to alleviate everyone from the headaches they've been given for trying to label Felipe as a pro or am, Plan B most definitely needs to come out with a pro deck for him.  It's not worth even writing any supporting reasons for why he should be pro; everyone that is involved with skateboarding understands that he deserves it 100%.
So, to recap Felipe's progression in the skate world, here are most of his major video parts that he's put out over the years.  Knowing that he's Brazilian should be enough to mentally prepare for the technical wizardry that is about to follow:
Digital F.Y.I.: I absolutely love the full motion of the kickflip back noseblunt fakie to end a line at 2:27 and the hardflip front nose big spin out at 2:05 is still such a shocking trick today.
FKD Park Project: I always appreciate a good switch flip back tail (0:34) and to follow it up with a nollie frontside flip down the stairs was an enjoyable pairing of tricks.  Same goes for the pairing of the nollie frontside flip 360 over the hip with its backside counterpart at 1:07.
LRG United: I'm including this clip exclusively for the trick at 4:54. Never before had I seen a nollie 360 flip backside tailslide, and I still don't remember seeing many if any at all after this either.  Just leave it to Felipe to come up with a trick like this.
Plan B vAmdalism (above): Scott Decenzo has also been one of my favorites for a while, with this part cementing the fact that both he and Felipe are among the technical greats in skateboarding.  I feel like Scott should also deserve to be pro very soon, but needs a bit more consistent industry coverage first like Felipe has gotten (or it could be some Canadian curse...but more of that some other time). One of my favorite lines is at 3:40, where Felipe demonstrates his one of a kind, fast flicking, unnaturally elevating 360 flips into a nosegrind (revert out of course) followed by a proper frontside half cab flip and closed by a kickflip back noseblunt on the tabletop of a bench. The big spin out of the nollie front nose at 3:58 (ending a line nonetheless) totally shocked me as to how fast he's dropping off the handrail and still manage to big spin out. The fact that Felipe actually sits on the grind of a nollie flip crooks nollie frontside flip out at 4:48 shows me how professional he is already, and every clip after that has some very technically difficult trick that Felipe just throws down like a seasoned vet.
Switching it up for Plan B: I'm including this clip because there's another solid minute plus of quality tech clips, proving just how good he is at switch tricks.
DC's Rediscover Home (Part 3): One of the reasons that there are a ton of skaters out there that just can't seem to find their way into the industry, despite incredible talent, is the fact that their backgrounds or personalities are not unique enough to fund.  This three part series that DC did about how Felipe managed to work his way out of Brazil and fulfill his dream to skate with one shot at SPOT really shows a wonder story for one kid to make his way into skateboarding for everyone's benefit.  This is the kind of background that should get someone coverage and on the path to turning pro.  Not to mention Felipe displays his ninja precision on a skateboard once again at 6:30.

Favorite Video Parts #5: Cody McEntire - Smoke and Mirrors

Cody Mac can probably do anything he wants on a miniramp, most likely from hanging out with Dave Bachinsky so much.  So his opening line just sets the tone for the rest of this timeless video part, where he looks so natural on the board, both switch and regs.  Lynard Skynard's Simple Man starts chiming in as Cody proceeds to demonstrate an enticing sneak peak at his big bag of tricks, only to close out his opening line at Carlsbad with a nollie big spin down the gap.  The whistles at 0:57 provide the perfect stoke, almost as if you were right there with the crew to dish out some high fives after the trick.  And then he proceeds to issue his controlled destruction of spots.  I love his trick selection for the line at 1:33, I don't think I've seen many people flip in and flip out of the tall manny pad at 2:23, the catch on the switch flip at 3:29 is almost comical for how cool it is to look at, and I still feel like his "spread eagle" nollie big heel down Carlsbad ender is the sweetest trick done at that gap.