Skate For Change.

In my youth, I was drawn to skateboarding culture like Steven Segal is drawn to punching people in the face. I wanted to be like Tony Hawk, Eric Koston and Andrew Reynolds. I used to roll around the streets of my neighborhood with my friends, getting up to mischief, practicing my skills and getting up to shit I probably shouldn't have. Unfortunately, I didn't possess the natural talent for skateboarding and I was average at best. During this period of my life their were two names, that in my opinion stood out in South African Skateboarding. Puddy Zwennis and Clint van der Schyf were the best I had seen with my own eye's. They tore up the streets of Pretoria and Johannesburg with a prowess that was unmatched.

As I grew older and eventually put my skateboard down in exchange for other pleasures in life, I managed to forget about these people. I traded my Vans for Converse All Stars and my life went in another direction. However, I recently was confronted with the familiar name of Puddy Zwennis and his Skate For Change initiative. In an attempt to bring attention to and raise money for impoverished children Puddy Zwennis has decided to make a trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town via Port Elizabeth on his Skateboard. The Route is a staggering 1800Km's and with the support of his team he hopes to make the trip over a 3 month period.

The initiative is proudly sponsored by Shoprite, Stix and Stones, Revolution, DVS,Verb, Skull Candy, CMS, Eveready, Raid, Son Skate, Flexfit, The Citizen, Take 5 and Sportron. This is the first attempt of this sort in South Africa and is looking towards the general public to make donations. If you wish to contribute to Puddy and his cause, you can simply Sms "Puddy" to 38665 to make a R10 donation, pretty easy hey. The massive feat is scheduled to conclude on the 30th of October and at the point of me writing this, Puddy has done about 1488Km's according to their fancy website. It isn't often that someone is willing to put himself through something that will push the boundaries of his physical capacity in an effort that will benefit other people. Remember Puddy next time you are too selfish to tip the car guard or too lazy to assist someone in need. I stole these rather nice Photo's off the Skate for Change website, if you wish to learn more or to make a sizable donation go to www.skateforchange.co.za.