Your Association Needs You

ASRA is an organisation run by a few very committed skaters. We devote enormous amounts of time to creating an environment which will allow our sport to grow. We contribute a lot of our own cash and time not for any financial reward but because we have a huge amount of passion for our oganisation and our community. Whats our reward? Seeing the stoke grow, seeing young riders get into the sport and realizing how great and close the community is as a sport and a lifestyle.

Why do I ask this? because I know that our community is as passionate about our sport as we are. We ride because we love to do it, we love the freedom it gives us and the encouragement of our friends. Our reward is the stoke we see in our buddies. We race not to beat each other but to make each other better riders. We lend gear and advice to anybody who asks, because as much as we want to be better, we get a lot more stoke out of seeing our friends improve, being able to ride at a level with as many buddies as we can. This is a feeling only you understand.

ASRA is an organisation supported financially by a few people. We don't receive any funding other than your membership fees, event entry fees and a huge amount of support from a couple of skate shops and a few local manufacturers. These people don't get a financial return on their support, hey they don't even get a financial return on making boards or selling skate gear, but that is not why they do it. They support us for the same reasons that we support you, because they get a reward of seeing young people experience the same enjoyment that they do. They do it because this is their life, this is what they love to do and they will do anything they can to allow someone else to experience that same feeling of freedom and exhilaration that they get.

It costs a significant amount of time and money to get our scene off the ground and ASRA spends many thousands of dollars each year on Insurance, event setups, infrastructure, web hosting, travel expanses, administrative goods and everything else needed to create a scene where young people and old hats can get together and experience the fun of doing what we do. Most of this does not come out of ASRA money, it comes from our own pockets and the pockets of those that are committed to the love of our sport...just like you.

What does ASRA want? We want to create a situation where you can experience the thrill of competition. We want Australians to be able to compete locally in events and use that experience to gain exposure for yourself and your sport. We want you to be able to get sponsorship so Australians can compete overseas and take over the world. To do this you need big exposure at big events. ASRA spent 3 years of hard work getting a World Cup event in Australia, but just like you we dream of even bigger things so after our first event we campaigned hard to get the rights to the World Championships. This was no mean feat, this is the first World Championships to be held outside of North America and Europe, it will put Australia right in the face of the rest of the world. You should all be very proud to be a part of something bigger, I know we are.

A big event Like Newton's Playground costs an enormous amount of time and money to run. It is often hard to convince big sponsors to contribute the kind of money required to cover all these costs, especially in the current environment. An event like this might cost $80,000 to run and that's to cover the basic costs with every staff member involved taking time off work to give their labour free of charge. In addition to this we hope to bring things to this years event that will make it even bigger. Things that will increase the level of rider and spectator experience beyond what you have experienced domestically before.

Over the next 5 months I will spend about 3hrs a night working on Newton's Playground, this is tireless exhausting stuff. I will answer hundreds of emails, make a thousand phone calls and write a burgeoning amount of letters, documents and media releases. I will attend endless meetings with council, sponsors, media organisations and contractors. This is just a fraction of the work that the ASRA staff will be involved in But I get the energy and stoke to do it for the same reasons that you and I ride. I get the same reward from organising an event as I do from riding a hill. It is a way that I can give back to my brothers and sisters in the community we own.

ASRA has big ambitions for the future, we would like to have a local downhill circuit up and running very soon. Next year we would endeavor to have at least 1 more big event in Australia to add to Newton's Playground, but we can only do so much. Maybe this will inspire other members of our community to start their own event, maybe it will make sponsors and the public aware of our sport and give them the courage to support you. The small contribution of $30 to ASRA by becoming a paid member of our association may not seem like much, but we use that money to create something bigger, it plants a seed in our sport and encourages us to work even harder to give something back to you.

For those that are ASRA association members I thank you for your support. For every $30 membership we receive I promise on behalf of the ASRA staff we will ignore the pleading of our wives and girlfriends and put in a hundred hours of our time to help grow your community, I can say this because I see the devotion of these people everyday.

I think I've said enough, the rest is up to you.

This is not compulsory but for those that can afford to It will only take 2 minutes of your time. Join ASRA