So you want to compete in skateboarding

Skateboarding has two roads, and most skaters travel both. One is contests: local leagues, then the big amateur contests the industry watches, then the national team and the Olympics. The other is footage: clips and video parts that get a skater noticed by shops and brands without ever entering a contest.

Skating has been in the Olympics since Tokyo 2020, and the 2028 Games put it in Los Angeles, at the Sepulveda Basin in the San Fernando Valley. For a Southern California kid, the top of the ladder has never been closer to home.

• Street: a course built to look like the street, with stairs, rails, ledges, gaps and banks. Olympic.
• Park: a course of bowls and curved walls (transition). Olympic.
• Bowl: amateur contests often run bowl as its own category, separate from park.
• Vert: a big half-pipe with vertical walls. Not Olympic, but still contested at the pro and amateur level.

Most kids lean one way early: street kids live at ledges and stair sets, transition kids live in the bowl. Plenty of contests let them enter both.

1. ★

   The top

   The goal

   The 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles

   Street and park, women and men, at the Sepulveda Basin from July 18 to 27, 2028. There are 22 spots per gender in each event, no more than three per country, given out from the world rankings on June 11, 2028. Skaters must be born on or before December 31, 2014.

   Run by

   IOC and World Skate; Team USA through the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee

   Qualifying

   June 11, 2026 to June 11, 2028

2. 5

   Pro

   The World Skateboarding Tour

   World Skate’s international contests, and the only road into Olympic qualifying. The first LA28 qualifier was a WST World Cup in Rome in June 2026. World Skate is raising its minimum age step by step: 12 in 2026, 13 in 2027, 14 from 2028.

   Run by

   World Skate

3. 4

   National

   USA Skateboarding

   A national skateboarding organization. It gave up its status as the sport’s national governing body in March 2023, and the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee now manages the Olympic team. In 2025 it announced an Amateur Series with The Berrics: regional contests for street, park and vert, with women’s, men’s and adaptive divisions in age groups from 7 and under to open, leading to an amateur national championship.

   Run by

   USA Skateboarding

4. 3

   Big am contests

   Tampa Am, Damn Am and Exposure

   Where team managers and skate media actually watch. Tampa Am in Florida (the 32nd edition is October 15–18, 2026) is the most famous amateur contest in the world. Damn Am is its touring series; the top 20 at each stop earn a spot in Tampa Am qualifying, and in 2026 it stopped in Vista. Exposure in Encinitas, run by the nonprofit Exposure Skate, calls itself the world’s largest women’s skateboarding event.

   Close to home

   Damn Am San Diego (Vista) and Exposure (Encinitas)

5. 2

   National series

   The Boardr Series

   A national contest series for all ages and skill levels, with stops around the country including Fontana. Membership is $99 a year and includes one division; extra divisions are $50. Girls’ divisions are Women’s 12 and under and 13 and up.

   Run by

   The Boardr

6. 1

   Grassroots

   Start here

   CASL, your local league

   The California Amateur Skateboard League runs a season of local contests in Southern California, with points that count toward an invitation to its National Championship. Its national umbrella now goes by the Competitive Amateur Skateboard League. Tony Hawk and Ryan Sheckler both came through it.

   Ages

   7 and under, all the way to 16 and over

CASL dates to 1982, when Frank Hawk, Tony Hawk’s dad, started it with other skate parents, and it says it’s the longest-running amateur skateboard league in the world. It runs street, park and bowl contests across the season, and a national championship at the end.

Divisions

How a CASL contest runs

• Each skater gets two runs: 45 seconds in park and bowl, one minute in street.
• Three judges score each run from 0 to 100.
• Judges look at how many different tricks, how hard they are, use of the course, consistency, style, height, speed, creativity and risk-taking.
• Placings earn points toward the season rankings. In the 2026 rankings a win is worth 1,000 points, second place 860 and third 730, and all of her results are added up.

Entry for the October 2026 stop is $35 for the first division and $30 for each extra one. CASL’s FAQ says you don’t need a membership to skate a contest, but its LiveHeats registration page sells a 2026 membership, so look at what is added before you pay. The national championship in Jacksonville, Florida also had a $20 venue fee paid to the skatepark. Check CASL’s Southern California page for this season’s dates, venues and fees.

Skateboarding grew up outside organized sport, and a lot of the culture is still wary of contests. Shops and brands mostly find skaters through footage: Instagram clips, YouTube edits and full video parts. A skater with great style and a strong video part can get sponsored without ever winning a contest.

The usual sponsorship path in skating looks like this:

1. 1.Shop sponsor: your local skate shop gives a discount or some free product, and your kid reps the shop.
2. 2.Flow: a brand sends free product, without being officially on the team.
3. 3.Am: officially on a brand’s amateur team, sometimes with travel and small pay.
4. 4.Pro: a signature board or shoe, a pro video part, and royalties.

The big am contests sit where the two roads meet. Tampa Am and Damn Am are as much industry showcases as competitions. And the Olympic track, run by World Skate, is a newer road that rewards contest results directly.

Judging

Skate contests are judged on overall impression. At the Olympics, five judges score each run from 0 to 100, the highest and lowest scores are dropped, and the middle three are averaged. Across every level, judges reward the same things: difficulty, clean landings, variety, use of the course, speed and flow. Repeating the same trick gets marked down.

Formats you’ll see

• Runs: each skater gets the course alone for 45 seconds or a minute. Best run counts.
• Best trick: a few attempts at one big trick on one obstacle. Street contests at the top level mix runs and best tricks.
• Jams: several skaters share the course and take turns. Common in bowl.

A typical contest day

Here’s the schedule from the 2026 Boardr Series stop in Fontana: 8am registration and practice, 10am street contest by division, 11:30am street awards, noon bowl contest, 1pm bowl awards. The Boardr requires you to pre-register online. CASL also takes entries at the park on the day. Spectators are usually free.

What to bring

• A helmet. California law requires skaters under 18 to wear one
• Knee and elbow pads, and wrist guards. Many parks and contests require pads for kids
• A signed waiver; most parks need a parent’s signature for under-18s
• A skate tool and spare hardware, or a spare board
• Water, snacks, sunscreen and a hat
• A folding chair. Contest days run for hours

Girls’ skateboarding is having a moment, and Southern California is at the center of it. Girls’ divisions exist at every level, from CASL to the Boardr Series to USA Skateboarding’s ams.

Exposure and Skate Rising

Exposure calls itself the world’s largest women’s skateboarding event, held every fall at the Encinitas Community Park skatepark (“Poods”). In 2025 it had about 200 entries across bowl, street and vert. Olympians and pre-teens skate the same weekend, in Intermediate, Advanced and Open/Pro divisions (vert has no Advanced), and there are no age groups: you pick a division by ability. Exposure 2026, the 15th, runs November 6–8. It is free to watch, entry is $100 per division, and the Open/Pro prize purse posted for 2026 totals $57,300.

Its youth program, Skate Rising, runs learn-to-skate sessions for girls 4 to 16, taught by pro and Olympic skaters, at places like LVLUP USA in Vista and Encinitas Community Park. They are free if you register in advance, and safety gear is provided.

The youngest stars in skating are often girls. Arisa Trew won Olympic gold in park at 14, and Mazel Paris won the Open/Pro bowl contest at Exposure 2025 at 11. Just know that the Olympic track’s minimum age is rising to 14 by 2028, while local contests still welcome 7-year-olds.