Rob Welsh & Cody Chapman.

Thee good ole' days.

I don't even know why I picked this one. I guess I thought it was funny. It doesn't exactly fit into a review of 2025. I definitely dragged the look back at last year on for a week longer than I should have. Even as this thing limps along to the 18 year mark, I'm still learning how to pace and edit the copy, which I suppose is a good thing. Unless it is a specific video recap that warrants longer, two weeks is the max for any one topic.

One bit of relevancy to this Lakai ad would be that Cody joined up with the Anti-Hero crew in 2025 after UMA Landsleds came to an end. I think Evan Wasser or somebody else had a photo doing the exact same trick at the exact same spot. I remember flipping by it, but didn't take the time to mark down who it was.

I skateboarded in the driveway after work on Wednesday. It was 20˚ F at best. The driveway had only a few small damp spots and ice chunks so I had more room to roll in than on Monday. I managed enough tricks to make it count before my trucks froze due to the cold.

The photos are by Andrew "Ando" Caulfield.

Thrasher - July 2020 Volume 41 Number 7

Sam Narvaez.

Cracklin' Rosie.

Sam turned pro for Krooked in 2025. She also rides for Adidas and HUF. In the tradition of Dan Drehobl, her part used a Neil Diamond song to accompany the assorted krooked grinds, manuals, and bank tricks. I think the video was mostly filmed in Cuba, which provides a colorful background for her skating.

Thrasher - September 2025 Volume 46 Number 9

Breana Geering #4.

PUNX ROCK.

Breezy had a few sick photos for ads and a quick part in Splinter, Girl's video from the summer of 2025. She also had a gest part for Krooked with Una Farrar in 2024, too.

I shoveled out the driveway on Sunday and was able to skateboard after work on Monday. I had to deal with some big wet spots. I fit in a bunch of noseslides and boardslides before I got cold. Things felt good and wish I had more time.

Thrasher - March 2025 Volume 46 Number 3

Deandre "Lil Dre" Thebpanya.

Lil fluffy clouds.

Lil Dre is from San Francisco, California. He rode for Karl Watson's Maxallure until that company floated off into the ether. Girl Skateboards recently added him to the pro team. His other sponsors include Adidas, Venture, and Spitfire. Dre can fakie front crook anything and has great skill in doing flip tricks. He's really good and brings an element of style back to Girl that has been somewhat lacking in recent years.

Thrasher - April 2021 Volume 42 Number 4

Tom Schaar #2.

Zombie.

A young Tom catches a stalefish in a pool. He would have been on Element back in 2012. These days he's riding for Birdhouse Projects and New Balance. Tom used his vert skills in the recent Thrasher bowl contest at Supreme in LA. He was blasting some big airs and getting tricks on a very tall makeshift Supreme extension. It was cool to see Hugo Boserup tearing up the bowl to win the contest, too.

Try to stay warm out there. Spring has to get here sooner or later. I'm almost mildly optimistic about getting to an indoor park to skateboard this weekend. Our usual winter cycle is snow a couple days, dig out, warm up, dry up, and then snow again. You can fit in some skating at the end of that cycle, but we haven't had a break from the snow and it sure hasn't warmed up.

The photo is by Mike Blabac.

Transworld - December 2012 Volume 30 Number 12

Chris Joslin #2.

Champion Matador.

Now that the dust and hot takes have settled, we can evaluate Chris winning Thrasher's SOTY for 2025. I feel he picked up the honor for a career body of work, along the lines of when Anthony Van Engelen won. Add into that one amazing 360 flip with a great backstory and it's a done deal. That said, he's still an oddly surprising choice. I had the frontrunners as Antonio Durao, Greyson Fletcher, TJ Rogers, and Tom Schaar so Joslin wasn't on my short list. I figured Tom would win because of two ridiculous vert parts and knowing that Michael Burnett has a soft spot for the tamers of giant halfpipes.

Joslin has been out there hucking flip tricks down massive stairs and gaps for over a decade now in the skateboarding spotlight. He isn't somebody I keep up with. I'll watch a video part here or a contest run there and that's about the extent of it. He's great at what he does, it's not the type of skateboarding I'm into. And that's fine.

I remember when he turned pro and how popular he was with certain skaters. Joslin was also on nearly every other page of the mags back in the middle 2010s. His part in Album, the Etnies video from 2018, is a tour de force of big gaps, ledges, and handrails. He even does a couple of no-complies and 43s in the section.

I am curious about how Plan B is doing these days. I can't imagine they have the draw they once had. I think they probably do have a fan base that keeps buying the boards. I live in a poor area to do market research on what is popular, but I've seen more Hardbody decks than Plan B for whatever that is worth. I'm also curious what the average skater thinks of the new version of Lakai. My guess would be they are oblivious to all the behind the scenes ownership changes that cost the brand most of its supporters. I'm just wondering aloud about all these things since we don't have Transworld Business publishing the numbers like we used to back in the day.

The photo is by Sam McGuire.

Thrasher - August 2017 Volume 38 Number 8

TJ Rogers.

Survivor.

TJ had a productive 2025 with several video parts of gnarly street tech and a pro shoe on éS. He's from Whitby, Ontario. Bill Weiss hooked a fellow Canadian up with a sponsorship from Blind in the early 2010s. When Dwindle came to an unsightly end in 2022, TJ found a home at SK8MAFIA. He's elevated ledge tech to new heights and distances while also still jumping down big stairs as he gets older.

Thrasher - September 2025 Volume 46 Number 9