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By Donna Harris
Cherokee Tribune Staff Writer
Noah Chee-How is a pint-sized dynamo who knows what it feels like to be a champion.
Last month, the 11-year-old Canton resident won first place in the intermediate street skating division in the Sixth Annual King of the Groms 12-and-Under Skateboard Contest Series at 3rd Lair Skatepark and Skateshop in Golden Valley, Minn.
The contest featured three events - street, bowl and mini-ramp - divided into beginner, intermediate and expert divisions. Skaters had to qualify at contests in Florida, California or Minnesota to be eligible for the finals.
Noah, who called the competition "the biggest 12-and-under contest in the universe," defeated 69 other intermediate skateboarders from across the country to bring home the national street championship.
"I was happy and kind of surprised," said the son of Michelle Chee-How of Canton and Johnny Chee-How of Duluth.
"I was ecstatic," Ms. Chee-How said. "I was very nervous when I saw how many kids there were. I was shocked."
Noah, who skates for the Progressive Skate Park team in Canton, was alone on the floor in front of about 500 people when he did his two 50-second runs, which seemed to be more nerve-racking for his mom than for him.
"I don't know how he skated in front of all those people," she said, noting he also had to skate in the Minnesota qualifier at 3rd Lair before moving on to the finals. "I was so nervous for him. Alone on that floor in front of that many people. I don't know how he did it."
Progressive owner Mike DeLuca wanted Noah, whom he called a "great contest skater," to compete in the national championship and thought it was "pretty cool" that he won from such a large field of competitors.
"I really was hoping for top 10," he said. "That was my game plan. But he made clean, perfect runs, and when you do that, you're going to win. Getting up there and skating against as many kids as he did was pretty special in itself. And being able to accomplish what he's been able to accomplish, that doesn't happen many times when you're a park owner."
During the weekend event, Noah came in first place out of 70 skaters during the qualifier on Saturday. On Sunday, he was one of the 23 skaters in the finals.
"He did well," Ms. Chee-How said. "There were supposed to be 30 - 10 from California, 10 from Florida and 10 from Minnesota - but some of the ones from California and Florida couldn't come."
Noah actually tied with another skater for first place, but the scores from their second runs were used as the tiebreaker, and Noah's was better, she added.
DeLuca and Pete Kelly, the operations manager/team manager/staff pro at Progressive, attended the event, but had to leave to catch their flight home before the winners were announced. Ms. Chee-How said she texted DeLuca to let him know Noah had won.
"They were happy," she said. "They were sitting on the plane when they got the text."
Noah, a sixth-grader at Freedom Middle School, is eligible for the contest one more year and probably will be bumped up to the expert division because of his skill level, according to Kelly.
The only competition on Noah's calendar for now is a nine-week series that began last week at Progressive. He'll compete in the sponsor division - the category for the top skaters who are seeking or already have endorsements from major companies - every Tuesday night.
"The best thing Mike does to help them prepare is these nine-week series," Ms. Chee-How said. "It helps the kids prepare for major contests."
Noah began skateboarding when he was 5 after seeing a new Tony Hawk video game that his friends had.
"I wanted it so I got it," he said. "Then I said, 'What if I could do that?' so I started."
"I spent a lot of money on video games," his mother added.
He also participated in baseball, basketball, soccer and tennis but went to skateboarding full time in early 2004. He now practices five days a week for about three hours a day.
Noah, who said he most enjoys "just having fun and skating with my friends," began competing in December 2004 because he "just wanted to try it." His first competition was Rise of the Groms at Progressive.
So far, he's competed in about 15 contests - many of them at Progressive - in Georgia, South Carolina and Minnesota. Besides winning the national championship, he's also won first place in intermediate skate in a South Carolina contest, second place in advanced in a Rome contest and second place in advanced in Rise of the Groms.
A second-place finish in the 6-11 age group in a Cartoon Network contest last summer qualified him for a competition in California, "but it was right before school started, so we opted not to go," Ms. Chee-How said.
After placing second in the 99X Dew Tour Competition at Progressive last September, he joined the skate park's skate team.
When preparing for a contest, Noah said he doesn't really have a training program and doesn't have a set run to do in the competition.
"I just practice my tricks a bunch, and that's it," he said. "I make the first two tricks in my run and then go from there."
"If they tell him it's a 50-second run, he'll try to plan what he wants to do beforehand," Ms. Chee-How said. "He'll plan a run in his head. That's what was nice about Minnesota. They told us how long the runs were going to be."
dharris@cherokeetribune.com
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