Poland’s signature ripper returns with what some would call a part but maybe is more of an expose showing the broadness of his skating and willpower through many a crusty spot. One could say they stop at nothing but truth be told, just before the video ends we see a scooter stopped in its tracks as it tries to pull Juras in for one final move—anyway, great work by Kuba, Michal, and the rest of this excellent crew.
Kuba and his Grey Area crew are back with a new one, which continues his exploration of Polish Plazas and the love of expensive great grinding stones. This one is based around the Warsaw monument for Wincenty Witos on which a movie was based “The Man Of Marble” which connects nicely with the look of the square and is most likely why it has been such a mainstay of a spot.
All said and done, this one has some thought behind it and we are excited to see what these “concept edits” add to the longer Grey Area projects.
Being in Berlin, we are close to the Polish border, 30 minutes by train, and your average “Scheisse” will have turned into a “Kurwa”. The capital, Warsaw is only 5 hours away, and with it being such a good skate city we didn’t need an excuse to go there.
Even closer – to our hearts – is the Polish skate scene, with many lovely characters almost all named Kuba for some reason. So when we got the chance to participate in this project we jumped on it. And now with the final edit & the article out on both the online and analog Free Mag channels, it is time to say thank you! We hope people will watch this video and enjoy it as much as we enjoyed seeing it in production.
If you are reading this and are Polish or of Polish heritage don’t forget about the #LegendaryPolishPower it took to make this all a reality.
During a little Nike SB event, we met Kuba Kaczmarczyk a.k.a. Grey Area Kuba. We got along well, the beer was flowing and at some point, we landed on the topic of Michal Juras.
Michal is a mutual friend and a well-loved skater but he is also an unlucky bastard, “Michal has been injured at most premieres!” Kuba told us. So with the release of the latest episode in the Grey Area series, it was only natural that Juras would injure himself once again.
Being the good friends that we are we contacted Michal and asked him to explain why his only type of luck seems to be bad luck.
Intro & Interview by Roland Hoogwater.
How are you feeling right now Michal?
I feel good. I pretty much live the life of a normal guy, not like a skater. I can go to a bar, drink a little bit but I can’t skate, run, jump or do any sporting activities. So, I am doing some basic things like cleaning my room, helping my mother, stuff like that. Kind of boring but it is better than walking on crutches.
This injury is weird because normally you have a cast or something and afterward they take that off and you have to do rehabilitation or something like that. This time I feel really normal, without any injuries but I can’t do anything I have to live like a grandma.
(Laughs)Very positive, so how did this happen?
Well, during the filming of my last trick, the kink rail was the last thing on my list. I went there three times and the last times the weather was grey, London vibes you know. I had four cups of coffee and it was time to do it and after a couple of tries, I sacked it.
Did it hurt directly?
No, I got up from the slam felt totally fine, Kuba (Grey Area) showed me the footage and after he said: “Maybe check inside your pants real quick and see if it’s okay”. So I went behind a tree and I saw some bruising on my leg but nothing crazy.
So, I drove back home with Kuba Bączkowski (Barrier), two hours in traffic, finally got home, took a bath and that is when a little blood came out of my dick. So I thought, let’s check what it looks like after I take a piss.
That is when it all went wrong, I started peeing blood, a lot. I freaked out, quickly called Kuba (Barrier) and told him I was passing out and that he should call an ambulance. He ran back to my house and the ambulance came to bring me to the hospital.
How was your time at the hospital
I hope that after this little surgery all my bodily functions will be working. They should, it is just a little piece of skin. But I am worried because of the hospital, they were weird. Every day, in the beginning, there was something new. I went there after my drama in the toilet and after three days, they said everything was fine and I tried to pee normally again but there was still blood in my pee. So, after a few days, I went back and after that, they found the real problem. So, that scared me.
I understand that it feels a bit sketchy.
During my second stay, I was supposed to only stay one night but I ended up staying six days and on the fourth night, I woke up and saw blood seeping towards my back. So in the end, I got a stoma and had to hold this thing, my bag with pee.
So how did you feel when you got home?
I was shook. I was waking up every night to check and see if my stoma bag did not have blood in it. I was pretty stressed, I kept doing that for the first week. After that, I managed to relax a bit. I mean, I was dragging that full with my piss around for one month.
So what happened after that month?
I went in for a check-up, I was supposed to be good, I thought they would take everything out but my urethra ended up closing so instead, I needed to have surgery.
So, back to the situation at the hospital. Every time they said it was supposed to be good, but something new always ended up happening.
Thats is why you are taking it step by step this time?
Yes, I am worried because I don’t know how this time is going to be. Maybe all of a sudden I have to stay for longer again.
Do you think you need to do any training?
No. After it is healed there is no “step by step” I can just go skate again. A little bit weird because I am used to taking it slow, some skating, a little flatground, but this time it will be different.
You could, straight away, go back to that rail and try it again?
It is kind of like your parents grounded you and you can’t skate for a while.
Do you think you will be scared to skate?
It is hard to say. But right now, I don’t think so. If I am walking down the street, looking at spots, I feel ready to skate. But maybe it will be different once I get on the board. I think I will be fine, maybe I will just be scared of Boardslides (laughs).
More 50-50’s, less Boardslides?
I think I prefer my rails short and high (laughs). Where you don’t land on the rail if you bail.
No more kinks?
Do you know what is amazing? At almost all of the video premieres where I have a part, I was injured in some sort of way.
Grey Area: I came on crutches. The first Polar video: I walked but had ankle surgery straight after and now for this one I had the bag. Neverwhere was good though, I was fit (laughs).
So with 2019 behind us what does 2020 hold?
Well, to be honest, the past year, 2019 has been a really good year for me. We went to Portugal, Lisbon and did a lot of other trips and I was productive. 2020 is a year of big change! I friend of mine told me that, in 2020 we are all going to go through changes and I told him “yeah I am starting with a bag attached to me.” (laughs).
Text by Roland Hoogwater.
Photo by Martin Hallberg
Special thanks go out to Kuba, Danijel and all the others that made this possible.
Some of you might know Danijel Stankovic’ skating from “Grey Area“, his “In Search of the Miraculous” part or maybe you know him as a part of The National but we know him as Malmö’s favorite son.
Danijel or Juggaboltz as some call him has again gathered his strengths and teamed up with Kuba Kaczmarczyk for this Grey Area follow up “Neverwhere”.
To “Jugga” this might have been the hardest one to film because like many other “grown-ups” he has grown up things to do. Things that take him away from the board and in our opinion, because of those hurdles, this part shows you the determination and hard-headedness of a person like Mr. Stankovic.
When we asked him about this part and his current relationship with skating he told us he was:
“Too young to be tired but too old to be relevant…”
Obviously, a combination of self-deprecating humor and willingness to still compete has hit Danijel in 2019. but it shows that he is trying to talk to the younger skaters. Skaters who might not know all about sharing your platform with your friends or using a song suggested by a collaborator like Silas Adler (from Soulland) and all the while he is showing us all that spot and trick selection always matter.
Jugga is not afraid to put himself out there and say or show you what he likes and dislikes. And in 2019 we think opinions matter as much as ever. So when the opportunity was presented to us to showcase these things in motion we got excited and jumped on the opportunity to show them to you.
But enough talk for now! We are excited to premiere a part by one of our favorite skaters for 24 hours exclusively here on Place!
The Warsaw-based SH store took its riders to the capital of Spain and came back not only with this little video but also with a transformed bandana wearing Michał Juraś.
Enjoy the video, the soundtrack and the outfits.
Our friends over at Live Skateboard Media have a new part of the Polish masterpiece “Neverwhere” up now. Besides the Chilean Prince’s skateboard moves they also have a nice interview up with Kuba who is behind both the lens and the vision for “Neverwhere”
If you ever have the chance to meet him you will love him! Michal Juras is the friend that hypes you up to skate, helps you land your tricks and has a nation on his back! Go get it strawberry!
Los Angeles is a town based on movie and television money, Hollywood is right there, it says so on the sign! So for us to present you with still photography only, would be a wasted opportunity. So we packed our cameras and filmed our own little video and here it is.
Featuring:
Kai Hillebrand, Hyun “Versace_plug” Kummer, Michal Juraś, Kuba Brniak, Jonte Klahr and David Jakinda skating in and around LA LA Land.
In our opinion, there is four type of skaters, the alcohol-free one, the beer kind, the cocktail sort and the wine connoisseur.
To put this into perspective Denis Lynn is the beer kind whereas Sylvain Tognelli seems to the type to order a long drink at the bar, while this crew now obviously falls into the last category.
Travelling all the way to Italy to see the process of wine making and taste the juice almost directly from the land.
Davide Biondani summed up the trip the best “Not bad skating after 8 or 9 glasses of red wine in the morning”
This is going to be really good! Shout out to Kuba Kaczmarczyk & Paweł Piotr Przybył. We will try to make it to the premiere!
The European Nike SB teamriders Darkness, Hjalte, Oskar, Michal, Jacopo, and Youness rolled into San Fransisco ripping.
Part 1
Part 2
In search of the Miraculous ist ein Film von Pontus Alv, welcher zwischen 2005 und 2010 gefilmt wurde und einige der heutzutage bekannten europäischen Skater zum allerersten Mal auf die große Bühne gebracht hat. Mit Dabei sind: Pontus Alv persönlich, Hjalte Halberg, Eniz Fazliov, Michal Juras und viele, vieler mehr.