Ozzie Ausband

Theo, Faydra and Kayla

Kayla Caballero

Last week, we were in San Jose for the Tim Brauch Memorial Contest. MRZ and I were shooting photographs, hanging out and skating. Some of my pool pals from up in that area, called me and asked if I was interested in riding some backyard plaster. You see, they come down and I take them around so they figured they would return the favor. Reciprocity is the key to every relationship. I talked with MRZ and he said that he’d be into checking out some pools. I told my one pal –Theo Van Bruggen – that we were interested. I put my phone away and watched practice for awhile. Stevie Caballero was absolutely killing it in the skull bowl. It was going to be tough on anyone that was coming to try and dethrone the man. To my way of thinking, it simply couldn’t be done. Stevie used every little nuance of the bowl. He had lines that no one had and everything was super big and polished…  If you were coming to San Jose, you better do your homework! After a bit of time, MRZ and I were sitting there and Stevie walks over. “Hey, do you guys want to come to the Love and Guts Art Show tomorrow night?” MRZ and I nodded and stated that we would try and come. It sounded pretty cool. A few hours later, Theo text me and said that the permission pools were readied for the next afternoon around four. We were stoked! MRZ and I stayed busy preparing for the contest and the coverage for it.

me, Kayla, Theo and Faydra

The next day, we realized that we were in a slight dilemma. We had told Stevie that we would try and get to the Love and Guts Show. Backyard pools? Art Show? Hmmmm…. I would be less than honest if I told you that we had a tough decision. It didn’t really take us too long to choose. We pulled up to the place where Theo told us to meet him. He got out of his car with an offhand wave and two teenaged girls got out as well. MRZ and I were like… “What’s the deal…?” Theo gave us a brief introduction as I looked closely at the one girl. She looked very familiar. It turned out to be Steve Caballero’s daughter- Kayla. She had come along with her pal Faydra Huff. I laughed as I told MRZ how rad I thought the whole thing was. Here we were: we chose to ride backyards instead of going to an art show with Steve Caballero and end up skating those pools with his daughter! Life sure can be strange.

Theo Van Bruggen

Faydra Huff up and over

We had a fun little session and snapped some photographs. Faydra Huff and Kayla Caballero put down some great carves and flew through the pool, Theo lit up the shallow end coping and I put trucks on in the deep end. It was a perfect little session. Thanks to Theo Van Bruggen, Faydra Huff and Kayla Caballero for the session. Thanks to MRZ for the images.

I have had the privilege of riding backyard pools with two generations of the Caballero family. Happiness.