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For the Warriors Family, the trans-generational crew from Ticino (the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland), the answer to this question is surely comedy. In Giuliano’s words “The most important thing is to make your friends laugh, tricks come after that”.

Although, with many people on the road there is never one answer that works perfectly for everything and everyone - and being our group the size of a travelling football team shouldn’t make things easier. As Anna noticed “We were a very age-mixed group, from sixteen up to thirty-eight years old, and it took me a while to realize that. Mostly men, still I felt very comfortable in the group”. Skateboarding for sure needs more women, hopefully they all share Anna’s drive and good heart.

Skateboarding is often regarded as the least athletic of the sports, for those who still think of it as a sport, but very few things in life are harder and heavier than aiming at a ledge with a six-pack of Super Bocks in your body. The Warriors are not the party hardest bunch of people that you’ll ever meet, but do not threaten them with a good time because they will not hold back. They’re known for having created a tradition called “pigia”, which can remind of some tribal mating dances, in which they all start to spray beer from their mouths onto each other, creating a beautiful and smelly golden rain.

Pete, portrayed with a beer holster belt above, told me off for using the words “sport” and “skateboarding” in the same sentence, and it seems quite fair coming from his direction. For starters, he’s the only twenty year old I know that hangs out in a black leather jacket covered in pins and political statements. Furthermore, with his “Fuck you, I love you, let’s get fucking steaming” attitude, and his extremely theatrical and humorous presence, Pete is one of the best fits for the definition of “skateboarder” among the people I’ve met. Also I’m told he is quite good on his board, but I’m gonna have to trust the stories on that since I almost never saw him skate. And when I did, he was mostly eating shit.

“Fuck you, I love you, let’s get fucking steaming”

Lots of people with lots of different backgrounds. The garage-punk-rock vibe is, at first glance, the common aesthetic denominator in the group, as mostly everyone is rocking black tattoos, long hair, cut down black tees from semi obscure bands and very expressive grip art. But a more thorough investigation will tell us that we are talking about quite the heterogeneous group of people. Musicians, actors, artists, but also architects, designers, entrepreneurs, engineers, high school students, high school teachers, gym trainers, gardeners, skatepark builders and a couple of good old pro skaters… It seems that all walks of life lead to the Warriors Family. Also, and they will surely refute this, it seems to me that this crew attracts only very bright and profound people. Which can be ironic since almost the entire Warriors’ production revolves about screwball comedy, practical jokes and all around tomfoolery.

I’m taking credit for the worst trick of the tour, which is dislocating my knee while warming up at the feel-good-park (one of those where everything is small and even the photographer can build up his ego). This was on the third day, and the ten that followed were spent painfully crutching up and down the steep cobblestone-paved hills of Lisbon. Still, I could never be caught complaining since everyone was so kind and thoughtful: we ubered to spots which were far from the subway stations and the whole crew was helping me carry my gear and setting it up. Every beer run brought back a cold one for me. I felt like a princess.

Kalasnjikov! Kalasnjikov! I was climbing up the Airbnb’s stairway when I heard what seemed like very loud balkan music coming from upstairs. My suspicion turned out to be correct as I opened the door of our apartment and saw everybody in a circle, dancing, clapping hands, tinkering on beer bottles, and loudly singing to Goran Brecović. With Pete in the middle wearing a duck silicon mask, rocking out all of Mick Jagger’s dancing repertoire.

While the jam session was going, a quick barefoot-360 flip challenge in the living room was held. As Babs’ feet started to bleed, dice were rolling on the table again. Slowly the jam faded out as everyone was looking in their pockets for coins to gamble. Stakes aren’t high, as there’s only a couple of euros on the table for each bet, but you gotta be sure that spirits are. The game is played as if it was a matter of life and death.

Stakes aren’t high, as there’s only a couple of euros on the table for each bet, but you gotta be sure that spirits are. The game is played as if it was a matter of life and death.

Giuliano and Schianta took care of the filming, even though almost everyone on the trip had a camera in hand the whole time. More than a few mini-dvs rolled through Kevin’s party cam, and a fair quota of film rolls were shot during the trip. It felt like even the dullest moment was memorable. Lucio, the youngest of the crew, still couldn’t really understand the difference between a photo camera and a video camera - he’s sixteen. To be fair, what’s the use in having different tools for different jobs, when we all have an Iphone in our pockets? One good reason would be forgetting about the party cam being there. And without a direct Internet connection to quickly upload it, and to as quickly forget about it, that footage aged like wine. Seeing it now after just a couple of months of fermentation makes it twice as fun, I’m sure that time will only add to that.

Leaving the spot without the clip after a battle where everybody is in the trenches with you may feel like a double loss. But this well navigated crew has seen its fair share of sessions and knows that you don’t leave no man, or tricks, behind. So when, way after sunset, with the full crew lighting up a triple set with phone lights, and after a collection of slams that would have knocked out Alì in his golden days, Lucio felt that he couldn't go on more, plans were immediately made to make sure that he could have another chance at his trick, which he did right before catching his plane. There’s something cathartic in laying in your seat watching the clouds pass by, with aching pain caused by lactic acid and a very good clip in the bag.

The city police have been weird with us. After being thrown a couple of water buckets from the windows of the public housing next to the spot we were skating, a patrol car arrived to question us. This situation developed into a very surreal and quick dialogue between a cop and Schianta revolving around the sketchyness of the neighbourhood and if we had any drugs. They couldn’t care less about us and went away quicker than they arrived. This was not the case the next day when Gian and Kevin got stopped and searched because they matched the description of the perpetrators of a robbery that happened minutes before we arrived at the spot. Funnily enough, moments after they got released we got chased by the priest of the church we were skating. This turned into something comical as the priest started driving in his car following us for a good half an hour, filming us push around. If you’re seeing this Mr. Angry Portuguese Priest, please send the clips.

We got chased by the priest of the church we were skating. If you’re seeing this Mr. Angry Portuguese Priest, please send the clips.

Long sessions followed by long nights led us to even longer mornings. Did you know that if you don’t like the taste of coffee - but you still need to kickstart your day - you can put ice, Kalhua and Vodka in it? Shake it a little bit, and drain the ice. Dip a croissant in it if you like to, it’s gonna taste a lot better. There’s probably no universal best fuel for a perfect skate trip - I know many of those who come to Portugal to skate usually sustain themselves with a balanced diet of bacalhau, croquestas and pasteis de nata, as did we. But if you manage to get into the Warriors van (and I strongly recommend you to try), you might find that what works brilliantly for them is a mix of comedy, dancing, skateboarding, and a couple of rounds of perfectly shaken Espresso Martinis.