40 - report - chile By Luis Elías Benavides - Photos by Santiago Leonardo and Pablo Delgado
ArtFlatSur school Flatland schools are an emergent way to spread the passion for BMX. This new technique to get people into flatland has been applied in countries like France and Japan. The results of these schools have been amazing, and we can say that by having more options for up and comer riders, we can assure a promising future for flatland. Santiago is one of the prophets in charge of the ArtFlatSur flatland school in Chile, where he shares his knowledge and tricks with the younger generations. Let’s see what he has to say about it... Santiago, can you please introduce yourself? My name is Santiago Leonardo. I’ve been riding for 17 years, and I’m from San Bernardo, Chile. What’s the flatland scene like where you live? The flatland scene in Chile is very cool and with a lot of good vibes. In our school, ArtFlatSur, we have real and trustworthy friends. We always get together to share a day of riding, take photos, film videos, and talk about our lives and families. We always try to motivate new generations as well. How did the idea of the flatland school come up? One day I left home with my flatland equipment and my mp3 player to ride. I turned a corner to get to the avenue that brings me to my spot and I found several children on BMX bicycles on Puerto Williams street. It made me travel to the past when I was around 13 or 14, and I remembered my friends of that time. It was a very pleasant experience; I approached the children and they began with questions: Do you do bunnyhops? What tricks can you do? What kind of bike is that? I started to have a conversation with them and I realized they were very interested in BMX freestyle. I proposed the idea to have free workshops where we get together with our bikes and learn Flatland tricks, and his immediate response was yes. How often do you meet and where? We meet on Sundays. There’s no one on the basket court those days so we session
from 10:00am to noon. It turned out fine in the first workshop, the children went back home happy and motivated. I went to the neighborhood committee and talked to the board explaining our project and idea with the children; they gave us all their support, the court with free light and outlets for music. Everything is working out great. Friends from many places support us with their good vibes. Who is in charge of teaching at the workshops? We are 3 mentors: Santiago Leonardo, Pablo Delgado, and Oscar Mora. Also, sometimes we have the help of pro riders, who lend us a hand as mentors. What kind of tricks do you work on with the kids? First, we teach children to feel confident with the bike. Then we work on tricks to develop balance and show that it is possible to pull any flatland trick. Then we teach them barspins and more basic tricks. Some of them can already do 180s and simple short trick combinations. What is your goal with this school? Our real goal is to make flatland evolve in our country. The idea of teaching children is to give them precise answers and tools for the tricks, so they learn faster and spend less time learning a trick. We teach them that anything is possible. Also, another project we have in mind is to get sponsorship to buy bikes since not all the kids have one. We want to get, somehow, 16” bikes for the smaller children and protective gear, like in the flatland schools in Japan.