Corey Leeson

Name: Corey Leeson
AKA: Leeso
Current Sponsors: Glyde
Disclaimer: These pages have been maintained to celebrate the OG Hopkin Skate Team 2006 - 2013. If any information (current sponsorships) needs updating, please let us know, if you want this page taken down please contact Hop.

After the first Newtons, I decide I was going to send Jacko and another skater to Europe to compete in the IGSA World Cup series. At the time Fitzy was on flow, it was offered to him but he said it was out of his league. So I figured it would be the fastest Aussie at Newtons, which was Lesso. 

The only way to describe Lesso is... a decent bloke. He is just one of those genuine Aussie skaters. That European tour was a huge success. Both Jacko, Lesso and the Early crew who travelled as well; flew the Aussie flag, put Australian racing on the map. 

It did come at a big cost, something that was unsustainable for a shop not really selling anything. The Hopshop, at that time, was really just secret skate club, a warehouse with a mini ramp and my vintage skate collection. Due to that, I decided to drop Corey from the team. In hindsight it was the wrong decision, and one of two regrets I have in regard to the skate team. What was going through my mind was Hopkin Skate would be a local Sydney skateshop, the team represents local skaters. I didn't want to be the only longboard racing skateshop in Australia. I couldn't just sponsor the best skaters in every state. Local skateshops should sponsor local skaters. 

Going forward, I thought it would be unfair to Corey to have him on the team and not give him a travel budget. In reality, Corey would have been fine with that, he just rolls with the flow. I should have kept him on the team, he was the only one I ever took off the team. It was in the beginning, and we really didn't know what we were doing!  

Corey is a legend. He is part of the Gold Coast race mafia, Early crew and one of the original sparks that created the scene. These are the days when you had to make your own gloves, there were no downhill helmets, it was either motorbike or paragliding helmet. Corey went on the own Glyde Longboards and designed and created longboards in Australia. Glyde is on a hiatus, hopefully they get motivated to start up again, you can annoy him on Facebook about that here