Thrasher Magazine photographed Vallely performing in the handplant circle, one of the photographs appearing on the cover of magazine's August 1986 issue. In July 1986, Vallely's new sponsor flew him to California to compete at the "Street Attack" contest, in Oceanside, California. Vallely won the amateur division, which led to a full-page spread in Transworld Skateboarding's September issue.[citation needed] Also in 1986, Vallely appeared in the third Powell-Peralta video, The Search for Animal Chin, which was released in 1987. Later that year, Vallely became a professional skateboarder at a vert contest in Toronto, Canada on May 31, 1987.