nss magazine has been following for a while now the evolution of the women’s skateboarding scene, not only my meeting some of its most prominent personalities, first and foremost Lizzie Armanto, but also by recounting the stories of the pioneers that have changed this sport, from Peggy Oki to Elissa Steamer. Saturday, April 6 we had the occasion to participate once again in the Vans Girls Skate Camp, the Vans event aimed at empowering and spreading female skateboarding, an initiative that over the course of the years has become the accurate reflection of the incredible growth and the unprecedented attention that this sport is going through. Female skateboarding has never been so practiced, narrated and appreciated.
At the Pinbowl Skatepark in Pero (Milan) dozens of people between young girls, teenagers, women, kids, but also boys and men came out eager to get on their board, someone for their first time ever, someone else as the usual everyday training. Over the course of the day it was possible to take part in skate lessons with teachers explaining the basics of the sport, attend real classes with board and desks about the different parts of the board and the different types of ramps; there were moreover dedicated areas to customize T-shirts and decks and a super girly area where you could get your nails done by the nail salon Bahama Mama. Elenia Beretta, Italian artist and skater based in Berlin, displayed her work, while the girls of the female skateboarding collective Bastarde Senza Gloria customized T-shirts and gave skate lessons. The atmosphere was very relaxed – as it’s typical of every Vans event – and the objective of the event was achieved: creating a safe space where kids and young girls had the chance to get on board for the first time without being judged or feeling intimidated, but with the certainty to be helped and supported.
To understand even better the magical moment female skateboarding is living, we had the chance to sit down and chat with four of the most important female skaters in the world, faces of the Vans Vanguards project: Lucy Adams, Amy Ram, Helena Long and Shani Bru. Four skaters with different backgrounds and characteristics, but all sharing the same rare determination and strength needed to stand out and succeed in a long time male-dominated sport. Next year’s Tokyo Olympics will see skateboarding become an Olympic sport for the first time, an historic event, which will definitely change the perception of the sport, for better or for worse.
Lucy Adams
@lucyadamsskate
Originally from the West Sussex, she’s been skating since 1997, she was one of the first women of the English skate scene, she’s a pioneer and a veteran of this sport, which she’s seen growing over the course of the years, progressively opening also to a female audience.
I started skateboarding because I saw some brand-new ramps being built and I saw some guys on them and they were incredible and doing things I thought were magic. I asked my dad if I could have a skateboard, he helped me so I started then.
Actually, I’m still not really a pro skater, so that’s the challenge. I have to have a full-time job because there is no way of making enough money to not have a job, but at the same time I’m doing all the travelling, and all of the skate trips.
The main difference between male and female skateboarders right now is the wage and the prize money of competitions. We need to try to help to make that change. If the competition is running and you can see that there’s inequality with the prize money, then we shouldn’t go. We don’t need to do it. Often if an agency is looking for casting a girl for an ad if I say no because they won’t pay me a good rate, another girl is just going to say yes because she wants the photo on her Instagram. We need to educate; everybody needs to stand together and make it fast to push that up.
Mostly when I was starting there was a couple of women like Elissa Steamer, who I was able to see because she was in the Toy Machine videos but other than that for me it was mostly like local heroes, if I was to go to the skatepark there were a few boys, men in particular, that were just would rip you up and for me that would be my inspiration, just to get better.
“Events like this allow young women, girls especially, and old ones too, that safe space and that friendly atmosphere to be like ‘Oh my God, she’s doing it, and she’s doing it and I’m like them.”
With social media, especially Instagram, everything has changed. Now just by looking on your phone you can follow and curate the content that you want. If you just want to follow and see fellow female skateboarders every day, you can do that. If you follow more skateboarding brands you will see like it’s 99% male so I think that’s what needs to change.
While otherwise they would go to the park and be like ‘He’s going really fast, shall I go? No, I shouldn’t’ and it’s more intimidating.
My favourite shoes to skate are always Hi-Tops: I like the way they look and I like the support on the ankle, so I always have to do that. But my main thing is that I don’t like to wear black, so I’m into colours. I’m also the Chair of Skateboard GB so the Olympics Games are a big big thing for me. For me the feeling is that generally the positivity and the investments in terms of government-level founding that we make is going to be good and so if we can use it in the right way, we to provide better facilities and more skateable spaces than that’s got to be a good thing.
Amy Ram
@amy_ram
Amy started skating when she was 11 to then stop and pick it up again more than 10 years later, discovering again a passion that has never been about competing or winning, but that instead revolves around self-improvement, challenge and the will to always push your limits.
I never really worried about being the only girl at the skate park, I didn’t really take notice because all the guys were my friends so there were no gender issues really to be honest, which is kind of good.
I really didn’t look up to anyone skating, I just skated how I felt was right. But I guess it might’ve worked in my favour a little bit, because I just developed my own style. I don’t want to say that I’m a role model now but I do want to say that girls can know that there’s a good level that they can achieve, that there are girls out there that can skate well and have style.
Social media have definitely had an impact. It’s definitely exposed girls already good, and girls that are beginners as well, and different types of skateboarding. But there’s good and bad in social media. Kids spends more time on their phones than they do on the board, it’s a distraction. Girls sometimes just want to film and not skate, and that’s not really how skateboarding is.
“Skateboarding is a lifestyle, it’s not just a sport. It’s a free sport, you can do it whenever and wherever you want. All you need is a skateboard.”
I would never skate in short shorts or I always try to dress appropriately with clothes that are going to help my skating. My go-to outfit includes Dickies pants and Vans shoes.
There’s a lot of chat about the Olympics. I’m definitely not going and competing. It’s going to be a good and a bad thing for skateboarding. It’s definitely going to increase the popularity of skateboarding, but for a good reason or not I’m not sure. Parents will see medals and would want their kids to win medals, for me skateboarding is not about winning medals and competing. Competing is just a tiny bit of this sport, for me skateboarding is not a competitive sport, it’s very personal, it’s an individual sport. It’s a lifestyle, it’s not just a sport. Skateboarding has never been about money, it’s a free sport, you can do it whenever and wherever you want. All you need is a skateboard.
Shani Bru
@shanibru
20 years old, French, she’s the youngest of the four. She finds herself everyday juggling between skate sessions and trips and her university career. Her next goal is to qualify for the next Tokyo Olympics.
I started skateboarding almost six years ago, at my local skatepark with all my friends. There were some guys there and so I started the first day and I was back the day right after, and the day after that. My passion started like day one. Like a crush.
I didn’t really care if there were boys or girls, because they were my friends. We were all skateboarding, we all shared this passion for the sport, that was what getting us together. In my first local skatepark I was the only girl, when I went back there three years after there were so many girls! That’s fantastic, I’m really happy to see a lot of girls increase the level of skateboarding. Everyone is so happy about that now, even guys that before didn’t think it was normal for a girl to skate now are starting to change their minds. It’s great. Now guys be like ‘I know that girls can skate’.
“At the Olympic Games everyone will see that women can skate really well too. Everyone will know about it around the world.”
Even when you’re a boy that’s hard to start skateboarding. This kind of events where you can learn and be around other girls who love skateboarding and that can show you what you can do are really important, getting the girls motivated and feel valued. You will feel much more confident when you will skate with boys after. Maybe at the beginning it’s important to start surrounded by other girls, but after it’s just people passionate about skate.
I’m really into colourful items, like blue, orange, pink and I like to match my nails with my outfit, and then I’m putting socks matching my T-Shirt. I want to look good in my outfit even when I’m skating, I want to feel beautiful, I want to skate and be gorgeous.
I’m part of the French skateboarding team and I hope to get qualified for the Games. I think that’s something really good because is going to help to get women more recognition, to get more money in future competition and to be considered as pro as men. Everyone will see that women can skate really well too. Everyone will know about it around the world.
Helena Long
@helenalegslong
27 years old, she grew up street skating. She’s always balanced her passion for the board with her love for music, an artistic tendency that is reflected also on her skate style.
The main challenge that I had to face were a lot of injuries and also juggling work, school, university whilst always wanting to skate.
I think women are widely accepted as skaters now however there’s still definitely a stigma about what a girl skater looks like and their ability.
My role models were and always will be my friends in skateboarding. I hope I’m a role model to those that want to start skating for the pure joy of it.
I personally regard myself as just a ‘skater’ but I think it’s definitely important from an industry perspective to highlight the fact that female and non-binary communities are also part of the skateboarding community that most people would usually associate with being male dominated.
“Only recently I’d say it was incredibly common to be the only female skater at a skatepark but the male skaters were always welcoming and genuinely supportive of me.”
I personally think that social media is what is really responsible for the female skater exposure. I wear what I find comfortable – and durable to withstand some of the falls I may take. Usually T-shirt and Dickies trousers. I also really just like the straight legged trouser look. Also, good socks – can’t go without them!
The Olympic Games are going to put skateboarding on a huge platform but one that highlights it as in the ‘sports’ category. This can only help expose more to skateboarding but maybe it’ll introduce a whole new aspect to the community. Maybe one that consider it to be a sport and something to get a medal from rather than the more creative side of skateboarding that’s connected to music and the arts.
Words Cecilia Caruso
Photography Stefano Ciriello