What About Those Who Were Here Before The "Skater Girls Are Cool" Movement?
Written by Kaileigh Y. Otsuka
Photography by Ale Benvegnu
It’s Not Like the TV Shows
Picture this: it’s the early 2000s, and you’re eight years old. Chia Pets and Tamagotchis are all the rage, and you watch Rocket Power on Nickelodeon like it’s your own religion. Out of all the 2000s trends, you know one unshakable truth – skating is cool, and you are going to be a skater. After a long chat with your parentals about helmet safety, you roll up to your first park. It’s a hot summer afternoon, the park is packed, and you’re struggling with the ill-fitting pads your parents got you. Unlike everything else from that era, these pads weren’t fit “for girls”; they were a murky grey colour, while the helmet was just plain black. That’d still be fine with you, if only they fit right.
You walk into the park with your board, dragging it by the trucks, and everyone stares. You start to realize you’re the only girl there. The older boys whiz past you as you try to gently place the board down in the middle of the park. You kick and push, but without lessons (because who knew you needed those, right?) you wobble and fall. You hear a few boys laugh, then one tells you to get out of the way, but you had no idea this ledge was for skating and not sitting – how could you?
Your face gets hot, and you look down at your Velcro shoes, which don’t seem as cool as they did when you got them. The hot tears start to form in the corner of your eyes just before you get pushed by some kid on a scooter who yells, “MOVE!”
That was the last straw and the first hard truth you had to face. One where life really knocked you down both literally and figuratively, as you realized that real life was not like Rocket Power. At least not the version of it you were living. You pick up your board, drag it to the car, and never try again. Until later, that is…
Based On a True Story – Timing is a Bitch
Okay, I don’t think it’s that hard to figure out; that was based on my experience as a little girl who thought she was going to be doing inverts and frontside airs on a vert ramp her first day skating. That bubble had officially burst. What was worse was that I didn’t feel like I could succeed, so I gave up and didn’t try again. Yeah, okay, say what you will; I was eight years old, and girls skating wasn’t cool yet. I didn’t even start skating with other girls until my mid-twenties. Somehow, I was simultaneously too early yet too late to be the “right age” for a girl skater. If I had persevered, maybe I would have been something… but now I’m just an adult skater with zero chance of making it to the Olympics.
Why Still Skate?
I’m no different than the thousands of other (now) women who had the same experience in the early 2000s. Although I might not ever make the Olympics, I skate because it’s fun, it’s liberating, and it’s the epitome of “fuck the system.” I was literally bullied out of trying to skate the first time and still chose to persevere, a story that is all too familiar to thousands of women across the globe. Choosing to go back to what I once loved as a kid – to me, that’s freedom, empowerment, and womanhood at its finest. I choose to skate for myself and am grateful that I’m now surrounded by a community of women who want to see me succeed, even if my dream of “frontside air on vert” has transformed into something a bit more within my current skill level. It doesn’t mean I’ve stopped dreaming or stopped trying to tiptoe out of my comfort zone; I’ve simply stopped feeling guilty for being clunky at things, which honestly has been the biggest confidence boost of all.
It All Comes Full Circle
Photography by Marc Llewellyn
Now, I go to the park, and who inspires me the most is a little six-year-old girl with her sparkly pads and a look of pure determination. I love that I get to cheer for her and say “good job” when she tries something new, that I get to skate over when she falls to make sure she’s okay and give her a fist-pump for getting up and trying again. Instead of feeling like I missed the boat, I feel the joy of being able to give something to someone that I never had. The feeling of community that I wished existed back then, simply because I was too early to trend.