Skate reach broadened

OUT SKATING: Members of the Surely Skate crew enjoy a break from a skate in the sun. They are, back (from left): Serenity Jahnke, Asia Braithwaite and Gypsy Walder. Front: Charlotte Jones, Sophee Hills, Tessa Hills, Taylor Van Gulick Ngamare, Karunikah Pere-Walker and Renee Pearson. Absent: Georgia Richardson, Morgan Andrews, Ayumi Sato, Clare Milne, Ebony Pearson, Chanté Claassen, Fern Jones, Gin Ordóñez, Keira Coogan, Krystal Smith, Nemeshia Blundell, Pippa Smith, Stevie Main and Riley Hoet. Picture supplied

A group of girls are out to change the stereotype of the skate park and make it more inclusive for all.

Surely Skate is a programme to encourage women of all ages and skills to give skating a go. It was devised by Sophee Hills, Tessa Hills, Morgan Andrews and Georgia Richardson.

Sophee said that when she started skating she found it intimidating to go to the park, and few of the skaters were girls.

“We wanted to skate but the culture was intimidating,” she said.

“I used to never go there by myself.”

Some girls who wanted to skate formed a group chat on Instagram and almost every Sunday someone would send out a message asking if anyone wanted to head down to the park.

“We wanted to make it a regular thing; we skate every Sunday,” Sophee said.

“It's another way to just hang out . . . and help each other learn.”

They found that making the group public brought to the skate park people they'd never have suspected would be interested, particularly younger girls.

The idea to formalise the group chat originated from them egging on each other to go for a skate.

“It came from us saying to each other, ‘Surely come for a skate, surely',” Sophee said.

A big inspiration for the group was a similar programme in Auckland called Girls Skate NZ, run by Amber Clyde.

She started skateboarding at the age of 12, but lost motivation until her late teens after some of her interactions with other skateboarders at the park, she said in a recent RNZ interview.

“There were a couple of guys at the park who were really mean to me . . . I was like, ‘Nah, I'm done, I don't want to go back'.”

In March she hosted a girls' skate workshop in Gisborne, organised by Gisborne Boardriders Club.

The Surely Skate crew met her and were “fangirling pretty hard”, Sophee said.

Shane Kingsbeer has been skating for over 20 years and says he's now in a position to help out the younger generation. He's given them several new skateboards.

He said that as the father of a young daughter, he couldn't speak highly enough of this group of girls.

“They're awesome role models.”

He said skateboarding had entered the mainstream in recent years and he had noticed the park evolve and become more family-friendly.

“Everyone is just there for the love of it. It's much more inviting now.”

The Surely Skate crew have big plans. They have talked about holding a mini-contest and plan to take part in the council's consultations to modernise the Alfred Cox Skate Park.

They're hosting another group skate tomorrow from 2pm to 4pm and encourage anyone interested to come along and give it a go.

Anyone interested but lacking a skateboard can reach out to the Surely Skate Facebook page or Instagram. They have a couple of spares that can be borrowed.