Skate crew ramps up their game
Skateboarding has been added to the 2020 Summer Olympics
A CAPE TOWN skateboard club returned home with the top prize after knocking out seven other skateboarding crews when competing in the Red Bull “Dala The City” skateboarding contest.
Co-founder and executive officer of Twenty Skeight (also known as 20sk8) Shuaib Philander said their club was a professional one comprising 25 skateboarders representing about 20 communities in Cape Town.
20sk8 went up against Joburg crews Skate Society Soweto, Lavender Gang, 3 Square Crew, VeG Squad, WASTED, Slappy Crew from Pretoria and Cloudy Bros from Durban.
According to online publication SessionMag, the Red Bull “Dala The City” was a skateboarding contest with a difference: instead of individuals, it was all about crews.
“The event created the opportunity for eight prominent crews to meet one another and hang out on the streets together, an organic skate event that played out in the spaces that Johannesburg crews frequent on a weekly basis. Crews from Cape Town and Durban were flown in to join the five Johannesburg crews,” SessionMag reported.
Philander said: “We do skate parks design and construction, sell our own equipment and merchandise, give professional demonstrations, hire out mobile skateboard parks and ramps, give private skateboard lessons and have a contest circuit happening at 12 skate parks in Cape Town, with the objective of getting skateboarding registered as a sport in the Western Cape.”
He said their NPO, the Institute of Skateboarding and Other Stuff – a skateboard project by the Salesian Institute Cape Town, which has been in existence since 2010 and is supported by the German Titus Dittmann Foundation, skateaid and MyLifE – empowered youth from various communities across the City.
“We provide youth with a free after-schools programme, equipping them with life skills through skateboarding and giving them creative masterclasses in their desired career fields.
“We are currently working with six children at Westridge Gardens Skate Park in Mitchells Plain,” Philander said.
Meanwhile, skateboarding has been added as one of five new sports at the 2020 Summer Olympics to be held in Tokyo, Japan.