BONDING ON THE BOARD
What was once a mostly male pastime, is now popular among women and girls
Seeing more female skateboarders on social media and time provided by the lockdowns from the COVID-19 pandemic are two factors these women attribute to the rise in female skateboarders in the province. With more women skateboarding, they no longer feel as intimidated and have bonded, finding a welcoming and supportive community in the process. Pictured are (from left) Kendra Burden, Daelyn Hollett, Molly Miller, Nicole Barney and Coral Haley-riggs.
Since beginning in California in the 1950s, skateboarding has evolved from a novelty way of surfing on land to one of the most popular subcultures on the planet and a competitive sport.
For years in Newfoundland and Labrador, skateparks have been predominantly filled with young men. But, according Daelyn Hollett, there’s been a huge increase in female skateboarders recently.
“Before social media, it’s kind of like you’re in a small town, in a male-dominated town already. … Now when you see all these other women doing it, (you think) ‘So can I,’” she said.
Next to her are five friends, Coral Haley-riggs, Nicole Barney, Molly Miller, Kendra Burden and Marissa Boucher. All of these women are between the ages of 18 and 25 and, although some of them knew each other before, the bonded through skateboarding.
Sitting at a picnic table in Bannerman Park, a resounding “Yes,” is practically exhaled from all six women simultaneously when asked if they were hesitant to start skateboarding.
Boucher started skateboarding in 2019. There were only a couple girls skating that she knew of at the time.
“We would just do our own things on the side because we were intimidated by the male audience and the skatepark vibe. I was one of them that said to just do it. If you’re going to skate, you got to do it,” she said.
Once Barney picked it up, not only did she find support from the skateboard community, but from St. John’s in general.
“Just being out around, cruising around the streets with a couple of the girls, you’ll always have a couple women standing by on the sidelines (shouting) ‘Woo! Go! Girl power!’” she said.
The COVID-19 pandemic provided a perfect opportunity for women, or anyone, to get into skateboarding, Barney said.
“A skateboard is something you can take out in front of your house, you can do it by yourself, it doesn’t matter if you’re in lockdown or anything. It’s still a hobby that’s sitting in your garage that you can go pick up and (say) ‘Yup. I’m going to go at this for a few hours,’” she said.
That being said, the combination of athleticism; physics (how much pressure to apply and where); and creativity (how to utilize the shapes in the landscape for tricks) can
“I’m not going to stop. Never.”
intimidate newcomers.
“You really have to put a lot of work into it if you want to get anywhere,” Burden said. “(But) it’s very rewarding. A lot of my friends say it’s also exponential growth, once you get over that big hump of learning the basics …”
“It’s smooth sailing,” Miller adds.
For other women interested in skateboarding, all six women had encouraging words and said not to hesitate to start a conversation or ask advice.
“Don’t let anything but your interests get in the way of what you want to do. Forget about everything else. If you’re interested, go for it,” Miller said.
One girl who needs little encouragement, however, is nine-year-old Ruby Jean Noah.
After finding a skateboard at her mom’s house, she took it outside. Her father, Danny Noah, skateboarded when he was younger and bought a new one for himself so they could skateboard together.
By now, Ruby has started doing things her father is reluctant to try, like dropping into the bowls at Mundy Pond Skatepark, where they held her last birthday party.
“That was awesome. We had a band playing and everything. It was like a competition. There was a girl’s competition. In the mini-bowl, I dropped in and pumped around,” she said. “I went down the big ramp and I did a kick turn off the bigger bowl.
“I’m not going to stop. Never.”
Ruby Jean Noah