1999. I’d just upgraded from my Dragon Wheels fishtail set-up (Pink wheels, pink trucks, and Vikings fighting an orange dragon on the back. I’m going to need you to put some respect on that), and I was now pushing around an egg-shaped ‘proper’ board from Argos. I had a crew (Hold tight Axel/BIAS) we ran the suburbs of North Bristol, were definitely the best, and only got caught shoplifting a few times.
This was post-tiny wheels and big trousers, and pre-Jackass. A simpler time.
The only thing was, I was the only girl. In general this didn’t matter that much, but just like everyone it’s always nice to have other people that look like you, doing the same thing. Especially if you’re an 11-year-old girl in a heavily male dominated subculture. I figured I was the only one that skated in Bristol, and maybe there were some pros but probably not. Then Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater came out and…THERE IS A GIRL THAT SKATES AND SHE’S GOOD AND PRO AND WAA. Seeing clips of Elissa Steamer blew my tiny mind, and suddenly I realised that other women do skate, and once you get that 56K modem sorted you can find others who do too.
Fast forward 20 years. Chain wallets have somehow made a comeback, I still push off mongo (just push off yeah, that’s all. The rest is fine), and being a female skater can be a legitimate career (well if comps start paying us the same). The percentage of girls at spots and parks has tripled, and we were invited to watch the premier of Gizmo! The first all female skate film created by Nike featuring Lacy Baker. Leticia Bufoni. Hayley Wilson, Sarah Meurie, Josie Millard, Nicole Hause, Aori Nishimura, Rayssa Leal, and of course Elissa Steamer whose nickname the title is named after. The premier was held at Roofeast in Stratford during SLS, so not only were the featured pros at the event, about 10 to 700* other pros were there too. A lot of head exploding and fanning ensued.
*give or take, the drinks were free.
The free food and drink was a touch one week before payday let me tell ya. The mini golf, baseball and basketball made me feel like we were all on a 1950s date, but with your drunken mates who had work the next morning.
To be honest, apart from a different choice of a haircut not much has changed in my 20 years; the female skate scene on the other hand has grown experientially. To be able to watch some of the best female skaters in the world finally get their recognition and props was not only exciting, it was hugely satisfying to witness. The whole night felt like others were finally getting what we’d all known along, skateboarding is skateboarding regardless of whose pushing. It wasn’t just ‘good for girls’, it was good because it was a video full of legends and highly skilled new pros.
Of course being in the same building as Alexis Sablone and half the Nike team had me shook all night, but it was genuinely a fantastic night. Whilst more drinking than skating was done it, it felt good to be part of such a growing and strong scene, and I can only hope Gizmo will be the first of many.
