She Can Skate MCR

Inspiring young women in skateboarding across Greater Manchester

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Skate Stories 59 and 60!

WE DID IT!!! We aimed to share 60 Skate Stories over the second year of our Girls Skateboarding Initiative, we have manage just that, and we couldn’t be prouder of all the young women involved. 

This week we are sharing two more amazing Skate Stories, by Toju and Atikah. These two gained their Silver Community Reporter certificate by creating a short story documenting their journey learning skateboarding so far. They have each taken part in the 12-week after-school programme and have learned a range of skills alongside learning to skateboard.

They both worked together to devise a series of questions to help form the narrative to their video, filmed each other doing some skateboarding, and created their own individual videos. 

Skate Story 30: Atikah’s Story

Skate Story 31: Toju’s Story

We might be quiet on the blog for a while now, but look out for more news and Skate Stories in the future. 

For the latest updates you can follow us on Twitter.

Thanks for following our blog and supporting young women in Manchester to skateboard, learn new skills, tackle gender stereotypes and get their voices heard!

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Skate Stories 57-58:

We’re nearing the end of our collection of Skate Stories! Over the past two years we have worked with over 300 girls and young women, and 77 of those have taken part in Community Reporter and media training.

Here, four Year 7 students share their skateboarding journeys using comic strips and video. They made these videos themselves using new camera and storytelling skills...

Skate Story 57:

Here is Maisha and Minahil’s story.

Skate Story 58:

Here is Zorah and Mya’s story.

Check back next week for more Skate Stories!

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Case Studies: Isabella and Tulsi

Isabella and Tulsi have been taking part in the Girls Skateboarding Initiative for just over a year now and are two of our longest engaging participants. They each took part in a short interview about how the project has impacted their lives.

Skate Story 55 - Isabella’s Story:

Isabella is a Year 9 student at a school in Manchester. She first engaged in the Girls Skateboarding Initiative via a skateboarding and personal development programme at her school, and has now been engaging for almost one year by attending and an after school club. She was reluctant to try it at first and is often fearful of trying new sports, but now she is really enjoying it.

Isabella says that coming along to the sessions has helped with her confidence and she also loves having the chance to meet and socialise with new people. This is one of the reasons she keeps coming to the after-school club.

“I have learned to get a bit more confident in myself and socialise a bit more with other people. I like the after-school club. During lessons when we had the sessions and learned different skills, but now we can have a club after school it means we can just free skate and learn new things and still keep in contact with each other. Because in the lessons we had, we are all in different classes and different years so it’s kind of sad to not do the lessons anymore because we don’t have time to go and say like, ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ or ‘How was skateboarding?’ and ‘I’ll see you in the sessions.’ So, having the after school club it’s nice to see every one again.”

She has visited Projekts MCR before but hasn’t been able to go recently due to some difficulties with transport and travel, but she hopes to go again in the future and continue on her skateboarding journey.

Skate Story 56 - Tulsi’s Story:

Tulsi is a Year 9 student at at school in Manchester. She first engaged in the Girls Skateboarding Initiative via a skateboarding and personal development programme at her school, and has now been engaging for almost one year by attending both summer holiday programmes and an after-school club. She was hesitant to try it out at first because she felt anxious about having to skateboard on ‘massive ramps’.

However, now she’s a regular attendee and she has learned a lot from the programme, particularly that everyone makes mistakes sometimes.

She hasn’t had a chance to visit Projekts MCR yet because she lives far away, but she hopes to access it in the future. She reflected that she would like to continue skateboarding, but she needs some safety equipment and her own board in order to do this, but if possible she’d love to keep at it!

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More Visits to Projekts MCR!

Here are more fantastic videos made entirely by young women documenting their first ever visits to Projekts MCR. Not only did the girls all learn to skateboard for the first time during their visit, they demonstrated their new-found camera and vlogging skills too. Thanks to the Manchester Youth Zone for supporting these young people to take part.

Skate Story 52: Ese’s Story

Skate Story 53: Oke’s Story

Skate Story 54: Ruby’s Story

Well done to everyone in involved!

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Skate Stories 48-51: Our Experiences of Skateboarding

The following case studies were collected during a visit by students to Projekts MCR. The students, all from MEA Central (Manchester Enterprise Academy Central) have all been engaging in skateboarding at their school. Some joined the after-school skateboarding and personal development programme approximately 10 months ago, while others are newcomers who have recently started attending the after-school club.

Skate Story 48: Alex

Alex has been attending the after-school skate club.

“I have only been skateboarding for about 5 weeks but I am really enjoying it. I like learning all the new tricks and it makes me feel more confident. When we first went down the ramps I was really scared, but now I can do it on my own!”

She found out about the project from her friend Rishada, who attended a skateboarding and personal development programme via school and still attends the after-school club. Alex reflected that she came along because Rishada asked her but talked about how not many of the girls she knows take part in sports activities.

“I am not sure why more boys tend to skateboard than girls. But I do think not as many girls do sports activities as boys and it is good to give girls the same amount of sports lessons as boys.”

Before she took part in the sessions, Alex said she felt nervous about skateboarding, but that she feels more confident now she has tried it out.

“Before I came to the skateboarding club I was really nervous. I had only tried it once or twice but I always fell off. Now, I still feel a little bit nervous but I’m not really nervous.”

Alex has really enjoyed learning to skateboard. She said she plans to stick at her new hobby and maybe one day will attend Girls Night at Projekts in the future!

 Skate Story 49: Bailey

Bailey has been attending the after-school skate club. She considers herself fairly sporty, but hadn’t tried skateboarding before this project. However, now she is really enjoying the sessions and has discovered a new hobby.

“I used to do gymnastics and now I do swimming and I’ve also tried dance. I’ve been skateboarding for about… not very long. Just a couple of months. It’s really fun and something nice to after school. I like it because you can meet different people and I like learning new tricks. It’s cool to learn new tricks because if you have a skateboard at home you can practice at home and show family members and it’s just nice to be able to do something that you like.”

Despite never having tried skateboarding before, and having only been skateboarding for ‘a couple of months’, Bailey has enjoyed herself so much that she now has a skateboard of her own and regularly practices at home. She says she will definitely keep skateboarding in the future and would like to come to Girls Night one day, although at the moment it clashes with her swimming lessons!

Bailey feels like offering skateboarding sessions for girls only is a really good idea.

“Sometimes boys are more confident than girls and most of the time boys just do something but sometimes girls hesitate a bit because they are not sure if they will be able to do it. But these lessons give girls more confidence and they will know that they can do stuff if they just try.”

 Skate Story 50: Humariaa

Humariaa is a Year 8 student who first started the project ten months ago by engaging in a skateboarding and personal development programme after school. She had never tried skateboarding before and when she started the project she originally said that, although she was enjoying herself, she wasn’t sure if she would continue skateboarding.

“I’m enjoying doing it here, but I don’t think I will carry on with it. I think will probably just lose interest. I think it will get harder as it goes so I probably won’t be able to do it and I won’t want to do it.”

However, ten months later, Humariaa is still attending her skateboarding after-school club and recently visited Projekts skate park with her school. She now says that skateboarding has helped to develop her confidence.

“I like that it boosts my confidence and it’s really cool being able to go that fast! Being able to do it just makes me feel good. And it’s kind of scary but I don’t find it that hard any more.”

Humariaa said that, although she was nervous about trying skateboarding originally, she gave it a chance as she was able to come along with her school friends – one of the benefits of the programme being offered in schools.

“I only decided to come along because it was an activity that I was able to do with all my friends. I hadn’t really thought about skateboarding before. I just thought it would be too hard and scary.”

She said she enjoyed visiting Projekts because it gave her a chance to try out the ramps, which is something she wouldn’t be able to do in school, and she is looking forward to continuing to skateboard in the future and hopefully visiting Projekts again!

 Skate Story 51: Abeeha  

Abeeha has been attending the after-school skate club. She has been skateboarding for a few months and the Girls Skateboarding Project has reignited her interest in skateboarding. Abeeha used to have a skateboard, which someone gave her as a gift, but she lost interest when she had no one to teach her how to use it. However, now that she has taken part in some after-school sessions she is really enjoying herself.

“It’s helped me to get more confident and not be scared that just because I’m a girl I can’t do certain sports like skateboarding, so it’s really boosted my confidence.”

Abeeha has faced some criticisms from boys about skateboarding, but has also had some really positive comments from onlookers as well.

“At school we also have the boys doing football next to us and sometimes they shout at comments and that, but it’s fine. I find it really nice as well because people say just because you’re a girl doesn’t mean you can’t skateboard.”

She thinks that it’s really important that Projekts are able to offer sessions for girls only, and reflected that, when she has visited skate parks they are mainly accessed by boys.

“I think it’s important for Projekts to do these sessions because in a lot of skate parks you don’t really see that many girls and if the girls want to skateboard they don’t really feel that confident because there’s not much of their gender there, so with these sessions girls are getting more confident to skate and they will just like it more because they can start to enjoy it and learn new things.”

Abeeha is hoping to continue skateboarding in the future, and is feeling so much more confident in her abilities that she’s keen to start showing off her new skills soon.

“I’m definitely going to carry on. And I’m going to start riding my skateboard out in public as well!”

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Our Experiences of Sport (A Young Women’s Perspective)

The following videos were made by young women at Reclaim Rochdale as part of their Community Reporter training. During the course we chatted a lot about gender labelling and stereotyping and how the group felt women in sport are portrayed - subjects that are a key part of the Girls Skateboarding Initiative. 

Skate Story 47: Our Experiences and Opinions about Sport as Young Women in Rochdale

The group decided to create their own interview videos with questions that they formed themselves, and their responses were really interesting! Take a look!

Our Personal Experiences of Participating in Sports

In this video, the group interview each other about their experiences of taking part in sports as young women growing up in Rochdale. It’s interesting to hear about their experiences of playing football or basketball, and of sometimes being prevented taking part in particular activities.

Perceptions of Strong Women in Sports

In this video, the group talk about how they feel women in sports are portrayed and perceived in comparison to men in sports. Several of the group have noticed that women receive less media attention than men, and that, due to this, they can’t always name female sports stars despite being able to name their male counterparts.

Gender Labels and Stereotypes

In this final video, the group talk about expectations for girls and women in society from behaviours to clothing, and how they feel about these preconceptions, labels and expectations. 

This is the last of our videos from Reclaim Rochdale - what a talented bunch! We’ll be back next week with more Skate Stories... so keep an eye out every Friday for a new blog post from our young people.

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Skate Stories 44 - 46: Videos by our new Community Reporters from Reclaim Rochdale

Here are more stories from our Reclaim Rochdale group - if you haven’t seen our previous two posts then go back and have a look because the Skate Stories shared by this group are great!

After learning Community Reporter skills from Quina at GMYN, this group of young women from Reclaim Rochdale went on a visit to Projekts MCR to have a taster day of skateboarding at the wooden and concrete skate parks alongside coaches Cath and Thurston. Here are the last few vlogs that were created on the day.

Skate Story 44: Mel’s Vlog

In this video, Mel captures the journey of Reclaim youth worker Izzy as she tries out skateboarding for the first time with encouragement from all the young people.

Skate Story 45: Shayan’s Vlog

In this video, Shayan films herself and her friends on their first ever day at the skate park where they all overcome their nerves and try out skateboarding for the first time. 

Skate Story 46: Hope’s Vlog

In this video, Hope shows us her first ever visit to Projekts MCR where she tries out skateboarding alongside some professional coaches.

Check back next week for more Skate Stories from Rochdale - the young women have made some brilliant interview videos about their experiences in sport, and media representation of women, and we can’t wait to share them with you! 

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Skate Stories 41 - 43: Videos by our new Community Reporters from Reclaim Rochdale

Here are more stories from our Reclaim Rochdale group - if you haven’t seen Amina, Areesha and Debbie’s vlogs in last week’s post then go back and have a look! 

After learning Community Reporter skills from Quina at GMYN, this group of young women from Reclaim Rochdale went on a visit to Projekts MCR to have a taster day of skateboarding at the wooden and concrete skate parks alongside coaches Cath and Thurston. Here are some of their vlogs that they created on the day.

Skate Story 41: Fatima’s Vlog

In this video, Fatima vlogs her journey throughout the day, talking us through the tricks she has learned as they progress in difficulty! 

Skate Story 42: Madison’s Vlog

In this video, Madison shows us how she overcomes her fears and has a great time at the skate park, despite being a little nervous and unsure at the start of the session.

Skate Story 43: Maham’s Vlog

In this video, Maham shows us how she and her friends got on during their first ever visit to Projekts MCR and their first time trying out skateboarding.

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Skate Stories 38 - 40: Videos by our new Community Reporters from Reclaim Rochdale

We were so impressed with this amazing group of young women from Reclaim Rochdale and we are super excited to be sharing their videos with you over the next few weeks.

This particular group had never tried skateboarding before, but they all gave it a go with enthusiasm, even though a lot of them were overcoming nerves. The group worked with Quina from GMYN on an intensive 2-day Community Reporter course, working hard throughout their weekend to learn new media and storytelling skills. They then went on a visit to Projekts MCR to have a taster day of skateboarding at the wooden and concrete skate parks alongside coaches Cath and Thurston. And they all did amazingly well! 

Here are their vlogs that they created on the day.

Skate Story 38: Amina’s Vlog

In this video, Amina overcomes her nerves and tries skateboarding for the first time. She learns that even when you fall you can get back up and try again, and in the end she had a great time!

Skate Story 39: Areesha’s Vlog

In this video, Areesha films her friends during their first ever visit to Projekts MCR. She displays great interview and presenter skills as she captures their journeys throughout the day!

Skate Story 40: Debbie’s Vlog

In this video, Debbie tries skateboarding for the first time with a positive and enthusiastic attitude. She films the day as she and her friends take part in a taster day and reflects on her learning at the end with her new best friend - her skateboard!

We’ve got loads more videos from Reclaim Rochdale to share with you so check back next week for more amazing Skate Stories!

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“If I’m sad I can think about skateboarding and just imagine that I’m flying...”

Skate Story 37: Shereese’s Experience

Before taking part in the Girls Skateboarding Initiative at her school, Shereese suffered with low confidence and negative thoughts. She says that taking part has made her much happier and more confident. Here is Shereese’s Skate Story told in her own words.

We’re so glad to hear about the fantastic and positive impact that this project has had on this particular young person. 

Next week, we’ll be sharing more Skate Stories. These ones will be from young women at Reclaim Rochdale who recently tried skateboarding for the first time when they came to a taster day at Projekts MCR. They did a fantastic job making their videos and we can’t wait to share their stories with you over the next couple of weeks, so check back next Friday for more Skate Stories!

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Stereotypes and Media Representation in Skateboarding

The Girls Skateboarding Initiative aims to tackle stereotypes and negative perceptions in sports, particularly those stereotypes and negative perceptions that exist about female skateboarders or that may prevent young women from engaging in skateboarding.

We’ve had some really interesting chats with young women this week about what they think a ‘stereotypical’ skateboarder looks like. The group were keen to point out that, these thoughts don’t necessarily reflect their own views about skateboarders, but this is how they feel skateboarders are often portrayed in the mainstream media. We talked about cartoon stereotypes of badly-behaved characters and how Bart Simpson uses a skateboard, and we talked about how skateboarders can sometimes be portrayed as lazy... even though they are, in reality, taking part in a difficult and skill-based extreme sport! 

What was particularly interesting was that both of the groups we worked with this week, when asked to draw a skateboarder, both drew a male! They said they automatically drew a male character ‘without thinking’ despite taking part in a project engaging only young women in skateboarding. 

Here is one of the images drawn by one of the groups, reflecting how they believe skateboarders are portrayed:

Some of the labels associated with this character were about their image and appearance - such as tattoos, piercings, wearing baggy clothing, a backwards baseball cap and gold chains - and some were about their attitudes and values. They used the terms ‘2Cool4School’ and talked about them being portrayed as truanting or having rude attitudes, and also felt they were associated stereotypically with smoking or vaping and drinking alcohol.

All of the young people taking part in the project are hoping they can tackle this stereotype, and we certainly hope we are breaking down these negative perceptions of skateboarders! 

For more talk of stereotypes, here’s a video made by young women on the project about a ‘stereotypical female skateboarder’:

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We recently worked with some fantastic young women from Reclaim Rochdale. The Reclaim Project is a project for young working class people across Greater Manchester, and the Rochdale Girls Group recently participated in the Girls Skateboarding Initiative and made some brilliant skateboarding videos. We can’t wait to share their videos with you but, while their footage is all still in the “editing room”, here are some photos from their day at Projekts MCR!

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More Skate Stories from Young Women In Oldham

Here are 3 more Community Reporter Stories from young women in Oldham who got involved in skateboarding via a project at their school. 

Skate Story 34: Sophie’s Story

Skate Story 35: Ashleigh’s Story

Skate Story 36: Rachel’s Story

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Our Skate Stories: Young People in Oldham

Here are some more Skate Story videos made by young women who got involved in the skateboarding project via their school.

Skate Story 30: Our Group Story (Oldham)

Skate Stories 31 - 33: Our Experiences of Skateboarding (Group Interview)

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My Visit to Projekts MCR: Dania’s Story

This week’s story is by Dania who gained her Silver Community Reporter certificate by creating a story vlog documenting her first visit to Projekts MCR, which she took part in with her school. We hope you enjoy it!

Skate Story 29: Dania’s Story

Check back next week for some new skate stories from Oldham!

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My Visit to Projekts MCR: Rishada’s Story

This week’s story is by Rishada who gained her Silver Community Reporter certificate by creating a story vlog documenting her first visit to Projekts MCR, which she took part in with her school. We are really proud of Rishada’s hard work that went into creating this video, and we hope you enjoy it!

Skate Story 28: Rishada’s Story

Check back next week for another skate story vlog!

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Skate Story 27: Stereotypes and Perceptions of Female Skateboarders

We worked with a group of young women at MEA Central to explore gender stereotypes in sports and perceptions of female skateboarders. 

Before joining the after-school skate programme at their school, none of these young women had taken part in skateboarding previously, and most of them didn’t know any female skateboarders. We think this made their responses very interesting.

All of the videos in this article were made by young women as part of the project who, alongside learning to skateboard and learning life skills, also learnt some vlogging and Community Reporter skills as part of the project.

How would you describe a stereotypical female skateboarder?

A lot of the young women mentioned a distinctive appearance, talking about female skateboarders wearing baggy or “boy’s clothes”, and having tattoos, piercings and dyed hair. Some also mentioned that they thought female skateboarders were brave, confident and maybe a bit rebellious! Take a look...

How do you think male skateboarders perceive female skateboarders?

It was sad to hear that several of the young women felt that female skateboarders may be perceived as weak, attention-seeking and not as good as male skateboarders. Take a look...

Having taken part in the skateboarding project, how do you now view female skateboarders?

Finally, the young women talked about female skateboarders being cool and confident with a positive can-do attitude. We hope this reflects how some of these young women now see themselves, because that’s certainly how we see them! Take a look at their final video below... 

This part of the project has been really interesting as one of the aims of this project and the Levelling the Field Comic Relief fund is to challenge gender stereotypes in sports and raise aspirations and confidence of female sports participants.

That’s all for this week, but we have loads more videos to share with you so check back for more Skate Stories every Friday!