PROgress

This is a delicate time for women’s skateboarding. As traditional avenues for girls and women to progress the sport dwindle, there is great potential for those within it to truly nurture its GROwth.

The community dedicated to promoting girls’ skateboarding is full of individuals with good intentions and passionate efforts.

Let’s look at some of the successes these passion projects have had: GRO has given the gift of skateboarding to hundreds of young girls all over the country with learn-to-skate workshops, The Alliance influenced ESPN to give equal prize money for men’s and women’s divisions at the X-Games, Silly Girl has given up-and-coming girls the opportunity to travel and compete, AGSJ has created girls contests for over a decade, SLAG promotes growth at a local level, MAHFIA provides a media outlet,  The Side Project brings these successes to light…

Needless to say this is a condensed list of both organizations and their victories.

Each of these organizations was formed under the same pretense: to support the progress of women’s skateboarding. So let’s all give one another a pat on the back and continue moving forward. There are still loopholes that need to be filled, weaknesses that need to be strengthened and legitimacy that needs to be earned.

Whatever the focus, whether it’s supporting PRO, flow, PRO-AM, shop flow, WCS ranked, AM, Grom or a skateboard mom, let’s not get hung up on labels. They are all women and girls who love to ride their skateboards almost to a fault so let’s focus on positivity and most importantly unify our efforts to continue to move forward.