Sports

Shred like a girl: Ann Arbor program encourages girls to pick up a skateboard

Michigan Public | By Isabella Isaacs-Thomas

Published September 24, 2019 at 6:08 PM EDT

Lucy, an instructor with All Girls Skate

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Lucy Cassell, 14, is an instructor with the program. She says that when she first started skating, she was usually the only girl at the park. But she says All Girls Skate has helped change that.

Josh Hakala / Michigan Radio

Quynh, a young skater, holding her board, decorated in blue and purple deck tape

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Quynh Song, 9, says that she enjoys the freeform structure of All Girls Skate and how instructors are willing to help skaters learn new skills. “I like how you can just cruise around and do all these tricks and stuff.” ";s:

April Van Buren / Michigan Radio

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At four years old, Izzy is one of the youngest members of All Girls Skate. Her father, Chuck, is an avid skater and says he values being able to share the sport with his daughter.

April Van Buren / Michigan Radio

Crystle Gale-Partington helping Izzy skate.

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Crystle Gale-Partington, left, is on the board of the Ann Arbor Skatepark. She says it’s been “amazing” to watch the girls learn new moves and tricks.";s:3:

Josh Hakala / Michigan Radio

a group of young girls and one adult woman holding skateboards and posing for the camera.

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All Girls Skate invites girls of all ages and experience to come together and practice skateboarding. Above, a group of participants at the Ann Arbor Skatepark in early September.

April Van Buren / Michigan Radio

Skateboarding has long been associated with graffiti-covered parks and Vans-clad teenage boys, but a program at the Ann Arbor Skatepark is working to change that stereotype.

a moving image of a man helping a young girl skateboard — Dug Song helps skater Lucy Hakala practice her moves in the bowl.

Since 2014, All Girls Skate has encouraged women and girls of all ages to gather at the park twice a month and skate together. The program offers newcomers the instruction and equipment they need to get started for free.

The program runs on the second and fourth Sundays of each month starting in June and ending whenever the fall weather gets too chilly.

Stateside’s Bella Isaacs-Thomas dropped by the skatepark earlier this month to talk to some of the skaters, and see them in action.

Click through the slideshow above to see the All Girls Skate crew learning to shred.

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