I have always had skateboarding in my blood but quarantine has thrown me into a deep borderline obsession with the sport. I wake up and check clips on Instagram until my partner complains about the sound. I started creeping and following any women with a remote connection to the sport.
I didn’t realize how queer and female badass the women’s side of the sport is. I guess when I was I was younger, the exposure alone was extremely limited. Growing up in Boston didn’t help. The cold winters and lifestyle is just not the same as Southern California. I fantasized about life on the opposite coast. A place where action sports were as common as the crew or lacrosse team (those sports probably aren’t even a thing there).
Watching the first major skate film dedicated to women Getting Nowhere Faster feating the OG girl skate crew Villa Villa Cola was nostalgic. I felt like I was just like the girls in the film, even the same age. I wonder if I was born in Southern California, would I have been part of this crew? I hope so.
At the age of 34, I am still a teenage fan girl for these ladies. I remember when I was younger watching them in their prime, on the 10 minutes the X-Games would dedicate to recapping the woman’s events. Times haven’t changed much for the exposure of female action sports on primetime, but at least we have YouTube now.