South African female skateboarders are carving out space in a growing sport
Women’s skateboarding in South Africa is steadily gaining momentum, with more girls taking up the sport and stronger community networks emerging.
The sport, which became an Olympic event at the Tokyo Games in 2021, has helped raise the profile of skateboarding globally.
In South Africa, those involved in the sport say the growth of women’s skateboarding has largely been driven by grassroots clubs, volunteers and community organisations. With limited funding and infrastructure, these groups have created safe spaces where girls can learn, train and compete.
While exact national participation figures are not available, Roller Sports South Africa said female participation is increasing, though women remain significantly underrepresented compared with men.
“We try to encourage girls to start, and we have a strong safeguarding policy,” said Roller Sports South Africa president Wendy Gila.
She said organised skateboarding clubs have grown over the past five to 10 years, allowing skaters to compete within World Skate structures while offering women the same competitive opportunities as men.
Asked whether the Olympics had significantly influenced the sport, Gila said the impact had mainly been seen in “the rules and people training hard to qualify”. Despite a gradual increase in participation, there were still “not nearly enough girls” competing at provincial and national level.
Alba Lingeveldt is part of South African’s growing community of female skateboarders. (Grant Mclachlan) According to Gila, accessibility, cultural beliefs and a lack of family support remain among the biggest barriers preventing more girls from entering the sport.
To help develop women in skateboarding, Roller Sports South Africa has hosted Olympic Solidarity women in skateboarding training programmes and trained female administrators who have gone on to chair clubs around the country.
The federation has also seen South African women reach significant milestones.
Gila pointed to Boipelo Awuah, who twice qualified for the Olympic Games, and Sharné Jacobs, who is being trained by World Skate as a coach, as examples of the sport’s progress.
For Awuah, now 20, skateboarding began by following in her older brother’s footsteps.
“I wanted to do everything my older brother did,” she said. “What has kept me going is honestly the challenge and how I am able to express myself through the sport. Being a quiet individual, it has helped me a lot.”
She believes women’s skateboarding has experienced rapid growth since the sport’s Olympic debut.
I had to go the extra mile and actually skate with the boys … to give other South African female skaters the same opportunity as the boys.
“There have been so many female skate groups and communities all over South Africa, which has contributed to that growth,” said Awuah.
But she acknowledged that gaining recognition required competing alongside boys and matching their standard.
“I had to go the extra mile and actually skate with the boys … to give other South African female skaters the same opportunity as the boys.”
Awuah encouraged young girls not to be discouraged by the male-dominated nature of the sport.
“Start because you enjoy it … and don’t feel intimidated by the boys.”
Across the country, community organisations are working to create spaces where women and girls feel welcome.
Melissa Bester, founder of Skate Smiles Club, said the initiative was inspired by women’s skateboarding organisations abroad that showed how supportive environments could encourage participation.
“We had already been doing our monthly women’s skate nights for a few years, so starting Skate Smiles Club was a way for us to do even more events and projects,” said Bester.
“There are so many young girls skating and the level is really high. There are lots of community groups for females all over South Africa that are providing safe, encouraging spaces for women and girls to learn.”
Despite this, Bester said many skateparks remain intimidating for beginners.
“The spaces are still very male dominated and it’s really hard to come into that space as a beginner. As a female, you feel like you stand out even more.”
Bester also explained that success in competitions is judged on more than simply landing tricks. Judges assess competitors on their overall impression, taking into account the difficulty and variety of tricks, execution, style, use of the course, flow and consistency throughout a run.
She believes the sport will become more inclusive as more women enter it, but said female-focused activities at competitions and events could accelerate that change.
Among the organisations contributing to that growth is The Skate School Academy in Randburg, which says about 70% of its athletes are girls.
Founder Shayne Robinson believes girls were always interested in skateboarding but often lacked welcoming spaces to develop.
“I don’t think girls suddenly discovered skateboarding. I think skateboarding finally stopped chasing them away,” he said. “For a long time, a girl who wanted to skate had to walk into a park full of boys, be the worst one there in front of an audience, and keep coming back,” said Robinson.
He said creating an environment where beginners felt comfortable had changed participation dramatically.
“Once one girl stays, her friends come. Then her sister comes. Then her mother asks whether she is too old to try.”
Robinson believes South Africa has the talent to compete internationally but lacks the infrastructure needed to support athletes.
“Since skateboarding became an Olympic sport the rest of the world has poured money into concrete parks, coaching structures and pathways for young skaters,” he said.
“Here, most of our skaters are riding whatever their community managed to build itself.”
He said despite limited resources, South African skateboarders continue to excel because of their determination.
“Our kids skate because they love it, in the face of every reason not to. Give this generation of South African girls’ proper facilities and consistent coaching and they will compete internationally.”