Here's the story featured in the CB magazine....I wrote it and am sharing. This summer's group is insane, off the richter! I will get some photos up soon.
Having celebrated the birth of our local women’s skateboard group (a.k.a. the Crested Butte Women’s skateboard Club), I was ecstatic to be asked to write about it. These ladies rip. And, our instructors are just as awesome. So here’s how the story begins.
As the mother of three boys, I’ve spent countless hours at the super sweet Crested Butte skateboard park. Crank’s Tank to be exact. The scene (and it is a “scene”) is usually something along these lines: moms, girlfriends and/or girls that are friends sit on the bleachers watching while dads, boyfriends, friends that are boys, and sons skate. Not so often, a fearless female will jump into the mix. Most times, this female is some spirited little girl who hasn’t realized that she is an anomaly in the world of skateboarding. One glorious day this past summer, while I was camped out on the bleachers watching my sons attempt to skateboard, that daring little girl showed up. Watching her was inspiring. I dreamed about my younger days of skateboarding, half pipes and Black Flag. Why was I sitting here? Why were we all sitting here?
I phoned Dave White at the Air Up There that afternoon, and posed the idea of a woman’s skateboard clinic. He was thrilled and made immediate time for us. Now, it was the women that I had to convince. I made several calls to women who might be willing to go out on a limb. A few jumped in right away, while several others were very intimidated by the whole idea. I could tell that there hearts were in it but their rational, defensive minds were winning the battle (concrete, wheels, ramps, bowls, people pointing fingers, peopling laughing, etc.). A number of these ladies worked through their fears and began encouraging each other to find that heroic, youthful person inside of themselves. Before we knew it we had a solid unit. Our unit consisted mainly of mothers with a few other gals we nicknamed “aunties”. The average age fell somewhere around 34. We were pumped, exceptionally nervous, and ready for day one of our adult skateboard lives.
Day one of the CB Women’s Skateboard Club can be summed up in three words: hysterical, painful, and empowering. The majority of the women who arrived on day one had never stepped on a skateboard, therefore our instructors Dave White and Jason Erickson started at square one. The sight was surreal. There were falls, spills, screams, blood, and flying skateboards. I am sure the neighbors and nearby businesses wondered what was going on as the laughter grew thunderous. The girls supported each other cheering as each mom or auntie advanced. We took turns nursing each others wounds, some worse than others. Dave and Jason appeared a bit surprised at the determination these crazy women possessed. After one lesson, the women were carving and riding the pyramid. It was fantastic! As I watched the girls leave, one by one, they all appeared a few inches taller. They were definitely empowered. Dave and Jason made us feel like we ruled the park. The lessons continued and these tough women progressed. We all had beautiful scabs and bruises to prove our efforts. We were official.
On our last day of instruction, to my astonishment (as well as Dave and Jason’s, I assume), every member of the CB Women’s Skateboard Club was rolling into the big bowl at the park. If at the beginning of our lessons I’d told the women that they would be able to do this or, even better, that they wouldn’t be scared to do this, they would have deemed me insane. Our sons, daughters, spouses, boyfriends, and friends came out to the park to check us out and root us on. Our audience gasped at the falls, wanting to help but knowing not to. Their jaws dropped as we got up, shook it off, and got back on our boards. I saw the pride and affection in daughters and sons eyes as they gazed up at their totally hip moms and their mom’s awesome girlfriends.
I am unbelievably proud of these gutsy Crested Butte women. These ladies gave themselves up to something that left them completely vulnerable. There were “naysayers” along the way and the potential for embarrassment was huge. But, they went after it, grew into sick skate bettys and in the process became exceptional role models for their children and the other children in the park. Like I said before, these women rip.