SHE WAS A SKATER GIRL
- likeagirlmagazine
- May 8, 2019
- 5 min read
Girl Skate Gang Notts founders Maisie and Ellie chat about how they created a community of badass females dominating the Nottingham skate scene.
The founders of Girl Skate Gang Notts are two empowering skater girls who used their love of the sport to create a platform that cheers on the skating queens of Nottingham. From kickturns to dropping in the bowl for the first time, the members of this growing girl power community will always have your back. With a fun and inspiring Instagram page showcasing clips and progress updates of female skate gang members of all ages, the GSGNotts is a fresh take on normalising women in sport. Like a Girl sits down with Maisie and Ellie for a chat about the truth of what it means to be a female skater.
From creating GSGNotts to the support and time you put into cheering on the community of female skaters in Nottingham, it is clear you’re both extremely passionate about skating –– When did you first fall in love with skateboarding?
E: Being around it constantly and having an interest in the culture only encouraged me more to start. Once I started, I loved it immediately and that has only grown the more I have skated.
M: I found my love for skating very early on in life through admiration for its surrounding culture, such as the music, art and fashion. I grew up fuelled by my enthusiasm for the 80s/90s/2000s skate culture thanks to my parents and their taste in it. I bought a second board last summer after being inspired by the influx of friends I had who skated and seeing the passion, joy and energy they had for skating was really exciting. Being able to skate brought a rush of enthusiasm and love, and it’s still the same for me now, almost a year later. It’s a love that keeps on growing as I keep progressing.
In today’s world it is still very challenging being a female trying to progress in a sport she is told is not for girls. What is it really like being a female skater when skateboarding is perceived as such a male dominated sport?
E: It’s wonderful in itself but it is also quite empowering. It seems no one expects a girl to do such an extreme sport and enjoy it but here we all are doing exactly that and loving every minute of it.
M: I thought I had a lot to prove, to show to the guys that I wasn’t just here for the aesthetic and genuinely was committed to bettering myself as a skater. I felt an immense amount of pressure to not come across as a poser, but actually that pressure never came from anyone within the scene, it was a pressure that I generated for myself. I’ve never had anything but love and support from all the male skaters I meet, at every park they’re always willing to give tips and cheer you on. What also surprised me was how many females skate, I think in the general public it’s certainly seen as a male dominated sport, and it is true to an extent, but there is way more girls in the scene than what many people seem to think. If anything, any stick I get about being a female skater is always external to the community and comes from random strangers in the street who are surprised to see a girl skating.
What first inspired you both to start the Girl Skate Gang Notts?
M: I’ve worked in a skate shop for a couple of years now and a few months after getting my board I felt like there was a gap in the community for bringing together and encouraging more female skaters. Me and Ellie both got together and brain stormed what we could do to support the scene more and that’s how the Instagram was born. There were a couple of girl skate pages around the UK which inspired us, mainly RWTG Leeds, Wait Hold My Hand Manchester and GirlSkateUK. We saw the way they posted clips from girls skating, held skate events, trips and showed endless love and support for their local girls and wanted to do the same for Nottingham which has quite a big skate scene.
E: Since doing so the skate community has grown tremendously and the best part is that the majority have been ladies! All of which we have had the pleasure to support and showcase!
Many skateparks across the UK are now hosting ladies only skate nights, including the popular Flo Skatepark in Nottingham. What is your opinion on girls only skate nights?
E: I think they’re a great opportunity for girls to meet other girls who are learning the same thing as them. I would encourage any lady to go down as they always supply a lovely atmosphere. Although I would also say don’t
just wait for ladies night to go skate, you should skate whenever you can no matter what. Show everyone what you’re made of –– male or female!
M: Ladies only nights have a lot of benefit for female skaters as many people do feel intimidated by the male dominated perception of the sport. Hosting a night specifically for females provides them with that space to begin getting into skate without the hesitation or fear that might be surrounding the male stigma of skating. Lots of girls feel that female only skate nights are a good way to meet other local girls who skate and introduce themselves to the scene in a gentle way.
GSGNotts shares so much empowering content celebrating the progress of female skaters by cheering each other on –– what’s your favourite thing about the girl skate community that you have created?
M: My favourite thing about the community is just being able to see everyone’s progress and how much people of any age, gender and background hype each other up.
E: I love the sense of we are all girls and we are all here to do the same thing and it’s extremely reassuring having that instant knowing of being on the same page.
M: We all get inspired and encouraged by one another which is such a nice feeling, we all know that just posting a 30 second clip of a trick may have taken hours, days or weeks of practice, dedication and hard slams. One lovely thing about the community is the number of friends you get, and the different places you can visit as skating is all about getting out there and enjoying yourself.
What advice do you have for any female skaters out there?
M: Just fucking go for it man. If you want to skate, there’s nothing to stop you but yourself.
E: Get stuck in! The possibilities –– especially when it comes to skating –– are limitless and the amount of love and support you will receive is endless. Do not ever care what people think of you. Do this for yourself and enjoy every second of it.
M: Skating is as mentally challenging as it is physically, it requires a lot of confidence, calculation and trust in yourself to land something new. Don’t feel afraid to ask for tips or help from people around you at a park, and don’t feel shy about skating in front of people. You have just as much right to learn something new as a beginner as they do as an experienced skater of 10 years, own your space and thrive in it.
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