Conversation with We Skate Soton
We are delighted to present an exclusive interview with the incredible members of We Skate Soton. This dynamic group has been shaking up the skateboarding scene in Southampton, igniting a passion for the sport and creating a welcoming community for skaters of all levels. Join us as we delve into their inspiring journey, explore their experiences, and uncover their vision for a vibrant skateboarding culture in their city.
Can you kindly introduce yourself and the group for us please?
Emily: Hi! I'm Emily, and I co-founded We Skate Soton with Amy back in 2021. We're an all-abilities group open to everybody and all types of wheels, and we're pretty well-known for being the loudest cheer crew at the park! Our crew is made up of skateboarders, longboarders, roller skaters, and inline skaters. We host 'official' meet-ups each month, but we've all become really close and tend to be out skating in smaller groups each weekend. Our aim is to make skateparks and skate spots feel safe and like a space where we belong. We want to have fun, learn together, and support each other in skating.
Amy: I’m Amy, one of the leaders of We Skate Soton! A skate crew from Southampton focused on making skateparks more accessible to people that may find them intimidating places to skate.
How did you both first come across Skateboarding?
Emily: I used to hang out with skaters when I was a teenager, and loved watching them skate, but it didn’t even cross my mind that I could try it. I think because I had only seen boys skate so I didn't think it was for girls. Fast forward 20 years and my friend asked if I fancied coming to a skateboard lesson with her, I said yes and just fell in love with it! The feeling after that lesson was amazing… I was buzzing!
Amy: I found a penny board abandoned by my studio, started using it to commute to work and then inspired a friend of mine to get himself a board and this in turn prompted me to get myself a ‘proper’ board too! I used to skate around my neighbourhood as a kid, but never tried any tricks beyond a pancake flip and a 0.7 second manual
What or who have been your inspirations in skateboarding?
Emily: Seeing my friends skate and push through mental barriers to get new learns makes my heart so happy! That’s what inspires me to push myself and be brave.
Amy: Tony Hawk, okay cliché but I did grow up with the PS and PS2 Games… I am also just a bit obsessed with women who shred in skirts and dresses. I live for it honestly, I love taking things traditionally seen as a ‘boys’ thing and twisting it in this way. My true inspirations though are my skate friends who constantly teach me new and exciting things!
What's the Southampton skate scene like?
Emily: Pretty good! Guildhall square in the city centre always has skaters rolling in it, so I feel like skating is really part of the city. The majority of people we’ve met have been friendly and are really excited to see more people discovering skating.
Amy: Overall good. It has got better though, with more skaters and more variety of skating. Back in 2019 I was shouted at by another woman for ‘mall grabbing’, so ironically I was put off the scene back then by another woman! I think my confidence in skating (and in general) has helped me break into the scene and lose the worry of feeling like I would be ridiculed for being a woman in skating. Most people I meet now are friendly, kind and excited about skating!
Can you tell us about the boom in female skateboarders in and around the Southampton area please? How has the scene grown and when did you start to notice a change?
Emily: When I first started skating almost 2 years ago I was actively seeking out more women to skate with… and couldn’t really find any! But now there’s so many! Each week we get a message from a new skater who wants to come skate with us which is amazing, and whenever we see women at skate parks we always get chatting to them. I think having the We Skate crew be around has helped people stick with skating, like perhaps they would have given it a go but then stopped, but having a gang of people to skate with motivates you to keep going.
Amy: It has been mad! I very rarely saw anyone other than men skating when I was starting out 4 years ago. I think the lockdown boom of skating really helped, not that covid is something that I remember fondly, but for some it enabled time to stop, and try new things like skating.
So how did the idea of We Skate Soton form? Can you tell us a bit about where the idea came from and how it has positively affected the shape of your local scene?
Amy: So, the origin story is that I started to skate, posted a few bits online and, I had an ex co-worker already part of skate Southampton. He asked if I wanted to join, and maybe run some beginner how to push skate lessons. After a few meetings, Skate Southampton asked if I wanted to run some girls/women’s meetups, aware that they were a majority of men, and felt that it probably wasn’t the place of a bunch of blokes to initiate such a thing. This is how I started up @GirlsSkateSoton, our original handle. I struggled to get things going, with concerns around covid initially, meetups being a concern with numbers at the beginning. Then as life picked up, I found it hard to put the time aside to skate and became anxious about the whole thing. I put a call out for help and met Anisa initially, who promoted the IG account as she skated the square frequently, she got 4 girls involved in the M3 Trophy and whilst Winchester won the lads event, the girls brought it home for Southampton. Sadly Anisa moved off to uni, so I needed more help! I’m crap at organising!! I met with a few people, and finally met the wonderful Emily, my partner in skate crime.
We discussed on the first night we met how we can make what we are doing more inclusive, as we thought there may be women aligned non-binary people that might feel put off by ‘girls’. So that’s where WeSkate came from. From the offset, it was a women led group with its roots in women’s skating. Our aim is to encourage primarily women, girls and those that are women aligned to join us for some fun skating adventures! As the community grew, we realised that to be an inclusive group (as was our aim), that men do belong with us. I firmly believe that skating with everyone is good for everyone, we learn so much from each other. Drawing lines between gender is very helpful in some cases i.e. girls and gender minority skate nights, they are really important places for many people to feel comfortable skating and to feel free to be themselves away from the male gaze, and escape the classic skateboard machismo energy many skate parks can get filled up with, there are some parks I just won’t bother with unless it’s a women’s event because of this.
We are still women led, and love to encourage women and non-binary people, we are open to anyone that respects these values. I firmly believe that we can all work together in this endeavour. So, our online presence has purposefully got a huge focus on women and LGBT+ people, as a way to combat the general majority favouring of cis-straight-male skaters online, as well as celebrating all levels of skating. We particularly love the beginner progression! The barriers to skating can be intimidation of this skilled sport as well as the gendered divide through stereotypes of ‘who’ can be a skater.
I can’t say for sure what impact we have had on the local scene, it’s hard to see from the outside perspective, but I do hope that we come across as fostering a community for anyone who loves to skate or wants to try out skating to feel able to join in!
Emily: I think Amy has covered it pretty thoroughly! I definitely thought at the start boys wouldn’t want to skate with us, but we’ve actually seen loads of men want to get involved and hear our experiences of being women in the skate scene. And I think it also helps make new people to the group feel more confident sometimes if they have their partner with them, so we didn’t want to turn anyone away. As long as you believe in our values then We Skate is for you!
I think Amy is being a bit too modest, I think we’ve had a really positive impact on the local scene, looking back and seeing how the group has grown in size in the past year and half is kind of mad! And we’ve had some lovely messages from people who have found us.
What’s next, this year and in the future?
Amy: Oh gosh so much! We are hoping to raise some funding to get some of our crew trained as instructors, so we can offer some proper beginner lessons. As well as gift people equipment (so we can break down some more accessibility barriers such as cost!) At some point we will be registering as a constituted community group so we can do this more formally!
We will have our 2nd birthday party in the autumn, and we are filling the summer with skate adventures! Who knows, one day there might be a We Skate Soton indoor park… Emily and I constantly joke about this!
Emily: We’ve got such big plans! I’m completely obsessed with building our community and breaking down barriers, and would love for We Skate to be my proper job one day. Myself and Amy are hoping to complete the Skateboard GB coaching qualification soon so we can offer lessons (there’s currently no women offering skate lessons in Southampton).
We’ve already gifted people some equipment, and we hope to be able to do this more.
Next up is registering as a CCG and then going from there! My huge end goal is to have our own indoor park, where we can offer a space to skate, lessons and other fun, community-centred things!
We’re mega excited about a summer filled with skating, because is there anything better?!
Now let's invite a few of your core group members into the conversation.
What does skateboarding mean to you?
Ida: For me, it's an opportunity to put everything else aside and just have fun. When you skate, it's like nothing else matters, you're 100% focused on the trick, line... whatever it is that you're doing. It's the best feeling.
Ben: I got my first skateboard when I was 7, so it’s meant a lot of different things to me over the years. Currently it mostly means two main things to me; it’s my main form of exercise, and it’s how I’ve made most of my friends since moving to Southampton and it’s the main shared interest I have with them. It’s given me a lot of resilience over the years as well and taught me that it’s fun to be pushed out of your comfort zone when overcoming the fear!
Lucy: I love being outdoors, so skateboarding is an amazing way to get outdoors with lovely friends. It’s always great seeing people push themselves in sports too as it encourages me to push harder in my sports.
What's the most rewarding thing about being part of We Skate Soton?
Ida: Hands down the community. We Skate Soton have been the biggest cheer squad. It's such a lovely eclectic mix of people from all walks of life, Skate style and ability. Everyone is your biggest supporter and it just feels like one big, silly family. Being a part of someone's journey whether that's seeing them drop in for the first time or helping someone land a certain trick, there's nothing quite like it.
Ben: The feeling of community and being part of a team for sure, everyone has been absolutely lovely and I’ve made some great friends through it. It’s made me a better skater too; skating with more experienced skaters has pushed me to try new things and I’ve probably made more progress in the last 6 or 7 months than the previous 5 years before joining.
Lucy: The most rewarding part is meeting so many different people that I wouldn’t have met if We Skate Soton didn’t exist.
Have you guys travelled to other places with skateboarding? If so where's been your favourite place?
Ida: I live a little further than most of the members, so I'm always on trains to meet ups. So far, we've done some mini trips to Bournemouth and Winchester with lots more on the horizon. My favourites have to be Prevail Jr in Bournemouth and Slades Farm.
Ben: Slades Farm in Dorset! I love super crusty 70’s parks because I’m really into the weird transition and layouts they tend to have, and going as a group was great. I can’t wait to go back!
Lucy: We went over to the Isle of Wight last summer to skate and a few of us cycled over. It was an incredible weekend cycling, skating and good vibes!
Do you feel safe in the Skate community and how?
Ida: Absolutely. Since skating with We Skate, I've never once felt uncomfortable, judged or self conscious in any way. I feel that generally, skateboarding has come such a long way in creating safe spaces for marginalised groups including women, people of colour and LGBTQIA+. We definitely embody that as a group and make a big effort in being as inclusive as possible by putting in that little bit of extra leg work so that everyone involved is welcome and safe.
Ben: Personally I’ve always found skaters to be super lovely, and have never felt unsafe as a part of the community. However, some skateparks definitely attract some unpleasant people. On my first visit to one of the city's parks someone tried to rob me, though they didn’t put much effort in! I feel like having well lit and open skateparks would solve a lot of the issues. That said, I definitely see that it’s not the same for everyone, and I’m sure it can be intimidating at times.
Lucy: I feel very safe. Before We Skate I would feel very uncomfortable in a skate park and nervous to try anything. The support of the group has made me feel more confident, I now sometimes skate in a park alone, which I would never have done before meeting We Skate!
Finally, if you had any advice for beginners getting into skateboarding what would it be?
Ida: It's all about having fun. Don't take yourself too seriously and don't feel like you have to have certain gear, Skate a certain way or live up to any standards. It's so easy to compare ourselves to others or feel self-conscious especially as adults. If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right.
Ben: Wear a helmet/pads, don’t be afraid to do your own thing (because if you think it’s cool then it totally is), and join a group of likeminded people and have fun with it!
Lucy: Practise and practise! Don’t worry if you feel silly as everyone was in the same boat with learning at the start! "