Girls SK8 – at the A'nowara'ko:wa Area Skate Park

It was the 'girls' day to skate on Saturday, September 21 at the Akwesasne Skate Park located on the grounds of the A'nowara'ko:wa Arena– a most excellent skating park that fits every level of skater. Beginners to pro athletes joined in the fun on a day of near perfect weather to alley-oop, bank, blunt, boardslide and sometimes to 'bail,' to jump or step off the board safely.

Skate Instructors were there to teach girls young and old to gain confidence in pushing on a skateboard, how to turn, how to stop and how to throw down your skateboard – giving you some speed rather than starting from a dead stop.

Besides learning to skate or practicing that new move, the girls had an opportunity to make tie- dye shirts, bracelets and enjoy a lunch together.

One instructor, Tianna said, "So this, it seems like it's pretty successful event with the number of kids here. Everyone's having a good time. It's so nice to seeing all the girls – women around here."

She said, "I've been working with Troy since he started working on the skate park. Troy just reaches out to all of us and says, 'Hey, I want to do this weekend thing. Are you available?' Yeah, sure. Sign us up. It's so nice to have a local park that's very well done, very well made."

Troy Thompson, who was instrumental with the concept and building of the Akwesasne Skate Park said, "We're essentially just trying to get more girls into the sport and keep them interested in the sport. The instructors have been talking about having a girl specific camp. We're essentially just trying to get more girls into the sport. Typically, if you come to the skate park, it's male dominant – almost 90% males to 10% of females at the park. We're trying to change that dynamic. It's definitely working."

Annie Guglia, a professional athlete attended the Skatepark in May and is expected to visit again soon. In May, she worked closely with a fearless young girl around 8 years old – Ashton.

Annie said, "I found her doing one trick off one of the boxes on the ledge here. And I think it was like in the 70s, she finally landed it after like 70 something tries. Oh, my God, that is, that's determination. And skateboarding teaches you a lot of those little valuable lessons like perseverance and hard work pays off, and yes, and confidence building.

She added, "We are thrilled with the skate park. It's turned out better than we had imagined. We are so grateful!"

Troy added, Ashton came to our grand opening two, two years ago on October 8. It, would be two years and she was a beginner skateboarder. And look at her now. This day is just a day to celebrate girls. It's a day to celebrate skateboarding for girls. I feel like we have a really good opportunity to provide other girls with a different sport. Hockey and lacrosse are wonderful, but those sports are not for everybody. Not everybody can afford those two sports. We're just trying to create another outlet for young kids, especially girls, to get involved. You see a girl on her rollerblades. There are girls on scooters. Everyone is enjoying themselves today."

Next week sounds just as exciting, with a DJ from Montreal, an onsite videographer and competitions for prizes at the Akwesasne Skatepark Fall Fest, taking place on Saturday, September 27 from 1pm to 7pm.