Three years in the past, a video of just a little lady — frock flying, helmet locked in to regulate unruly locks, knee guards and protecting gear in place — went viral. 5-year-old Janaki Anand, on a skateboard as huge as her, wouldn’t know; she was busy shredding the steps and doing different methods, watched on by curious onlookers and her proud dad and mom.
It wasn’t simply her ability that was seen again then. Skateboarding, a sport so alien in India that most individuals consider it as a public nuisance, has been having a second ever since its debut as a aggressive sport on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It made many Indians sit up and be aware of the most recent medal risk, and since then, an growing variety of children have picked up the board-on-wheels, aided by a creating infrastructure and rising recognition for the game. Anand, in the meantime, has gone from lady surprise to multiple-times nationwide champion, and is discovering extra skate-buddies her age.
“Janaki has identified about skating ever since she was little. We had been in Dubai again then and I used to go round on a skateboard; it’s a quite common factor to do there. My elder son Rehan too does it, so Janaki has at all times seen a board at our residence. It was two years in the past, once we determined to return, that she grew to become often known as the youngest skateboarder in India,” says her father Anand Thampi from Kollam, Kerala.
A distinct way of life
Skateboarding, for lots of people, is a quintessential American sport. Greater than a sport, it’s a way of life, with its personal vocabulary for the assorted methods carried out. Shredding, as an illustration, is the act of skating down surfaces like stairs, utilizing elements of the board aside from the wheels, and requires super ability.
Mumbai-based Urmila Pabale, who started skateboarding about three-and-a-half years in the past, solely knew of it as one thing Peter Parker did. It was very Hollywood. “I’ve been roller-skating since I used to be 5 and have at all times been into sports activities and the outside, however even for me it was a surreal expertise to see folks on skateboards in India for the primary time. It was simply after the lockdown, I used to be 16, and had heard of a newly-built skate park in Navi Mumbai, close to my residence. I went there and simply stared — this was one thing I had solely seen within the Spiderman motion pictures,” says the final-year communications scholar of Khalsa Faculty.
Urmila Pabale from Mumbai
There isn’t any denying the cool quotient of the exercise that pulls most kids to it within the first place. Sareena Coutinho, additionally from Mumbai, and at 20 a veteran of the ladies’s skateboarding neighborhood, admits she began out for a lark. Pune’s Shraddha Gaikwad, 18, who gained gold on the 2022 Nationwide Video games held in Gujarat — the one time skateboarding featured within the competitors; it was dropped within the Goa version final yr and its destiny stays unsure this yr — picked it up by probability, getting on a spare board whereas delivering lunch to her safety guard father who labored at a sporting items retailer. All of them agree that when boarded, it’s tough to get off the picket plank.
Sareena Coutinho from Mumbai
Nationwide Video games gold medallist Shraddha Gaikwad
Meet the OGs
Most skaters in India are college students — both at school or school, with the typical age being 20-22 years — and whereas it’s not straightforward to handle research with skateboarding, the fun of it makes all of it worthwhile. After which there may be Bengaluru-based Gautham Kamath, who, at 36, is the grand previous man of Indian skateboarding however extra importantly, the founding father of Jugaad, the primary and largest open skateboarding competitors within the nation, based in 2016.
Starting with only a handful of newbies, the occasion has grown to function greater than 500 entries from locations as far off as Nepal and the Maldives. For many skate boarders in the nation, that is usually their first ‘skate jam’ with like-minded people. From Gaikwad to Coutinho to Pabale, almost each Indian skateboarder has lower their tooth at Jugaad.
Gautham Kamath (excessive left) with children at The Cave skatepark in Bengaluru.
“To turn into a skateboarder, you want a sure calibre — you mainly must have a rebellious streak. You will need to select to do it, you can’t be pushed or talked into it. I’ve been instructing for nearly 10 years now, to every kind and ages of individuals. It’s comparatively new; it’s nonetheless extra of a way of life factor than a severe sport and never everybody’s cup of tea. It’s not straightforward to make a residing from it. I’m a rarity in that sense,” says Kamath, who stop his job with a smartphone firm to get into boarding full-time.
Kamath has seen the game come up from floor zero, having grown with it himself — from his first board being a present from German skater Arne Hillerns in 2012 to changing into the first-ever official Indian entry at a world occasion, the Chuncheon World Leisure Excessive Sports activities Championship in 2016, to organising Jugaad, now in its ninth version, all on his personal. “It’s tough — it takes a toll, you get injured quite a bit, you fall, however should stand up and maintain attempting. You have to be cussed. Nevertheless it additionally helps develop your general character — it offers you the boldness to method life, and by no means surrender,” he says.
The Skateboarding In Chennai crew.
| Picture Credit score:
Johan Sathyadas
In Delhi, Surjeet Kumar had his personal lofty ambitions — to make town a skateboarding hub. He arrange the Delhi Skate boarders Academy within the basement of a constructing with picket ramps, the primary indoor venue in India and the location of the first-ever Jugaad in 2016. “The academy has, over time, skilled greater than 500 youngsters, of all ages, and the curiosity is barely growing, particularly amongst ladies. Mother and father too have began seeing it as a correct sport and never only a random pastime,” he reveals.
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He explains the fun of skateboarding regardless of the apparent risks. “As youngsters, there may be little worry of falling or failing. That is among the largest the reason why there are such a lot of children within the sport. However, I personally assume it’s simply the fun of doing one thing most individuals are cautious of. Regular people will climb down three stairs; I’ve youngsters who can skate down or fly over 7-8 stairs. It’s simply addictive,” says Kumar, now in his 30s. He used to roller-skate as a toddler and picked up skateboarding on his travels by means of Europe and the U.S. as a scholar.
Not with out its dangers, skateboarding accidents vary from a innocent ankle twist to extra severe fractures, muscle tears and deep cuts from falls and from the board itself. “Just lately, considered one of our ladies bought a deep lower on her chin and needed to stop the occasion she was taking part in. It took some time to heal and when she returned, she suffered a hairline fracture. However now she is again once more. It’s a excessive that you just can not stay away from,” says Kumar.
Extra ladies, extra energy
Whereas the game is exclusive in its gender neutrality — the gear, methods, ramps and surfaces are the identical for each girls and boys — the Indian mindset has been restrictive of ladies getting on the board.
However that is altering. Says Kamath, “There might need been restrictions earlier however not anymore, not for this technology. Mother and father can’t cease them and anyway, ladies are far more mature and extra conscious of issues at present. In actual fact, we encourage ladies to return out extra and though their numbers are nonetheless fewer than the boys, their dad and mom are devoted.”
Nationwide Video games gold-winning Gaikwad, in truth, was the primary lady in her household to journey alone when she went to take part within the 2018 version of Jugaad. Quickly, she was being approached for advert campaigns, be it Patanjali or Pantene, after which the Netflix film Skater Lady occurred. Gaikwad performs the position of the protagonist’s good friend within the 2021 movie supposedly impressed by the lifetime of Asha Gond, who represented India within the 2018 World Skateboarding Championship.
“The Olympics is a dream, in fact, however skateboarding is a ardour. I’ll do it so long as I can and in case you are devoted and work laborious, there’ll at all times be folks to assist you,” says Gaikwad, referring to the individuals who formed her profession — Abu Sheikh, the supervisor of the shop the place her father labored, and her coach Swapnil Magare, who noticed her throughout a workshop on the retailer.
Nationwide Video games gold medallist Gaikwad
The inclusion of skateboarding within the Olympics lineup has been an enormous catalyst in getting the game some much-needed recognition, says the neighborhood. “Positively, there’s a change. There’s extra curiosity from manufacturers, which is huge for many of us as a result of we wrestle for funds. There’s extra authorities recognition — my silver medal on the Nationwide Video games bought me ₹5 lakh from the Maharashtra Olympic Affiliation as a result of it’s now an Olympic sport,” says Pabale. “Individuals in all places are slowly attending to learn about skateboarding, and fogeys are seeing a future in it.”
Coutinho seconds the opinion. “My dad continues to be towards it however my mum has seen me go to competitions and win, so she is sort of okay with it. Additionally, the growing participation of ladies has helped. After I first stepped into the skatepark on Carter Street in Bandra, I used to be the one lady there and it felt bizarre to be amongst so many boys. However then folks slowly began appreciating me, they informed me I used to be an inspiration to different ladies. I’ve seen many youthful ones coming and skating, and it feels good. After I inform folks it’s an Olympic sport, they’re genuinely stunned and wish to know extra,” says Coutinho.
Floor actuality
The Olympic dream that these younger fanatics harbour although is tempered with an consciousness of floor realities. “In India, we’re no less than a decade behind in abilities and all the things else, and it’ll take time,” says Pabale. To place issues into context, Kokona Hiraki of Japan and Sky Brown of Nice Britain, medallists within the park skateboarding class on the Tokyo Olympics, had been each 13 on the time. As was Rayssa Leal of Brazil, who gained silver on the street class; Japan’s Momiji Nishiya, who gained gold, was 14.
Curiously, whereas skateboarding is taken into account a quintessential American sport, the dominant international locations, among the many ladies athletes, are Japan, Australia, Brazil and Britain. “There’s a lengthy option to go. It’ll take years in all probability however the journey has begun and we hope to do our greatest,” says a assured Coutinho.
Girls’s Skateboarding Park medallists (l to r) Kokona Hiraki (silver) and Sakura Yosozumi (gold) of Staff Japan and Sky Brown (bronze) of Nice Britain, on the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
| Picture Credit score:
Getty Photos
Kamath is extra circumspect. “Not for an additional 20 years no less than,” he asserts. “After which too, provided that there may be assist from authorities our bodies when it comes to participation and amenities.” However the panorama is altering quickly, little question, he admits. From one skate park in 2012 to nearly 40 now throughout the nation — from Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi to Chandigarh, Visakhapatnam, Ranchi and Gwalior — the fun of acting on a plank of wooden on wheels is catching on.
Skateboarding, in a way, is a singular sport with its inherent contradictions: not a lot gear required however the one wanted doesn’t come low cost, beginning at ₹1,000 for a newbie’s board and ₹4,000 for a daily board. It’s an aspirational way of life however has youngsters largely from non-privileged or middle-class households. “I couldn’t ask my dad and mom for a board for a very long time. I used to be nonetheless at school then and couldn’t purchase one for myself both,” Coutinho says.
Faculty-going Pabale, daughter of a single working mom, tries to handle her bills by herself — from shopping for boards to travelling and taking part in occasions and producing social media engagement — however admits it’s not straightforward. Says Surjeet of Delhi Skate boarders Academy, “Many dad and mom usually donate gear and boards to the less-privileged youngsters who practice at our academy free of charge, and belief me, these are a few of the most sensible children I’ve seen.”
On the Paris Olympics starting subsequent week, skateboarder Vareeraya Sukasem from Thailand might be one of many youngest athletes in competitors. Movies present the 12-year-old practising her signature transfer, referred to as The Feeble, as she glides over railings and flips the board earlier than touchdown on it expertly. The day is just not far when an Indian teenager will make the nation of 1.4 billion proud on the Olympics podium. Because the likes of Coutinho, Gaikwad and Anand would say, we fly in hope.
A younger skateboarding fanatic in Bengaluru.