Words by Will Ascott
Today, #GivingTuesday 2020, Free Movement Skateboarding are asking: When was skateboarding given to you? #giveskateboarding
Giving Tuesday 2020 marks the start of our #giveskateboarding challenge to help us continue supporting disadvantaged locals and refugees in Athens through skateboarding, promoting wellbeing, gender empowerment and social cohesion. We give skateboarding to individuals who might not be able to access skateboarding otherwise, building a more diverse skate scene through this.
So Free Movement Skateboarding want to see when skateboarding was given to you – we are challenging you to donate and share a photo or video of you when you started skating.
Follow these steps to #giveskateboarding today:
- Donate here or through the link in the @freemovement__sb bio
- Post a photo of you when started skating, tag @freemovement__sb and #giveskateboarding #givingtuesday
- Tag 5 friends who you know are game and ask them to do the same
We want to see your mum’s disposable camera snap of your 13 year old self down the skatepark in a Slipknot T shirt. Or maybe it’s 1980s fluorescent pads and freestyle skating. Or perhaps GoPro footage of your first push.
So none of you feel nervous, here’s me in the Indy hoodie, at 12 years old, with St Albans hometown hero and professional skateboarder Rodney Clarke. I was blessed to be given skateboarding at this age, it’s still the best thing that ever happened to me. I lived for Sundays at the skatepark learning off Rodney Clarke and Andy Willis. 16 years on, although people come and go, many are still mates from back then and our passion hasn’t dwindled. The adventure of starting Free Movement Skateboarding in Athens feels a long way from the Pioneer Skatepark St Albans, but these roots matter. They gave me the first taste of being in a ‘scene’ – the feeling of community – which has informed what Free Movement has worked on all these years later.
I want to hear your stories. #giveskateboarding this Giving Tuesday.
