Launched on World Mental Health Day, ROLL Models is an ambitious new program that aims to train 72 new female youth leaders in Germany, the Netherlands, and Greece, who will eventually develop new programs to serve over 900 girls through skateboarding. The forces behind it are no strangers to big projects: Skateistan is the original and largest global skate aid organization, now running four skate schools across the globe, while Women Win is a global fund with a track record of making massive changes in gender inequality via the world of sport.“We’re really excited to be launching this joint initiative with Women Win to empower young women through skateboarding,” said Rhianon Bader, Skateistan’s Goodpush Manager (more on the Goodpush Alliance in a moment). “Through the last 11 years of running skateboarding programs at Skateistan, we’ve learned a lot about the power of sport to develop leadership qualities in young people.”
Skateistan famously discovered, via their original program in Afghanistan, that skateboarding enjoys something of a special status when it comes to participation by women, as many cultures that restrict women from participating in sports don’t quite know whether skateboarding counts. That loophole led to almost equal numbers of male and female participants in Skateistan’s original program in Kabul. Building on that success, the new program aims to “bring the physical, mental and emotional benefits of sports to a whole generation of young women,” per their press release. The press release also notes that only 10-20% of adolescent girls in Europe meet the recommended level of physical activity, making it the least active generation ever, a problem the program is specifically designed to combat. It will also focus on inclusivity by focusing recruiting on women of color, refugees, and women living with disabilities. The recruits will be scouted via Skateistan’s Goodpush Alliance, a knowledge-sharing initiative launched by Skateistan at the first Pushing Boarders conference that unites social skateboarding initiatives across the world. The 72 participants in ROLL Models will receive intensive leadership training, and potentially seed money for their social skate projects as well. Groups like Women Skate the World, who are already engaged in exactly the type of work called for, come immediately to mind. But regardless of who ends up in the program, one thing’s for sure: it’s going to be a very, very good thing for the world.
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Featured image courtesy of Skateistan.
