For International Women’s Day, watch India’s first professional female skateboarder teach girls how to skate in Vans’ new video campaign
Today is International Women’s Day and Vans is celebrating in a seriously empowering and exciting way. The brand, best known for its skateboarding shoes, is spotlighting women and girl skateboarders around the world, and Vans’s first installment of their “This Is Off The Wall” video campaign follows Vans athletes and skateboarders Atita Verghese and Lizzie Armanto as they teach young girls to skateboard.
Atita Verghese started Girls Skate India to empower young Indian girls through the sport. She is also the country’s first professional female skateboarder, and being a girl on a skateboard is still not encouraged in the country. When Verghese partnered with Vans, it led to the moving five minute documentary, showing Verghese and Armanto as they spend time teaching young girls in India how to ride a board; the results are both inspiring and heartwarming.
Moreover, beginning on March 8th, Vans will host over 100 skateboarding clinics for girls and women in major cities including Brooklyn, Chicago, London, St. Petersburg, Shanghai, Bangalore, São Paulo, and Mexico City.
The clinics will be open to skateboarders of all skills levels, from beginner to expert. All women are welcome to join in the fun and become a part of the growing women’s skate community all across the globe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4yPvwYQVh0?feature=oembed
"When you see girls skating for themselves and having fun, it changes the perspective of what a girl can do and it also teaches them a lot about their own capabilities," Verghese explained.
Thrilled at the prospect of training with both Verghese and Armanto, the video shows girls of all ages travelling to Bangalore to learn and improve their skateboarding chops. When asked by Armanto if they have any specific skills in mind, one young girl declares that her goal is to hold an otter and skate. Unfortunately there weren’t any otters on hand, but we love to see girls with big (and creative) aspirations.
"It was cool to see all the different levels of the girls and most of my group, everyone learned a trick. When you see another girl skate, just having that reference, you know it's possible," Armanto said. "You learn self-confidence through skating. As more girls get into that, the world will change."
Thanks to this exciting initiative, women all over the country and world will have the opportunity to build up their self-confidence and learn (or perfect) skateboarding tricks.
We can’t think of a better (or more fun) way to celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month.
