"Candy Bombing" Dungan

Candy & her daughter

Candy & her fiance Aaron

Candy "Candy Bombing" Dungan

One of our favorite videos featuring Candy

UPDATE 7:30 PM PST :  a GO FUND ME has been set up to help Candy & her family with medical expenses - you can read about it and donate --->  by clicking HERE


About an hour ago downhill racer Candy Dungan's fiance, Aaron, released a statement via his personal Facebook page letting everyone know that Candy, also known as "Candy Bombing",  had a serious accident while out riding this morning....


Dear family and friends, life can change in an instant. please keep Candy in your heart.. while skating this morning she hit a guardrail with her back (while wearing a POC spine protector) and is going in for surgery in the morning. The Dr says it is not impossible that she will walk again.. so we have our fists up and are going to attack PT with everything we have. Please message or comment any love you can offer Candy during this trying time..


Candy is one of our favorite downhill girls, not only to watch but for all the positive things she puts out into the world daily. We met her a few years back at the Maryhill SheRide  and we were immediately drawn to her fun and welcoming personality, and her badass ways on the hill. But she is not only a downhill racer, she has spoken out candidly and fought for sexual assault victims via her movement #SkateToFight, heads up teh Rad Girls Krew in Colorado, she runs Momentum PR with her fiance Aaron - a company that we use for all our press releases here at GN4LW - and she is a great mom to a little girl who is growing up to be a badass just like Candy.

We are sending positive vibes out to Candy to get through surgery and walk again - we need this rad lady back on her board. She is always the cheerleader for everyone else, now it's our turn to be there for her.

We love you Candy!

We are stoked to see Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word team rider, Zoe Benedetto, in the April issue of Stuart Magazine in an article about "The Next Generation".  This rad young surfer is already on the Olympic development team and has surfed her way to more wins than you can count. Not too mention being a 4x East Coast Champion!

You can follow Zoe on instagram at @zoe_benedetto

Congrats Zoe!!

 via Buzz Feed

We are so proud to be a small part of Calleigh's journey. Calleigh was our very first Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word micro grant recipient for her cross country skate adventure this past year. More important than skating across the country, is the fact that she is speaking out about being transgender, the kindness of strangers, and why she craves adventure.

Calleigh is a badass in the skate industry - from downhill events to ultra marathons, everyone knows and loves her. Now it's time the rest of the world does too.  We are so glad she is sharing her story!

Please click over to BUZZ FEED to read the whole interview with Calleigh ---> HERE

Nice interview with Pro street skater, Lacey Baker, this morning in the New York Times - if you'd like to read the entire interview jump over HERE.

Julz Lynn comepting at a past Vert Attack Contest  / Photo Joanne Barratt

Watch the LIVE webcast right here on Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word!  

You can watch the LIVE Web feed of the WOMEN'S FINAL right here  - just click above!

Tune in on Saturday, March 24, 2018

5:00 PM CET  - Sweden
9:00 AM - PST
12:00 Noon - EST


Girls who are in the FINALS:

Nicole Hause - USA
Bia Sodre - BRAZIL
Arianna Carmona - USA
Leticia Goncalves - BRAZIL
Allysha Le - USA
Lilly Stoephasius - GERMANY
Slivia Rula - SPAIN



  

We LOVE this new video WOMEN ON WHEELS, featuring our "It's Not About Pretty" book designer Elise Crigar. Sit back, listen and be prepared to be INSPIRED!

This is Elise. A graphic designer and skateboarder living in Southern California. Skateboarding has been considered more of a male sport but Elise is trying to change that. This is the first series of Women On Wheels.

Skateboarder: @elise_crigar
Director: @alyssafior
DP: @tatsuyakawauchi
Editor: @kristenvee
Music: Car Ride by DUALIB

Heading to Vert Attack this week? Make sure you check out the Queer & Grrrl Skaters Photo Exhibit by Marie Dabbadie while you are there. It's going on from March 20-25 at Bryggeriet Skatepark.

Marie also creates a gender queer skate zine that will be for sale at event -  XEM SKATERS is only $2.00 and is 52 pages chock full of interviews, poems, photos, illustrations, playlists and more.

Can't get there to purchase one? You can order online at Xem Skaters online store HERE 

Watch the LIVEwebcast right here on Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word!  

You can watch the LIVE Web feed right here  - just click above!

Saturday, March 24, 2018

5:00 PM CET  - Sweden
9:00 AM - PST
12:00 Noon - EST


Vert Attack will be back on the 22nd – 24th of March 2018 at Bryggeriet Malmö Skatepark. The best vert comp on the planet, live music, art exhibitions, market place, bar and a whole lot more.

Bryggeriet Skatepark
Ystadvägen 44
214 45 Malmö


Together with Vans we have set the stage for an amazing event, the legend of Vert Attack continues, filled with entertainment in the form of live music, exhibitions and most important of all, the main attraction the Vert show.

Girls who are slated to compete (so far)

Nicole Hause - USA
Sarah Thompson - USA
Bia Sodre - BRAZIL
Arianna Carmona - USA
Leticia Goncalves - BRAZIL
Sky Brown - JAPAN
Allysha Le - USA
Lilly Stoephasius - GERMANY
Maite Louisy - SWEDEN
Valeria Bertacini - ITALY
Slivi Rula - SPAIN

Please join us on March 22 – 24 at Bryggeriet Malmö Skatepark and if you can’t make it over you can follow the web cast on Saturday March 24 for all the final action of the festivities. Live webcast starts at 10:30 AM CET

  

We loved the Old Navy commercials featuring female skateboarders, and now their new spring dresses campaign features rad girls riding BMX bikes - well, not just riding,  taking jumps,  sliding, and being all around badasses. Very cool!

If you missed the Old Navy commercial featuring the female skateboarders, you can check it out HERE.

It's been a long wait, but there are finally skateboarding emojis! And the best part is, there is a big selection of rad female skate emojis to choose from. You can grab the download from Bit Skate Emoji in the Apple App store for just $1.99. This is the first ever skateboarding emoji keyboard app developed for a diverse skate culture.

They say that the emojis are made for use on Snapchat and other social media sites as well.  *Although at this time we were unable to get them to work in our instagram captions *

We also need to mention that this is not an extension of your regualr keyboard with its emojis - it's an app you'll need to access from your keyboard, then select which skater you want to drop in and copy + paste it. So not the fastest or easiest - but at least we have some damn skate emojis now!

Right now the download is available in the Apple App store for IOS 10.3 and will soon be available in the Google Play store as well.

We do have a couple suggestions for the developers of the app

1. We wish the female skaters came up first, so we didn't have to swipe right through a ton of male emjois before getting to the women.

2. We don't understand why there is not a female skater/filmer emoji?  Girls do film you know.

3. We are also missing the Falling, Mongo, & Air  emojis - please add!

But after all is said and done, it's great to have some emojis to illustrate our  texts!

Photo of Poppy by Sarah Huston of  Yeah Girl

The results are in, and Bowlzilla Gold Coast has an awesome turnout!  Huge thanks to Bowlzilla and Yeah Girl for making sure the women's division had some equality in prize money this year - that is huge!

1st Poppy Star Olsen
2nd Taniah Meyers
3rd Shanae Collins
4th Ava Godfrey
5th Charlotte Heath
6th Indiana Barnard
7th Aimee Massie
8th Krysta Ashwell

The Matador Network is one of our new favs - travel, skating, surfing - what more could you ask for?

This short film is the first in a two-part series, Tribe without Borders: Israel follows 5 young women from 5 different backgrounds on a journey through the Middle East. Here in Tel Aviv they connect with the next generation of surfers to promote peace and stoke. Beautifully filmed by Nicole Gormley.

Here's to rad road trips with our girlfriends! 

Settle in tonight and watch this new video titled "Please Don't Grab My Boob" from NHS and Thrasher Magazine. This whole crew of female skaters put together an amazing edit. So rad. Featuring Lizzie Armanto, Nora Vasconcellos, Lacey Baker, Samarria Brevard, Allysha Le, Nicole Hause, Brighton Zeuner, Yndiara Asp and many others.

Bowzilla AU is almost here - and this year they are all about gender equality and are doing a great job! The girls prize purse is $10,000 total which means firts place is $2,500 and it pays down to 10th place! We also love that our rad friends at Yeah Girl are involved in this as well - if you haven't checked out what Sarah at Yeah Girl is doing, hop on over to their site and give them some love!

Here is some more info on the comp:

This is the largest Equity in Skateboarding prize purse in Australian history.

This is the third year of BOWLZILLA Gold Coast. This year the whole week is growing yet again thanks to the amazing support of Yeah Girl Surf Dive ‘n Ski, the City of Gold Coast, TEQ, Goliath, Fiik, Gold Coast Skateboard Coaching and our other sponsors.

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is a Park comp with four divisions; 16 & Under, Women, Open and Masters 40+. The Open, Masters and Women are Pro/Am with prize money and for the first time this year we have Equality in Skateboarding for the Women’s division.

We have a prize pool of over $25,000 in cash and prizes. All prize money will be paid in cash on the day and prizes will be handed out on the day.

16 & Under is an amateur division with over $1000 worth of prizes.


“BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is the biggest gathering of skateboard generations in Australia at a by skaters for skaters event. We are about our community 100%. The incredible support we receive from GCCC, TEQ, Yeah Girl x Surf Dive ‘n Ski, ASF and everyone else in supporting skaters as they want to be supported and represented is something we work very hard to honour year in year out. What we are achieving this year is a huge testament to our communities strength. Equality in Skateboarding has taken another step forward. ” Chad Ford; BOWLZILLA – Director.

Girls Competing (that we know of so far)

Poppy Starr Olsen
Shanae Collins
Izy Mutu
Taniah Meyers
Ava Godfrey
Charlotte Heath
Aimee Massie


Want to watch the web feed?  Looks like they will be doing a LIVE FACEBOOK feed the day of the comp. Just remember that Saturday in Australia is Friday here in the USA. Times of live web feed still TBD

Event info:

14th March: Gold Coast Grill – local hosted BBQ skate session

15th March: Tic Taco art exhibition + the Australian premiere of Joy and Sorrow 3, an all female Japanese skate film by @yuriyuri_desu -  Beach Burrito Company; The Strand Shop 25/26, 72-80 Marine Parade, Coolangatta 4225

16th March: Gold Coast Grill – local hosted BBQ skate session

17th March: BOWLZILLA™ Gold Coast competition - Pines Lane, Elanora QLD 4221

17th March: Yeah Girl and Surf Dive ‘n Ski hosting; Dive In – official after party – Beach Burrito Company; The Strand Shop 25/26, 72-80 Marine Parade, Coolangatta 4225

It's Spring Break so head over to Vans Skatepark Orange at 4 PM tomorrow (Thursday 3/15) and join the Hotshots Skate Gang - Nora Vasconcellos, Nicole Hause, Allysha Le, Lizzie Armanto, Brighton Zeuner, Samarria Brevard, Lacey Baker, & Yndiara Asp and the #MudSweatInBeers crew where they will be demo-ing down.

Grab some Pizzanista while you are there, get some goodies in the product toss,  then at 9 PM head over to The Good Bar in Long Beach for the Thrasher Magazine video premeire "Please Don't Touch My Boob, and "Mud Sweatin' Beers".

4 PM  - Pizzanista Party, Skate Jam & Product Toss
Vans Skatepark Orange
20 City Blvd W
Orange, CA 92868

9:00 PM - Thrasher Video Premiere
 3316 E. 7th Street
Long Beach, CA 90804


Get hyped tonight & watch the full Hotshots Gang video below.

If you've been watchig social media, you know that the Vans Get on Board event at Vans in Orange County this past weekend was amazing!  There were build a skateboard stations, skate clinics - for all levels of skaters, a rad band playing, photo gallery show, art, Minx nails and much more. So get ready east coasters - now it's your turn!

The House of Vans in both Brooklyn and Chicago are hosting events this Friday (Brooklyn) and Saturday (Chicago) - make sure you RSVP via the links below becaiuse these sessions will fill up fast!



On March 16, 2018 House of Vans Brooklyn will host workshops dedicated to women and girls to learn how to build a skate deck with private skate lessons with Vans global skate team athlete, Lizzie Armanto alongside Vans Brand Ambassador, Atita Verghese from 5:30 – 8:00 p.m. PST. Workshops and skate lessons will be open to the first 66 women via RSVP. House of Vans will also host a photo show led by female artists along with a video screening, panel discussion, giveaways and more!
Beginning at 8:30 p.m., House of Vans Brooklyn will open its doors to the general public for an open skate jam and will end the night with an epic live performance by Bully.


 

FRIDAY, MARCH 16 @ 5:30 PM | RSVP HERE

FRIDAY, MARCH 16 @ 8:30 PM | RSVP HERE

House of Vans Brooklyn 25 Franklin St.
Brooklyn, New York

On March 17, 2018 House of Vans Chicago will host workshops dedicated to women and girls to learn how to build a skate deck with private skate lessons with Vans global skate team athlete, Lizzie Armanto alongside Vans Brand Ambassador, Atita Verghese from 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. PST. Workshops and skate lessons will be open to the first 66 women via RSVP. House of Vans will also host a photo show led by female artists along with a video screening, panel discussion, giveaways and more!

Beginning at 7:30 p.m., House of Vans Chicago will open its doors to the general public for an open skate jam and will end the night with an epic live performance by Bully.


SATURDAY, MARCH 17 @ 4:30 PM | RSVP HERE

SATURDAY, MARCH 17 @ 7:30 PM | RSVP HERE

House of Vans Chicago
113 N Elizabeth Street
Chicago, IL

Girls Combi 2018 from Caro on Vimeo.

Check out this awesome video of the Vans Girls Combi that Caro Vilain put together!  It's seriously awesome!!

Jordan Santana

Stella Reynolds

Bella Kenworthy

Lilly Stoephaius

Isdora Pacheco

Ruby Trew

Bella, Ruby & Jordan

The under 14  division at the Vans Girls Combi had so much talent in it! These little girls were skating fast and hard and using both the round and square pools. There were girls from USA, Germany, Brazil, Australia and Japan in this group.  It's going to be insane the next few years watching these little girls come up the ranks!

RESULTS

1. Bella Kenworthy $1,000
2. Jordan Santa $600
3. Ruby Trew $400

5. Isadora Pacheco
6. Stella Reynolds
7. Lilly Stoephaius
8. Carlin Makibbin
9. Ruby Lilley
10.Nora Baker

Michelle Barnett

Tuling Lam

Michelle Yoon

Dora Varella

Lauren Canoura

Gabrielle Brownfield

Michelle, Dora, & Gabrielle

Photos Ian Logan - if you choose to share/post - please credit @ianloganphoto  & @girlisnota4letterword  - Thank you!

The over 15 division had nine skaters total and they were fighting tooth and nail for the podium spots. We have seen so much rapid progression in the past year in this division. Michelle Yoon was attacking the pool like she owned it, Dora Varella was skating as if this was her home park  (instead of residing in Brazil), Jesse Frietze, and Michelle Barnett are two girls we have been keeping an eye on for awhile and both have progressed by leaps and bounds since we saw them last year!  And Gabrille Brownfield was on fire - so fun watching her! Nice seeing Lauren Canoura & Stacie Roberts out here from Florida competing as well.

We guarantee there will be a lot more action in the coming years from this group!

RESULTS

1. Dora Varella $1,000
2. Michelle Yoon $600
3. Gabrielle Brownfield $400

4. Jessie Frietze
6. Tuling Lam
6. Lauren Canoura
7. Michelle Barnett
8. Stacie Roberts
9. Audrey Indigo



Huge thanks to Vans, World Cup Skateboarding, the judges and staff for making this one of the best contests ever!

Poppy Starr Olsen

Brighton Zeuner

Nicole Hause

Jordyn Barratt

Minna Stess

Lea Taylor

Sakura Yosozumi

Bryce Wettstein

Lizzie Armanto

Kihana Ogawa

Leticia Goncalves

Bia Sodre

Grace Marhoefer

Kat Folsom

Spencer Breaux

Arianna Carmona

Allysha Le

Lizzie, Brighton, Jordyn, Nicole, Steve Caballero & Poppy

Poppy giving Nicole a well deserved hug and congrats!

Photos Ian Logan - if you choose to share/post - please credit @ianloganphoto  & @girlisnota4letterword  - Thank you!

The Vans Girls Combi is always a highlight of the year in women's skateboarding, but this year it was even more special. The night before the contest, Vans threw the first in a series of events, to celebrate and encourage girls to skateboard - complete with a band, photo gallery show, panel about skateboarding, create your own grip tape, artwork, clinics, checkerboard nails by Minx Nails and more.

The contest itself was historic - the prize purse was $65,000 - making it EQUAL to the men's combi prize purse. Female EQUALITY!  Something women and girls in skateboarding have been fighting for, and now see as reality - thanks to Vans.

Girls came from all over to compete - Australia, Brazil, Germany, Japan and from all over the USA. The under 14 division and over 15 divisions were packed with amazing skaters! (More on that and photos later)

From the get go this contest just felt different, the girls stepped it up and the tricks they were pulling were amazing, they cheered each other on and had fun while pushing the level of female skateboarding forward.

We need to mention that we loved Brighton Zeuner's outfit for qualifiers and finals - she was dressed in yellow and black as the lead character from the movie Kill Bill. Visually it was great and she definitely was killing it!

Eleven year old Minna Stess took hard slam to her hip and had to be looked at in the medical tent just prior to competing in the Pro Qualifiers - but she powered through and threw it down to make the finals. So cool to see the younger girls competing at such a high level.

When it was announced that Nicole Hause was the winner of the pro division, every single girl was on her feet cheering for her and stoked that she won. There was no question that last night was her night.

Congrats to all the girls who competed and stay tuned for photos from the AM divisions soon!


FINALS  RESULTS

1. Nicole Hause  $28,000
2. Jordyn Barratt   $14,000
3. Brighton Zeuner  $7,000
4. Lizzie Armanto  $3,500
5. Poppy Starr Olsen  $3,000
6. Sakura Yosozumi  $2,500
7. Arianna Carmona  $2,000
8. Grace Marhoefer  $1,800
9. Minna Stess   $1,700
10. Lea Taylor  $1,500


Huge thanks to Vans, World Cup Skateboarding, the judges and staff for making this one of the best contests ever!

Traveling to another city and want to find some people to skate with? At home but you want to find a new skate spot with some new people? You might want to download the new FREE app LOKE.

Make sure you wtach the video above, because it features the Skate Kitchen's Rachel Vinberg and friends.

Designed by skaters for skaters, Loke offers real-time visibility into where users are skating and where the best sessions are happening. With Loke, skaters can communicate with their crew and plan sessions at hundreds of skate spots available in each major city across the US.

We downloaded it to our iphone this morning and found three of our skater friends on the app - no info on where they plan to skate today, but we think that the more people join and use the app, the better results you will have.

Worth a try, especially if you want to find out easily where people are meeting up to skate!