We are so stoked to see our rad 10-year-old skater/artist friend Lola Glass on this show! Arte goes behind the scenes with Lola to her home in Brooklyn, meets her family, checks out her cool room (we love the "It's Not About Pretty" poster and the GN4LW "Girl Power" board!). Lola then shows us around Brooklyn where her current mural resides, and we get a glimpse of her skateboarding at her local skate spot as well.

This video is in French because Lola has dual citizenship and speaks both fluent English & French - pretty cool!

Congrats Lola - we love the video!

2018 Champion Brighton Zeuner - Photo Acosta

Looks like the women will now compete on every stop on the VPS tour - same as the guys! This is such great news, along with equal prize money - we couldn't ask for a better year for the ladies in skateboarding!

And for the very first time,  the championships will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah - AND there is no VPS tour stop in Huntington Beach either - that's a huge change!


Costa Mesa, CALIF. (January 23, 2019) – Vans Park Series, the premier park terrain skateboarding tour in the world, today announced the 2019 Pro Tour schedule. Anticipating another historic season in competitive skateboarding culminating into the World Championships, the Vans Park Series (VPS) will touch down in five major countries this year, expanding its programming to equally represent four global Pro Tour qualifiers for men and women, and sustaining its commitment to endorsing prize parity for both divisions.

“Our mission to inspire youth and grow skateboarding participation around the world by promoting skateboarding’s unique and creative culture remains our number one goal,” said Bobby Gascon, global director of action sports, Vans. “With Vans Park Series now in its fourth consecutive year, we are dedicated to growing the foundation for park terrain skateboarding competition and cultivating an elite class of professional athletes who are deserving of international recognition.”

The 2019 VPS World Championships will be hosted for the first time on American soil in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 7. The prospective 2019 men’s and women’s park terrain skateboarding world champions will be crowned before a roaring live audience at Utah State Fairpark. With a premium live webcast produced at every stop, the Vans Park Series will bring an exhilarating competitive skateboarding showcase for local spectators and fans abroad.

Further cementing the series’ mission to grow skateboarding participation worldwide, Vans Park Series plans to support the ongoing development of skate communities through the construction and donation of three state-of-the-art, VPS-certified park terrain skate facilities at select 2019 VPS Pro Tour locations. More details are to be announced on www.vansparkseries.com.



2019 VANS PARK SERIES PRO TOUR SCHEDULE

Pro Tour

Shanghai, China
May 18, 2019

São Paulo, Brazil
June 22, 2019

Montreal, Canada
July 13, 2019

Paris-Chelles, France
August 10, 2019

World Championships

Salt Lake City, Utah
September 7, 2019



Known for its unrivaled combination of speed, style, flow, amplitude and creativity, park terrain is the fastest growing discipline in competitive skateboarding today. The Vans Park Series has made historic progress in the evolution of professional skateboarding and champions its reputation as the first premier league for the park terrain skateboarding discipline. From crowning new Park Terrain World Champions every year since 2016, to building the first-ever VPS-certified park terrain skatepark in the world, Vans Park Series sustains its commitment to growing the participation of skateboarding worldwide, and will continue to promote skateboarding’s creative culture for future generations. Visit vansparkseries.com to learn more.



ABOUT VANS PARK SERIES

The 2019 Vans Park Series Pro Tour is the premier competitive platform for professional park terrain skateboarding. Spanning five countries over a five-month season, the series features four global qualifiers for men and women, and culminates with the official Vans Park Series World Championships to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah in September. Showcasing an international roster of skateboarding’s elite pros, Vans Park Series awards a total series purse in excess of $700,000(USD) and advocates its principal commitment to prize parity for men and women.



Established in 2016, Vans Park Series’ mission is to inspire youth and grow skateboarding participation worldwide by defining a global foundation for park terrain competition that promotes the creative culture of skateboarding. Vans Park Series uniquely defines the park terrain format with its exclusive points system, judging guidelines and qualifying park terrain course criteria. Additional information and live webcast details will be available on the official Vans Park Series iOS app and online.



Follow the Vans Park Series on social media or sign up online now for the latest information on Vans Park Series events.

Congrats to Alexis Sablone for joining the Converse Cons Skate team!!  Check out this short video they did for Alexis. Nice to see more companies sponsoring pro female skaters!

The Academy Awards Nominations were just announced this morning and Bing Liu's skateboarding/coming of age film "Minding the Gap" is up for an Oscar in the category of Best Documentary Feature. It was nominated along with four other noteworthy films including two of our other faves (not skateboard related) "Free Solo" and "RGB".

"Minding the Gap" isn't about female skaters, but is a great story nonetheless and well worth watching.  We would have loved seeing "The Skate Kitchen" film be included in the nominations, but if we can't have that, then at least a movie involving skateboarding got nominated - that's huge!

You can watch "Minding the Gap" on HULU - but please be advised that some subject matter is tough to watch and may not be suitable for younger children.

The rain here in Southern California is clearing up just in time for Saturday's Girls Session at The Cove Skate park!

Girls Skate Session at The Cove is THIS Saturday, January 19th from 10am - 12pm.

Please Note!  If you are new to The Cove you must register in advance as the Parks & Rec office won't be open at this time.

As most of you don’t know, I was born w/ dual citizenship, Finland/USA. I’m excited to share that I’ll be representing Finland for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. Go team 🛹🇫🇮 • @olympicteamfinland @suomenrullalautaliitto 📷 @kekeleppala

A post shared by Lizzie Armanto (@lizziearmanto) on Jan 16, 2019 at 7:44am PST

Congrats to Lizzie Armanto - she will be representing Finland as we move forward towards the Olympics! Her father lives there and Lizzie has dual citizenship, it's so awesome that Finland is behind her 100%! 

Aori Nishimura / Photo Paulo Macedo via World Skate

This SLS comp was interesting from the get-go. Having  2 young newcomers in the field, Virginia Fortes Aguas and Karen Feitosa, changed the dynamic drastically. Especially when both girls came into the finals having bested last years Super Crown Champion Jenn Soto during semi-finals the previous day to earn their spots.

Virginia is only 12 years old and while she may not have all the tricks and power yet that the more seasoned veterans on tour have, she was posied and did trick after trick, showing that she will be a constant force this coming year. Her 5th place finish in the finals, ahead of pro's like  Pamela Rosa and Alexis Sablone had the crowd cheering for her.

We noticed another interesting thing about this comp - 2 of the girls were wearing helmets when competing, which is very unusual for a street contest.  Virginia and Aori Nishimura both sported helmets throughout their runs - perhaps this is a new trend?  It used to be frowned upon in street, perhaps now that Aori is the new Women's World Champion - that stigma will change?

With the format of two, 45 second runs per skater and then having 5 tries at "best trick" and throwing out the 3 lowest scores for a combined total of only the 4 highest scores, kept everyone on the edge of their seats as places on the leaderboard changed back and forth during the best trick portion of the comp.

It was exciting to see Aori score a "9" and join the 9 Club during best trick and soon after Leticia did teh same on her last trick. It was a true battle between these two until the very end. Everyone assumed after Leticia pulled ahead of Aori by a narrow margin on her last trick, it was Leticia bring home the win, but Aori scored one tenth of a point higher to change the lead again and take home the coveted status of SLS World Champion.

Congrats Aori! 

RESULTS

1st  Aori Nishimura  32.6
2nd Leticia Bufoni    32.5
3rd  Lacey Baker      28.5

4th  Mariah Duran
5th  Virginia Fortes Aguas
6th  Pamela Rosa
7th  Karen Feitosa
8th  Alexis Sablone

Congrats to GN4LW team rider, Gracie Cochrane, who won the open division of Queen of Concrete this weekend!  Last year she had to compete against the guys and took a well desrved second. This contest is the sister event to the longtime running, King of Concrete. So many girls are starting to skate now in Tasmania, AU that they have their own comp!  The prize money for the girls comp this year was $2,000 - so awesome!!

 Photo of Leticia Bufoni via World Skate

The fourteen top seeded pro's went head to head with the eleven up and comers from the Global Open today and there were some big surprises for tomorrow's final.

Newcomers,  Karen Feitosa and Virgina Fortes Aguas took two of the 8 spots for Sundays final. Big names like Jenn Soto & Samarria Brevard were knocked out of the running, along with some of the other pro women we have seen competing in Street League for a while now.

Letcia Bufoni is holding tight to the number one spot after today's semi-finals, with Mariah Duran and Lacey Baker trying to match her high score. Alexis Sablone, Aori Nishimura and Pamela Rosa round out the group to have eight women in the finals on Sunday.

It's nice to see these contests open up to new talent - it means that the level of skating for women is being pushed higher and higher and we are seeing girls from all over the world kicking ass at these big contests - this is going to be a BIG year for  growth in women's skateboarding!

Tune in to watch the WOMEN'S FINAL at 9 AM PT / 12 Noon ET on StreetLeague.com

Rayssa Leal

All info/photos via Street League

Now that we are headed to the Olympics more and more girls can move up through the ranks through "Global Qualifiers" held at Street League and Vans Park Series comps  - both are sanctioned World Skate contest series.

This weekend marks the first of the events that will count as points towards making the Olympic team.

Street League World Championship week officially kicked off in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and they locked in the Women's Global Open Qualifiers who will be advancing into the next round of the World Championship (Semi-finals) to skate with the currently seeded SLS Pros.



Current SLS Pro Skaters are:

The ladies below have made it to the semi finals!


Global Open Qualifiers (Women’s Division):


LORE BRUGGEMAN
KAYA ISA
KEET OLDENBEUVING
RAYSSA LEAL
ANNIE GUGLIA
KAREN FEITOSA
YUMEKA ODA
ANDREA BENITEZ
KENDRA LONG
VIRGINIA FORTES AGUAS
CHARLOTTE HYM

We are so stoked to see some of the youngest rippers on Instagram on this list!


Watch the women's finals go down LIVE on Sunday, January 13 at 9 AM PT and 12 PM ET on streetleague.com

We know things have been back and forth, and info has been spotty at best, but here is the latest on how skateboarding in the Olympics will work and how someone qualifies!

*All info below compiled directly via World Skate Organization.


How many skateboarders will qualify?

A total of 80 athletes will compete in 4 skateboarding events.

How does that break down for the women?

20 female street skaters
20 female park skaters

(same numbers for the guys)

How many skaters per country?

This Olympic event isn't by country, it's by continent - so a minimum of 1 athlete per continent will be guaranteed a spot for each event.

Exception!  Since Japan is the host country, they will be guaranteed 1 athlete per each event.

How and when do you qualify?

That all starts happening this year - 2019!!

The qualification system will be based on World Skateboarding Rankings maintained by World Skate. Skaters will earn points by competing in World Skate sanctioned events during the Olympic qualifying peroid beginning January 1, 2019 and ending May 31, 2020.

What will judging be like?

World Skate International has established and International Skateboard Judging Commission to create an official skateboarding judging criteria and system.

The committee is made up of a diverse group of National Federation and Sport Organizer skateboard judging experts.

Why?

The aim of the international Skateboard Judging Commission is to standardize skateboarding judging criteria ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics based on what is universally agreed and accepted in current skateboarding competitions.

What will the Olympic Skatepark look like?

World Skate says "it supports the idea of skateparks being unique in design thus enhancing progress and creativity of skateboarding. For this reaspon Worl Skate will not release any official skateppoark designs for the Olympic competitions."

Instead, World Skate will disclose criteria and examples enabling skatepark designers to create skateparks that match Olympic standard.


Some countries have identified the athletes they hope will make it to the Olympics and are already named them and are using resources to train them to get ready - has the USA done the same?

We know at this point that letters have been sent to the athletes the USA wishes to have on the USA Olympic development team, but no formal/public announcement has been made.  As soon as the info can be released we will share it with you!

Women's skateboarding is growing at a faster rate than anyone probably anticipated, and 2018 was a stellar year all the way around - it started off strong and ended with even more great news for women in the sport.  The best thing to happen this year was Vans stepping up to offer the women equal prize money at all the stops on the VPS Tour, that in turn encouraged other comps to follow suit. But read on, to see a ton of other great things that happened this year as well!

Happy New Year!!   xo GN4LW



JANUARY

Lizzie Armanto gets her own signature wheel from Bones!

We had an awesome "Girl Power" and "It's Not About Pretty" Book launch party at The Odell's in Silverlake and we put up another female skateboarding billboard on Sunset Blvd. in celebration.

GN4LW team rider, Minna Stess, is featured in the new Lego Commercials.

Transworld announces its readers choice awards categories and now there is a specific category for female skaters - making history!!

Nina Moran from The Skate Kitchen Crew gives an inspiring TEDx talk.

Leticia Bufoni gets her own pro model board and it launches with 3 different graphics!


FEBRUARY

Dusters x GN4LW launches the new "Girl Power" cruiser.

Nora Vasconcellos gets her own pro wheel with OJ.

AU Bowl-riding Championships has GN4LW team rider Poppy Starr Olsen taking 1st place!

Lacey Baker designs a new Nike Bruin Hi sneaker and it sells out fast!

70's / 80's skaters, Judi Oyama, and Pattie Hoffman are inducted into The Skateboarding Hall of Fame.

Lacey Baker gets her own pro wheel with Spitfire.

Vans announces more stops for the women on the VPS tour this year and equal prize money! 

Margielyn Didal graces the cover of Blunt Magazine.

 Lizzie Armanto is on the pages of SHAPE Magazine about getting fit.

Au's Sabre Norris, comes seemingly out of nowhere, to win Australia's Bowl-a-Rama comp!

The book, "Skateboarding is Not a Fashion", come out and we get to see 70's fashion in skate, from not only the guys, but some of our fav female rippers like Judi Oyama.


MARCH

GN4LW Team rider Zoe Benedetto scores an article in Stuart Magazine about the next generation!

Downhiller Calleigh Little speaks out to Buzz Feed about her solo cross country skate journey.

Lacey Baker is featured in the New York Times discussing why she'd like to see more girls skateboarding.

GN4LW Ambassador, Elise Crigar, is featured in the video "Women on Wheels".

Old Navy runs a commercial featuring female skateboarders and BM riders... in dresses. 

Female skate emoji's finally drop - but it's a 3rd party app so it doesn't work on Instagram - Boo!

GN4LW team rider, Poppy Olsen, wins the women's division of Bowzilla Gold Coast - and the biggest news was the comp had equal prize money! 

NHS x Thrasher put together an all-female skate video titled "Please Don't Grab My Boob", the title was weird, but the skating was great.

Vans Girls Combi announced that the women's prize purse would match the men's this year - $65,000 - that was HUGE news!!

Vans puts on a girls skate night in major cities from coast to coast - it's called GET ON BOARD and features a photography show, skate clinics, free Vans shoes and more.

Nora Vasconcellos makes women's skate history - you can now put together a complete "Nora" board - Nora Welcome Skateboards deck, Nora Krux trucks, and Nora OJ Wheels and Nora Mob Griptape!



APRIL

The Venice Ladies Jam is back again with Heidi Lemmon and crew at the helm - girls took over Venice Skatepark all day competing and having fun!

Nicole Hause is on Thrasher's "Firing Line". 

Ikea came out with a few skateboard products and the shoe/skate rack was the one to hack and make your own!

Downhill racer, Emily "The Prosecutor" Pross, made history by winning the OPEN class in International Downhill Federation Racing at a race in the Philippines!

We released the #GirlPower skate video promo that Lifetime TV did for us and it was a big hit!

Nora Vasconcellos was part of the Adidas "Das Days" interview on The Nine Club - and she was hsyterical!

Skater/artist, Gabrielle Brownfield designs a wheel for Speedlab's "Artist Series".

GN4LW team rider, seven-year-old Briel Weingartner, is featured on the site Pop Sugar and her video goes viral.

The King of Concrete contest took place in AU and GN4LW team rider Grace Cochrane took 1st!
2nd Shanae Collins, 3rd Charlotte Heath

Zara Percy is featured in the new Dusters video promoting our new "Girl Power" board.

The 420 Games take place at Venice Skatepark and Jordyn Barratt claims victory for the women's division.  Hanna Zanzi 2nd, Julz Lynn 3rd.


MAY

The SLS women's comp in London had these three ladies on the podium; 1st Jenn Soto,  2nd Lacey Baker, 3rd Mariah Duran.

Samarria Brevard's new pro model from Enjoi, "Uprise" launches and gets some major attention. 

X-Games Norway women's street comp has these podium results;  1st  Leticia Bufoni,  2nd Lacey Baker, 3rd Pamela Rosa.

The new Dusters x GN4LW  "Girl Power" video launches to celebrate the Girl Power board release.

Amelia Brodka gets her own pro model wheel with Speed Lab.

 Vogue India profiles our book, "It's Not About Pretty" and discusses the girls skate scene in India.

GN4LW team rider, Poppy Starr Olsen, takes the win at the VPS Continental Championships Oceana which secures her place at the VPS finals in China. Sabre Norris lands second and Charlotte Heath 3rd.

Florida's Grace Marhoefer graces the cover of Coping Block Magazine!


JUNE

We published another book, this time for UK based photographer Charlotte Thomas. The book "Concrete Girls"  chronicled the women's skate scene in the UK - it becomes the 2nd book under the Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word publishing group.

The Volcom La Kantera Invitational in Spain sent invites out to the women this year! USA's Jordyn Barratt and Minna Stess flew over to be part of the contest and brought home 1st and 2nd! Madeleine Larcheron took home third.

Brighton Zeuner was not only up for an ESPY award but also a Nickelodean Kids Choice Award! 

Lizzie Armanto gets a capsule shoe/apparel collection with her sponsor Vans!  

We did a fun interview with our fave street artist/skateboarder, Lola "The Young Vandal".

Sabre Norris makes her USA debut and takes 1st at the park qualifiers in Boise for the upcoming X-Games.

The Mixt Studio x GN4LW tote bag collection launches and team rider Kyra Williams models for the ads!

Photographer Ken Hada starts a podcast with skateboarders called "I Had a Conversation..." and he features Lizzie Armanto and Julz Lynn right out of the gate! 

The VPS Brazil comp brings out so many women!  Results were;  1st Sakura Yosozumi, 2nd Yndiara Asp, 3rd Brighton Zeuner



JULY

Vans Continental Championships Huntington Beach had Dora Varella taking the win again this year and giving her the all expense paid trip and entry into the VPS Championships in China! 

Brighton Zeuner edges out Sabre Norris to take the win at X-Games Minneapolis in park. Sakura Yosozumi comes in 3rd. 

In women's Street at X-Games Minneapolis,  Mariah Duran took the Gold, Aori Nishimura - Silver  and Bronze went to Alexis Sablone

Dickies announces that it will start making girls appareal and the mini shredders are stoked!

Adidas launches the new Nora Vasconcellos skate shoe and its a hit!

GN4LW team rider, Minna Stess, takes 1st at the Mystic Cup in Prague!

GN4LW team rider Zoe Herishen is featured skating in the new J. Balvin & Lennox music video.

The Dew Tour Pro Park Finals in Long Beach, CA had a women's division this year (no more skating against the guys!) 1st Nicole Hause, 2nd Bryce Wettstein, 3rd Jordyn Barratt.


GN4LW team rider Zoe Benedetto takes home her first national title in Explorer Super Girls at the NSSA Surf Comp here in CA.


AUGUST

History is made - Lizzie Armanto is the first woman to make the Loop - Tony Hawk posts the video and it goes viral!

The movie everyone has been waiting for, The Skate Kitchen, is released in theaters nationwide.

INSTYLE Magazine features high fashion looks on local Venice skaters, Quinne Daniels, Vianez Morales, Dalia Lundquist, & Miquell Benson for their big September Issue!

Vans Park Series Huntington Beach podium results were; 1st Kisa Nakamura, 2nd  Jordyn Barratt
3rd Brighton Zeuner


SEPTEMBER

Lacey Baker is in the new Nike Campaign and people are stoked!

Vans Park Series in Malmo, Sweden podium results were; 1st Jordyn Barratt,  2nd Kisa Nakamura
3rd Brighton Zeuner

The VPS Continental Championships results were;  1st Amelia Brodka,  2nd  Lilly Stoephasius,  3rd   Shani Bru - Amelia's win qualified her to compete at the VPS Championships in China. 


GN4LW Ambassador, Quinne Daniels, is featured in a commercial for the Disney Princess  VIVOFIT JR.2  Fitness Tracker from Disney and Garmin 



OCTOBER

 
The women's World Championships for park took place in Nanjing, China and the podium was; 1st Sakura Yosozumi,  2nd  Kisa Nakamura, 3rd Poppy Starr Olsen.

Brighton Zeuner took home her 2nd VPS Chamnpionship in Suzhou, China.

GN4LW Ambassador, Quinne Daniels, is featured in "That Kinder Magazine" bringing back 70's skate style and we love it!

Mariah Duran, Leticia Bufoni and Aori Nishimura all earned medals in the Women’s Skateboard Street competition at X-Games Sydney.

We gave away our third micro-grant to the all girls skate group in Salt Lake City led by Noelle Sanders, Salty Bitches.

Dusters x GN4LW in collaboration with artist Jim Rugg launched the cruiser board, Street Angel.

Mini shredder, Sky Brown stars on "Dancing with the Stars, Jr."

Pro skater Leticia Bufoni and model/skater Izzy Wild are featured in Paris based fashion label Zadig & Voltaire's new fragrance launch for "Girls Can Do Anything".



NOVEMBER

Nora Vasconcellos is up for Thrasher Magazines "Skater of the Year" - she is the only female skater on the list. 

Margielyn Didal receives a pro model from her sponsor Eight Five Two Shop.

GN4LW ambassador, Elise Crigar, is featured on the highly acclaimed podcast, "Adventures in Design" and San Diego's "Voyage Magazine" all in one week!

Exposure Skate throws their annual contest that draws female skaters from around the world with a 2 day Pro & AM comp in Encinitas, CA.




 DECEMBER

Pro street skater, Leticia Bufoni, is now the athletes representative for World Skate as we head into the Olympics in 2020! 

HBO announces that they are creating a TV comedy series based on The Skate Kitchen crew.

Cebu pro street skater, Margielyn Didal, is named one of Time Magazines most influential teens of 2018!

Pro park skater, Arianna Carmona gets a pro model from Moonshine Skateboards.

Jessie Frietze-Armenta wins the ladies division of the OG Jam Series.

GN4LW team rider, Grace Cochrane, scores a well deserved scholarship from the Tasmanian Institute of Sport to help towards her goal of competing in the Olympics!
 

Lizzie Armanto has some serious style when she skates - check out this new short video she did for "My Indys".

Photo Ian Logan

It's been a fun year with so much going on in women's skateboarding. More than we could have ever imagined, and that is great news. There were pro models for quite a few female skaters, a Hollywood movie about a legit skate crew, an awesome women's skate shoe that sold off the shelf for Nora, and the Olympics are coming, which has been a great equalizer for the best news of this past year - equal prize money for the women!!

And our crew of Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word skaters + support crew is stronger than ever, so big shout out everyone who helps us make this happen day after day, because we could not do it alone.

Skate Crew:

Minna Stess
Grace Cochrane
Amanda Caloia
Emma Houle
Zoe Herishen
Ruby Lilley
Briel Weingartner
Kat Folsom
Kyra Williams
Zoe Benedetto
Quinne Daniels
Kala Baltasar
Elise Crigar

And the awesome ladies from "She Skates Here"!


Support Team


Ian Logan - Staff Photographer
Joanne Barratt - Contributing Photographer abroad
Kristin Lawson - Marketing & PR + online sales
Stephanie Wise - Intern 
Candy Dungan - PR Releases
Eric Bangle - tech + coding guru
Elise Crigar - photos, design, moral support + more
City of Hermosa Beach & Hermosa Historical Society

Business Team

Dusters California & Dwindle Distribution x GN4LW collab boards
Sunshine Canteen x GN4LW collab tee line
Artists - Jim Rugg / "Street Angel" & P.C. Witte / "Girl Power"
Diemen Distribution - AU and beyond for our book & apparel line
Mixt Studios x GN4LW bag collab
Jol Designs - who executes all our crazy ideas
Wrenn Management - business support, legal and contracts
Flower Child - ongoing support of GN4LW and team rider Amanda Panda 
She Shreds (aka Gina Duffy) - longtime support of GN4LW
Metiza Magazine - we are stoked to be partners with these ladies!

All of the awesome stores all over the world that carry the GN4LW products.

And YOU!

Thanks for staying tuned to all the daily news we post and for all of your support!

Now get out, have some fun and Skate!!



Happy Holidays from the entire GN4LW Crew!

Photo Nick Guise-Smith / ESPN

All info via World Skate & Inside the Games

It was just announced that 25 year old pro street skater, Leticia Bufoni,  has been named as the athlete's representative at World Skate. Leticia will take a seat on the governing body's Executive Board.

Bufoni's role has been described as "essential", with skateboarding debuting at the 2020 Olympics, which is less than 2 years away.

"I'm so proud to welcome Leticia Bufoni on board and I'm confident that she will put all her enthusiasm and skills in a role that I don't hesitate to define fundamental for the correct development of our world," said World Skate President Sabatino Aracu.

Both street and park skateboarding competitions for men and women will be held at Tokyo 2020.

Hot the heels of her DWTS Jr, win, 10 year old skateboarder Sky Brown is featured in these new online ads for the Nike Air Force 1. Check out the video where Sky talks about her own personal style.

Photo Joe Hammeke / Thrasher Magazine

We are stoked to see this new Lizzie Armanto x Birdhouse deck with artwork by Mark Mothersbaugh come out. It's called "Mutants" and it's 8.25 x 32 and seems to come in a few color ways. Looks like this may be the most popular artwork on a Lizzie board yet!

We were able to find it online right now at the following places

Cow Town

Skatepark of Tampa

Warehouse Skateboards

+

PARTNERSHIP

We are proud to be partnered with Metiza Magazine!

In fact, you can read articles from some of our favorite skater and surfer girls on their site - learn about how to make positive changes in the world, hear what other girls & women are doing to encourage female equality in their sport and much more.


More about Metiza


Metiza is a positive online community focused on young women inspiring and encouraging one another to be their best selves. We hope to instill a sense of purpose, confidence and love of authentic self into every person. Every voice is important, valuable and worthwhile and Metiza lets those voices shine.

We want to start a new conversation, one that celebrates the extraordinary within the ordinary, featuring everyday girls doing everyday, amazing things. True, honest, authentic, awesome.


We know young women are the key to change and a vital part of the paradigm shift happening in our world. They have a voice that is valuable; not just listening to advice from those who have been there, but sharing their own stories. BY each other, FOR each other.

                                                                          ~ Paige Bird

The Metiza Story

Metiza came about through a conversation between a mother and daughter, commiserating about the bombardment and skewed “celebrity oriented” content being delivered to girls today. Content that unrealistically defines what’s beautiful, real, and meaningful, setting us up for inevitable failure by comparison.

Selina and Paige - co-founders of Metiza

We added a lifelong best friend, who’s passion for empowering young people gives her purpose, and got to work. We wanted to start a new conversation, one that celebrates the extraordinary within the ordinary, featuring everyday girls doing everyday, amazing things. True, honest, authentic, awesome.

We knew young women had to be part of the conversation. They have a voice that is valuable, not just listening to advice from those who have been there, but sharing their own stories.

 ###

Do you have something to say and you'd like to be an online contributor to Metiza writing articles that are published and read by a global audience?   Read their guidelines and apply via this LINK - and tell them Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word sent you!

All info via Variety & Deadline

If you loved the Skate Kitchen movie, get ready, because HBO is developing a female skateboarding comedy series that hails from Crystal Moselle and Lesley Arfin.

Inspired by the film “Skate Kitchen,” which Moselle directed and co-wrote, the untitled series is set against the backdrop of New York City and will follow a diverse group of young women navigating their lives through the predominantly male oriented world of skateboarding.

Moselle and Arfin will write and executive produce the series, with Moselle also attached to direct.

“As girls we were never brave enough to try skateboarding,” Arfin and Moselle said. “We’re excited to work on a project that could potentially get other girls to feel inspired enough to face their fears, fight the patriarchy and start shredding. Women are changing the game across industries all over this country. Why not add skateboarding to that list?”


Will the orginal Skate Kitchen crew star in this series? We hope so, these rad ladies are what make The Skate Kitchen what it is! 

 We're stoked to see that these girls skate sessions are still happening on a regular basis at The Cove Skatepark in Santa Monica!

The next Girls Skate Session at The Cove will be this Saturday, December 15th from 10am - 12pm.

Please help spread the word and remind anyone new to The Cove that they must register in advance as the Parks & Rec office won't be open at this time.

See you Saturday!!