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7 PEOPLE A GIRL’LL MEET IN THE SKATEPARK

Cooler have written a funny article for you first time skate park users to give a heads up on the type of people you might encounter!
Don’t forget the Cooler Girls Only Jam at the HTC One park is TONIGHT at 6PM at the Old Selfridges Hotel on Orchard Street, London W1.
Free entry, free booze & free good times – Don’t miss it!

“Being a girl in a skatepark, you’re going to be confronted by a whole host of characters. So here to prepare you, we’ve listed some of them. This lot WON’T be at the Girls Only Session at the HTC One Selfridges skatepark on Thursday night, except for number 7…”

1) The Clingy Scooter Kid

If you’re at the park when schools out you will be confronted by a million and one scooter kids. They’ll be snaking and scootering all over the place. Getting in your way and staring at you, wondering if you can do a kickflip. Do not make eye contact! As soon as you chat to them they will become your new clingy friend. They will want to borrow your board, or help you learn a new trick or just generally stand next to you at all time. Not a good accessory…

2) The BMX Crew

You’ve got your eyes set on that quarter, ready to session it and as you roll up, what appears in your path? A crew of BMX-ers. It happens. They sit like a crowd of seagulls, right by the feature you want to hit. Pedals sticking out, wheeling forward and back. How to defeat them? Charge on through or ask them politely to move…

3) The Patronising Mum

With the mums watching on from the sideline, watch out, you may be getting judged. Aww look at that young girl learning to skate. Well actually I’m 27 and I’ve been trying to skate for years.. Mums aren’t always right and they often come with kids attached that run riot round the park.

4) The Helpful Skater Chap

Doesn’t sound so bad? And it’s not. The great thing about skating is that everyone’s up for giving some tips. We’ve had all sorts of tutors in the skatepark. Often guys get a kick out of being a good skate samaritan. So take those tips and maybe one day you can pass them on.

5) The Show Off

No matter what they are on – bmx, skateboard or scooter, there will always be a lad who sees the opportunity of a girl at a skatepark as the chance to show off. Purposely throwing tricks right in front of you, sneaking some eye contact here and there. Go on give them a nod, at least they are trying.

6) The Rad Old Dudes

They stick to their thing, often skating the pool or bowl. Best to watch in awe at their wisdom from afar, as they air out the bowl with their full body pads. Respect.

7) The Other Girls

Sometimes you’ll be super lucky and other girls will be at the skatepark too. You look at each other and nod. Automatically you are united by your boards.

Now it’s time to ignore the rest and skate. So come on down on to the HTC One Selfridges Skatepark TONIGHT (Thursday 3rd April) at 6-9pm and do just that!

Words by Hannah Bailey.

‘Cooler’ Girls Night at HTC One Park TOMORROW!

Don’t forget ladies, the GIRLS ONLY skate session at the newly opened HTC One Skatepark at the Selfridges Hotel in London is TOMORROW EVENING from 6pm until 9pm, there will be prizes and free cider!

“The night is for ALL GIRLS of ALL AGES and ALL ABILITIES. No RSVP necessary just show up and bring every girl you know!

htc1

Yes there’ll be pro cats like Lois Pendlebury, Helena Long, Stef Nurding, Jenna Selby, Maria Falbo & more showing us how it’s done. But there will also be girls who’ve never skated in their lives getting tips from the awesome skate instructor Amy Ram, & a bunch of us who haven’t skated properly since we were kids, falling down & laughing a lot.

Even if you just want to come down and watch you’re super welcome.
AND we have prizes! An HTC One (M8) Phone & Selfridges shopping vouchers, for categories such as best trick, best beginner & more.

It’s free, it’s totally unique (a skate park…in Selfridges!) & it’s going to be awesome, come down and see!” – Cooler Mag

Sort it out, Marie Claire

“Now you’re looking the skate part, it’s time to get on board. Not literally. Do not, we repeat, do not, attempt to mount a skateboard unless you are a professional. We tried it once, and it did not end well. If you feel like really blending in then, sure, bring along a deck, but it’s an accessory NOT a mode of transport. Besides that, you’re good to go.”

You might have seen the link we shared over on our facebook page yesterday afternoon from Marie Claire regarding the opening party of the new HTC One park, “So, this is where all the hot single men have been hiding?”

Whilst we get that this is obviously supposed to be lighthearted and satirical, we still can’t help but feel a couple of Nellie Eden’s comments were slightly irresponsible, and if even one girl heeds the advice to “never mount a skateboard” then that is one too many skaters lost.

Other females from the skate community (not just skateboarding) have been up in arms about this however, leading to a comments such as…

“It reads straight out of an early 80’s Jackie mag. Your readers deserve better!”

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“I honestly cannot believe the audacity of your recent post on skateboarding. Telling females to stand around as an accessory is disgusting. Maybe you could encourage woman to be more than just an object and not drag us back to the 19th century.”

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“We are meant to be empowering young women and encouraging them to find outlets which aren’t solely based on appearance. This article is sexist as it is naive, narrow minded and judgemental.”

——–

“This defines all of the attention seeking girls that hang around skateparks. You’re a retard, if you go to skate park for dating you have some social skill problems.”

We couldn’t print some of the other ‘less kind’ comments that we’ve seen as some of our readers are very young, but we can safely say that this article has not gone down well and we have a feeling it will be simply brushed off as an April Fool – lets hope it is!

The whole article in itself is pretty laughable – from the £95 t-shirt to the awful sleeveless leather jacket. If Marie Claire wanted some insight on ‘skate fashion’ they should have looked up Model & Fashion student Stef Nurding, who also happens to be rad on a skateboard! For one of the best selling fashion magazines, we expected better.

Read the original article here

Let us know what you guys think!?

Regular Girls Skate Nights in Manchester!

After the success of the previous girls only night at Projekts skatepark in Manchester, they have decided to make this a monthly event! Rad!

The girls only nights will be on the LAST THURSDAY OF EVERY MONTH and at the moment, are absolutely free! Safety equipment is also available to use free of charge!

We caught up with Zoe Tyler, a park local and organiser of these sessions…

“At first I thought the night was going to be a bust, it came to around 7pm and only one girl had shown up, then floods of girls came and there ended up being around 11 girls in total, which i was stoked on, considering there was such short notice and no advertisement of the event. And it chucked it down, but us girls hacked this yuck British weather.

Rachelle managed to land her first rock ‘n’ roll after telling me she couldnt do it, but she committed to it, and killed it.

Alabama Griffiths had her first ever skate lesson, she had never stepped foot on a board before the session, but by the end was dropping in off different ledges!

Little 7 year old ripper Mia absolutely smashed the mini ramp. There was no holding her back, nothing was too big for her to drop in. Shes one to keep an eye on in the future I’m seeing great things for her. She had those rock fakies on lock down.

But in all honestly, all the girls smashed it and each and every one of them conquered their fears and continuously gave effort for the whole night.
The girl skate scene is growing faster than I could ever imagine, when I was 18 I knew only two other girl skaters, now I cant keep count of all these new emerging girls who just KILL IT. ‘Nuff said, keep shredding girls!”

Just incase you were thinking of attending one of these girls only events for the first time, we had a little Q&A with Zoe to give you an idea of what you can expect to get up to!

What is the range of ability at these sessions?
We had girls there who had never stepped on a board in their life, girls who had had a 15 year skate gaps. ‘converted’ rollerbladers *fingers crossed*. It was great to see such a mixture of ability coming together as one helping one another and pushing each other to step it up.

How is the coaching? Laid back, Formal?
I’d say we take a laid back approach to coaching we don’t want it to be like a classroom experience, however we are always on hand to give hints and tips and just give those little pushes when needed. I was lucky to have Sheffield coach Danni Gallacher on hand to help with the load (Thankyou!) but generally all the girls bounced off each other and I found that some of the less experienced girls were even giving me tips in the end, rad!

What kind of atmosphere is there?
I couldn’t have asked for a sweeter bunch of skaters to come to the first girls session! There was a wide range of ages but everyone had a good natter and skate. Everyone gelled and helped each other out like the skate community should be.

What do you like about these girls only sessions?
I loved the night, its a rarity that I get to skate with girls so i felt blessed that everyone showed there faces… Lets face it all we see is boys tearing it up and owning everywhere which is cool but you just cant beat a good old cruise with the girls.
Girls get me so much more hyped on challenging myself and generally getting on it.

If you need any more info on these girls only sessions, just contact 0161 276 0951

Girls Skate Jam at Exist Skate park in Swansea!

Exist Skatepark in Swansea will be hosting their first ever girls jam and comp on the 31st May at 4pm, just £5 entry!
It’s open to all ages and abilities, with loads of prizes courtesy of the sponsors below!
This isn’t one to be missed and we will be there in full force!Little Ione Atkinson features on this years flyer, we will have some more info on Ione coming very shortly so keep them peepers peeled!