Not such an early start, but 9 pm Saturday morning is a bit hard… Direction Lille for the french skateboard championships. Two and a half hours of voyage, a few speedy images of the town itself, reknown for the ‘cht’is’ and we were direct at the ‘Halle de Glisse’ where the comp was being held. Working for a female extreme sports programme, I was obviously on the look out for the girl skaters. A quick glance in the hall itself- no luck. Ok, so we’d come the day before the girls finals, but I was expecting one or two hanging around- but no.
So we went to the skate park outside as I continued my quest. Three girls were present. On the side lines. Watching. So, I decided to do some interviews, curious to know why they weren’t skating. The responses were a bit misterable, ‘I’m watching my boyfriend’ and two young girls who’d tried it once but hurt themselves and put themselves off.
So, in desperation, I asked them if they’d be happy to ‘re-try’ if I found a suitable teacher ! I grabbed one guy and asked him if he’d be up for the challenge, to which he agreed.
It just so happened my radar had indeed picked out the best of the bunch, as he happened to be a coach for Paris skate culture ! Result ? The girls love dit and said they’d definately continue !
A bit later, I indeed found a girl, but this wasn’t just any girl, Emilie was also a mother to a girl of 21 months ! Respect ! She reckons skating is her therapy from her screaming baby !
She ollied a few steps, backside 180’d and tail manualing for our filming.
To top off the day, I had a go at finger skating. I don’t know why, but I have NO finger coordination. I couldn’t even do an ollie. Boo hoo. The worst part, of course, was that there was this 6 year old absolutely ripping. The shame !!!! Did you know that finger boarding comes from a crew of American riders who would finger skate with credit cards ??