Skateboarding
Skateboarding
Meet the woman taking South African women’s skating to the world
Vans Park Series, the premier league for professional park terrain skateboarding is slated for a finals showcase on October 26-27 in Suzhou, China, and our own Melissa Williams will be there.
The name Melissa Williams has been synonymous with South African skateboarding for as long as most can remember. It’s fitting then that she took out the women’s division of the first VPS African Continental Championships, which took place at The Shred in Cape Town in September. Now, this ambassador of radness is taking her act to the world.
“It feels a bit like I’m going to plant the flag on the moon,” the Capetonian says proudly. “It’s the first time ever that something like this has happened for women’s skating in South Africa and that is a huge step,” she says.
Patti Smith Tribute Portrait
© Jansen van Staden
The Vans Park Series World Finals is a huge deal because this is (to our knowledge) the first time that a South African female has ever competed internationally in a skateboarding contest. "So for me I feel like that is a huge step," Williams says. "We as Saffa's are saying, we’re out here, it’s happening!"
And she is making it happen on a super busy schedule. Williams is not a professional athlete, but rather skates for fun, on top of being a drummer in a band, being an active competitive boxer and running her own social media and marketing company.
According to her, it's been really interesting just chatting to other women since her continental win. "Even those who aren't necessarily interested in skating or sport. They seem empowered and excited about it! That makes so stoked."
"There has been this sense of encouragement and upliftment and they are all just so amped about it, so the fact that these things happen, is a great thing for South Africa and makes us feel kind of like we're part of something bigger."
No Comply Wallie
© Jansen van Staden
Not only is it the first time a South African woman is going abroad to rep the country (and continent) but this for a bowl comp. Indeed, the VPS African Continental Championships was the first ever bowl contest for women in South Africa, if not the entire continent.
“Unfortunately we can’t necessarily say that this upward trend will keep going, because we’ve seen in some huge steps forward in skateboarding before, only for there to be massive regressions again,” Williams says, before adding that she is however super positive about the current state of women’s skating in the country.
“I’ve been skating now for 20 years (which is crazy) in the beginning I saw a girl skater like every five years or something – I’m not even joking – where now I can’t even keep track of how many girls are skating.”
Backside grind
© Jansen van Staden
Williams outlines how there are huge scenes all over. “There are girl skating groups in Joburg. There is a growing scene in Durban and every time I go skate the bowl I see some new young girls skating the park. There is a huge movement among the Indigo Skate Camp guys who are doing a lot of development in the communities and in Bo-Kaap there is a group of like 20 skaters. So, there is growth like never before for women.”
Williams believes this is coinciding I guess with something of a global drive in women’s empowerment. And, cannot give Vans enough credit for what they have done for skating – and women's skating in particular – in SA.
"Our skateboarding industry is really, really tiny in South Africa: There are only like one or two core skate stores; there are very few events and there are no major distributors anymore."
"So that is kind of weird, because the sport is growing but the industry is kind of stagnant. Before there were more distributors and brands involved but less people skating, which is kind of interesting. But someone like Vans and a few other brands, like Red Bull too, are still putting money behind skateboarding, which is amazing."
"I mean, equal prize money for men and women (at the SA Continental event) is almost unheard of in South Africa," she says.
Catch Williams flying the flag against the world's best later this week on vansparkseries.com:
The VPS Pro Finals will pit the top-ranking 2018 Pro Tour athletes against select VPS Continental Champions to present an extraordinary exhibition of men’s and women’s park terrain skateboarding in a custom-designed and purpose-built, VPS-certified park terrain competition course, built by California Skateparks. For more information on the venue, final competitors field, and to watch the official Vans Park Series Rider Profiles, visit vansparkseries.com.
