{"id":53379,"date":"2024-03-26T07:00:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T07:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/?p=53379"},"modified":"2024-03-26T18:51:38","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T18:51:38","slug":"meetlondonlongboardgirls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/meetlondonlongboardgirls\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhenever I\u2019m with London Longboard Girls I feel at home\u201d: meet the skaters changing perceptions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('video');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-53379-1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/LLG-subtitles.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/LLG-subtitles.mp4\">https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/LLG-subtitles.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p><strong>London Longboard Girls arrive in Hyde Park with boards and protective gear on the stairs below the grand Royal Albert Memorial. But when they start to skate, the grey concrete path beneath them becomes something far greater.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Every month, the community of 100 skaters turn the sites of Hyde Park, Greenwich Docks, Decathlon Canada Water, Hog Hill Road, Nine Elms car park or Harrow Pump Track into a space to empower girls, women, trans and non-binary people.<\/p>\n<p>In the past year, Chloe Kourga, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chloekourga.com\/\">a Yoga teacher<\/a>, has become co-leader of London Longboard Girls and spoke to the <em>Sports Gazette<\/em> about how and why it was created.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_53394\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53394\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-53394\" src=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_7607-edited-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Chlo\u00e9 Kourga dancing on her longboard in Hyde Park\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_7607-edited-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_7607-edited-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_7607-edited-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_7607-edited-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_7607-edited-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-53394\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chlo\u00e9 Kourga longboard dancing &#8211; Credit: Evie Ashton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The group has met regularly for two years and is the London arm of Longboard Girls Crew UK, part of a global community that promotes similar projects all around the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The founders] were a few women in a very male-dominated field. They saw a need for a space just for women where they would feel more confident trying Longboarding out or just have a safe space to build a community of women,\u201d said Kourga who co-leads alongside Imi.<\/p>\n<p>Kourga stresses that the group, rather than being born out of sexist treatment, was started to address the current inequities in the sport, such as low participation among women and the trans community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was never a catalyst of something really bad that happened. It\u2019s not coming from a place of hating men or wanting to do something else. The feeling of the group was never to exclude.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe thought, is there a way to amplify women\u2019s voices even more and bring more women to the sport? Let\u2019s create one that\u2019s made for women by women and that\u2019s it,\u201d said Kourga.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_53397\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53397\" style=\"width: 961px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-53397 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_8878-edited.jpg\" alt=\"Group of longboard skaters sat in a circle listening to co-leader Imi Thrussell\" width=\"961\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_8878-edited.jpg 961w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_8878-edited-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_8878-edited-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 961px) 100vw, 961px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-53397\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Co-leader Imi running a session &#8211; Credit: Chlo\u00e9 Kourga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As part of encouraging participation amongst minority groups in sport, the co-leaders aim to change the narrative that longboarding is a dangerous sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The goal is to] make people not afraid to try this because it is still a very intimidating sport, especially when you see professional male skaters with an injury history and it looks quite scary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/oh-my-gosh-theres-a-girl-skating-the-massive-bowl-katie-pike-on-her-olympic-dream-and-defying-gender-norms\/\">break that stereotype<\/a>, and show it is a fun sport that you can do with your friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The meetups range from beginner and intermediate longboard dancing, freestyle, carving, and downhill workshops to, picnics, scavenger hunts and group cruises around London.<\/p>\n<p>However, it is the intangible sense of community and friendship that keeps members coming back.<\/p>\n<p>Kourga, who taught herself to longboard to cope with the lockdowns during the pandemic, values the support system the sport has brought her post-COVID.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLiving in London or in big cities can be quite lonely. So, it brings me so much joy to create friendships and be able to look back a year down the line at these people who met through longboarding and are hanging out all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_53399\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53399\" style=\"width: 1023px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-53399\" src=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_8869-edited.jpg\" alt=\"Four longboard skaters sat in a row with their boards\" width=\"1023\" height=\"682\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_8869-edited.jpg 1023w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_8869-edited-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_8869-edited-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1023px) 100vw, 1023px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-53399\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Chlo\u00e9 Kourga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For Polina Liu, a beginner who recently joined in December 2023, she thrived despite trying something out her comfort zone with no prior experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs soon as I stood on the board, I felt so challenged and decided, \u2018Oh my gosh, I need to learn to balance and develop all the skills because it was completely new to me.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s especially important to be somewhere where no one is going to judge or look at you in a weird way. If I did not feel comfortable and safe, I would not have continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut that is the beauty of this group. They make everyone feel so welcome and safe to give it a go,\u201d said Liu.<\/p>\n<p>To give up one\u2019s lunch break for a meet-up is a further testament to the groups enduring allure, as Anna tells the Sports Gazette.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is just something so wonderful about loads of people getting together in Hyde Park and just skating on concrete for a few hours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m going to learn some new things and be inspired by all the tricks that the girls are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the few hours <a href=\"https:\/\/www.londonlongboardgirls.com\/\">London Longboard Girls<\/a> inhabit the space below the Albert Memorial, it is no longer a stretch of grey concrete.<\/p>\n<p>To those who once thought skating was not for them, it becomes a place of euphoria and empowerment that they can call their own.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love the group so much. I just know that whenever I come, I\u2019m going to feel so at home and so happy,\u201d said Anna.<\/p>\n<p>Their next meet up is an Easter Egg Longboard Hunt on 6<sup>th<\/sup> April in Hyde Park.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_53395\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53395\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-53395\" src=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_9886-edited-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"London Longboard Girls sit in front of the Royal Albert Memorial posing for a photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_9886-edited-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_9886-edited-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_9886-edited-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_9886-edited-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sportsgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/IMG_9886-edited-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-53395\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Chlo\u00e9 Kourga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>London Longboard Girls arrive in Hyde Park with boards and protective gear on the stairs below the grand Royal Albert Memorial. But when they start to skate, the grey concrete path beneath them becomes something far greater. Every month, the community of 100 skaters turn the sites of Hyde Park, Greenwich Docks, Decathlon Canada Water, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":53395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[3584,3295],"tags":[4937,27,4935,3662,4936,181],"ppma_author":[4771],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.9.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u201cWhenever I\u2019m with London Longboard Girls I feel at home\u201d: meet the skaters changing perceptions -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Sports Gazette spoke to London Longboard Girls, a crew on a mission to empower women, break stereotypes, and create community through 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