An Initiative that Does Not Stop in the Face of Adversity

In sports like skateboarding, women are still a minority. What constitutes urban culture, in many ways, continues to be the antonym of femininity. The aesthetics of skateboarding tricks, jumping jacks, and extreme sports rarely go hand in hand with preconceived female roles.

Fortunately, social networks have been allied and become a tool to amplify messages as a viral tool. Especially on Instagram, the new video functionalities have presented a perfect channel for disciplines such as roller dance, roller quad, and skateboard to become a trend and amplify the voices of women of all kinds around the world who are practicing interested in it. sport. Sports with wheels.

And although the practice can be individual, nothing better than accompanying them with other interested people and practitioners of this modality. These initiatives have seen sports teams and diverse communities, accompaniment, and popular meeting spaces in Colombia.

Squadrilla DC, Hell On Quads, ElectTeam, VIGA, Maquinaria and those that would later be added as Centro Slackline Bogotá, Cabrona, NSM Circo, Acid Blades, Bowl de la Rana, Female Wheels and El Feeling, Skatos Roadrunners, and Sobre Ruedas Girls are some of the examples of this world in Colombia, some of them even ventures led by women from different regions.

Also read: The Woman Who Achieved The Unthinkable

In 2017, 3 women skaters in Bogotá, Colombia, responded to a hostile environment with women in sport and sought to create spaces that can help encourage more girls and women to skateboard, they decided to form their first sports and popular social project.

The case of the Sobre Ruedas Girls collective in Bogotá is interesting to make visible. It was born as a community and non-profit organization in 2017. They currently have a community of over 10,000 people on Instagram, almost 20,000 on Tiktok, and a growing audience on Facebook and YouTube.

And throughout its three years of existence, its creators and community have made great efforts to organize and manage inclusive spaces for the practice of sports. With events, they began to attract women who play sports on wheels and consolidate a community with the constant participation of more than 40 women. The case of this group has had the support of the District Institute for Recreation and Sports (IDRD) and the Secretariat for Women.

Over time, they have established themselves as a collective ambassador to consolidate a crew and training and have even classified participants and athletes in different tournaments and exhibitions.

They have a program called "Amor por las Ruedas" where they aim to share through stories the experience that each of the speakers has had as an athlete from different social contexts. In this particular project, they have had more than ten national and international guests: renowned skating athletes (Colombia, Peru, Spain); skate (Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina); health professionals and male athletes familiar with the history of national skateboarding.

When the world had to stop turning, the wheels didn't. Wheels on girls and the world's skaters went ahead, with protocols, workshops, meetings, and the community supporting various initiatives through social networks with virtual classes on Zoom and Lives on YouTube.

After 25N, they were a vital part of the collective organization that developed within the day's demonstrations, both accompanying the demonstration in the streets and calling all the girls and women to participate in an exhibition and masterclass at the arrival point of the demonstrations.

More than ten virtual training sessions have been held with teachers of different modalities and countries. Show that sport and community can break boundaries, limitations, and promote movement even with the planet stopped.

Girls on wheels can be found on Instagram: @sobreruedasgirls, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sobreruedasgirls and TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sobreruedasgirls