Skateboard Coaching – The new kid on the block
Skateboarding across the UK is booming right now, thanks to growth of people getting onto boards during the lockdowns and also through the media attention from the bronze medal attained by 13 year old Sky Brown for Team GB at last Summer’s Olympic Games.
The growth in skateboarding has emerged as an unlikely outcome from the covid lockdown, with its perfect match with quarantine restrictions; simply requiring a skateboard and a patch of flat ground, means that skateboarding can be practiced anywhere. A result of this has been bookings for skateboard lessons have gone through the roof, with some skate schools and skateboard coaches reporting 3 month waiting lists for places on courses after the Tokyo games.
Less than a decade ago there was very few people offering skateboard lessons, but last year alone Skateboard GB has reported more than 250 completing the Get Rolling Course, which prepares avid skateboarders to become coaches and teach next generation.
Skateboarding is a really tough skill to learn and requires many mental and physical skills to get to basic level. Schools are now recognizing that core skills can be transferable into real-life development, such as resilience, patience, balance, core strength, self development etc., allowing children to gain joy from learning to skateboard and develop with friends, but also learning a set of skills through the process.
It’s not your typical stereotype young-male skateboarder which is causing the spike in demand for skateboard lessons. The big increases have been in females taking up skating. Sarah Brownlow, 42, from Brighton took up skateboarding just 3 years ago and subsequently learned to coach through volunteering with Brighton & Hove City Councils Skate Programme. She has since been delivering at Brighton School for Girls, which a few years ago would have never considered skateboarding lessons.
Lead tutor at Skateboard GB Ricardo has helped in the courses evolution and has taught over 150 people last year. He commented “It is great to see the growth in the number of people wanting to get into skateboard coaching. I have seen such a great mix of people taking the course from old-school pro skateboarders through to school teachers who took up skateboarding during the lockdown who recognized the joy and benefits it can bring to learners by integrating it into their schools activity programmes. There is a real opportunity here to teach adults and children core skateboarding skills as a profession as well as a passion “
Skateboarding lessons are available across the UK through skate schools, at most indoor skateparks and through private coaches. Those looking to become a coach can get their coaching qualification through Skateboard GB.