Womens Competition Skateboarding - The Facts
With 18 years of history and the biggest database of competition skateboarders in Australia, The Rumble prides itself on its glowing female discipline.
Read on to learn more about why its the right time to be a female in Skateboarding
History
Divisions
Females haven’t always had their own Womens division, and neither have males. Historically skateboarding events were ‘Open’ which was anyone can enter, it was not originally separated into males and females at all.
Transition around 2010s
Early 2010 saw the introduction of a separate Womens division, this didn’t split the competitions into Mens and Womens, but Womens and Opens, so Women could enter 2 divisions, with a historical moment at the QBowl event at Coolum Beach where Aimee Massie podiumed in both the Womens and Opens Division. This period is where Opens and Womens had equal prize money, event making it more advantageous for women who could compete in both the Womens and Open events.
The Official split - 2014
This was when it was officially split into Mens and Womens Divisions. It rolled out more commonly over the next couple of years in other organisers with the announcement of the Olympics.
2015 - Now
In Australia, Womens and Mens are equal prize money, and most events have equal opportunity eg, same amount of runtime on the course, both broadcast, and coverage.
The Facts
We’re loving the success of females in skateboarding. Here are some great facts so if you ever wanted to pick up a board, now is the time.
Participation
Female participation is on a continual high, with numbers closing in on surfing and expected to exceed it.
Grassroots is where we are seeing this, but also the key word retention, we are seeing a larger volume of girls continue to skateboard, which is the key to maintaining its success.
Leaders
If you think sports are male dominated, think again with skateboarding, you will be pleased to know:
The CEO of Skate Australia is Female.
The Previous President of Skate Australia Karen Doyle (female), is now the Vice president of Worldskate.
Australia has 3 skateboard judges at the Olympics, of this 2 out of 3 are female.
The National High Performance Coach is female.
The National Wellbeing Athlete Coach is Female.
Australia sent 9 skateboarders to Paris, of this, 5 of them are female.
The Skate Australia board is 50% Male and Female.
A number of great female run skateboard schools exist like Skatewell and Fastplant Skateboarding.
Most of our Olympic Women have grown up in competitions that provided equal opportunity.
If you are keen to be the next Haylie, Liv, Chloe, Arisa or Ruby, head to your local park, and if you need help find your nearest skateboard school.
If you are looking to compete for the first time, check out some of the competitions on our web pages.