Skateboarding as an intersection to promote social inclusion, gender equality and mental health.

ongoing

Skateboarding has been proved to be an effective tool for positive youth development. Its popularity is also growing, attracting the attention of youngsters into the practice of this sport, despite persisting barriers to girls’ participation. The SKATEBOARDING BEYOND project aim is to encourage youth social inclusion through the practice of skateboarding, complemented with creativity workshops, tackling transversally health and mental wellbeing, gender inequalities and overall life skills. The project focuses on children aged 8-12 mainly who are at risk of social exclusion, placing special attention on girls. The project works through a partnership made up of 3 nation-wide implementing organizations representing the roller-skating federations of Spain and Germany, and the skateboarding association of Sweden, and 2 strategic organizations that will support the development of the innovative methodology, its testing and evaluation. In addition, a wider network of local and regional organizations will ensure that the methodology has a direct follow-up in its implementation phase, while amplifying beyond and scaling up in other European countries. As a result of the initiative, inclusive skateboarding communities for young children will be developed, involving 400 children in the program, and 50 trainers/instructors/coaches will be trained. The project will have multiple impacts: on one hand it will contribute to the creation of a more inclusive and accepting skateboarding community that provides greater opportunities for girls to participate and take ownership. On the other hand, it will provide an outlet for children at risk of social exclusion to participate in a program that will help develop their life skills (e.g. creativity, teamwork, communication, etc.). Overall, the project´s impact will be within the scope of promoting positive mental health development and fostering social and personal development among children.