Congratulations to Sky Brown, UK's Youngest Summer Olympian of All Time

[EmbarrassingAdmissions]

Tokyo 2020: Skateboarder Sky Brown set to become youngest British summer Olympian of all time
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The 2019 world bronze medallist - and first ever female to land a 'frontside 540' trick - is joined in the GB team by Bombette Martin, 14.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/57669299

Wow! She's amazing.

She fractured her skull skating last year and is straight back at it. And she started learning from Youtube!

Wow!

And bombette is a properly brilliant name!

(They both American really but I'll be cheering them! Not something we can really take credit for iyswim)

I'm so thrilled at the advances girls and young women are making in areas like skateboarding and snowboarding - and, so often, they start out with YouTube because the usual avenues aren't open to them.

They're splendid and such role models for other young people.

She is incredible. What an athlete!

Amazing athletes but neither are really British are they?!

The discussions about school sports and girls recently... show them this.

I realise skateboarding might be tricky to have as a regular part of PE... but it shows that sport isn't just running around after balls.

She's incredible. Her mum is Japanese and I read (no idea where) that she initially competed for Japan but GN was more relaxed so she switched, she lives in LA and Tony Hawk works with her, it was his ramp she fell from breaking her skull.

I'd be absolutely terrified if she was my daughter, but I love her attitude, hope she smashes it. The competition obviously, not herself!

Can you imagine the shit they get from blokes, though.

Only just thought of that.

They must be nails.

Nicegerbil my daughter skates and I can tell you that is so true. I’ve been blown away by the rudeness (and worse) of the lads at the skateparks and some of them are adults. As she’s just 11 I never let her go alone because of this and it restricts her. She can only practice when I’m free to be with her and with a full time job and a younger DS as well, that’s not enough time. Makes me mad as hell tbh

Well done that girl.

But once again it grinds my gears that netball is not included in the Olympics.

What's the name of the MNer initiated initiative that now has an excellent campaign and website? It was all around making public spaces fit for girls and part of that was the observation of why so many skateboard parks and similar facilities are unsuitable.

makespaceforgirls.co.uk/

Really interested to read this embarrassingadmissions and Sometimesfeedsthesparrows. Skate parks are not safe spaces for girls alone. Sexual graffiti everywhere, lads who congregate on the top of the ramps and won't give way when my DD is trying to go up (she's fallen off multiple times having to change direction when an apparent gap mysteriously closed as she approached), usually cut off from the rest of the 'nice' areas of the park and surrounded by bushes. My DD has been called names and bullied and incredibly this is sometimes from adults, men in their early twenties who think it is ok to behave like this. I once had to ask a guy who must have been either late teens or early twenties to please let my daughter through and got "F off, bitch" as a reply, directed at me, but staring at her. I was mortified that my DD had to watch me be unable to assert her rights and feel like her sport is the reason why I was being abused. I pay now for her to have lessons at an indoor skate park which has girls only sessions but it is expensive, time consuming to travel to and she can't practice outside of classes easily. I absolutely get that kids have no where else to go, especially at the moment and so congregating in skate parks is at least somewhere that feels like 'their' space. But a lot of the time they are just hanging out, not really using the space. I also get that skaters feel marginalised and pushed out, are often banned from skating in other public spaces and so feel defensive about the park. I'm not unsympathetic but I hate that my DD feels that she can only do her sport when 'protected' from others. Sorry, don't want to derail this thread. Skye Brown is amazing and such an inspiration for kids, especially girls like my DD!

[quote SometimesIFeedTheSparrows]makespaceforgirls.co.uk/[/quote]
Thank you!

I seemed to have tried every permutation of words but that.

Thewolvesarerunningagain - I so agree that whenever people bemoan why girls aren't more engaged in leisure or sports activities - the sort of nonsense and abuse you and your DD experienced is one of the many reasons.

I hope Sky and Bombette inspire lots of girls to go to skate parks - and there to be appropriate support for them.

My son told me about this. he thinks it's amazing what she is doing.

I agree about netball in the Olympics.

They are people such as Greg Rusedki who may have a British passport but I won't be cheering them on. Smacks of the days when so few British Olympic medals were won that things such as Zola Budd being given citizenship ahead of someone such as Spike Milligan who was in the British forces in World War 2.

Nice write up:

www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/01/skateboarder-sky-brown-to-become-youngest-british-summer-olympian

@Thewolvesarerunningagain
That's such a shame that your daughter doesn't feel welcome at the skate parks. Where do you live? My daughter skates too and we're lucky to live somewhere where girls are welcomed.