Some skateboarding enthusiasts didn't wait for the Grl Swirl collective to cross the Atlantic Ocean to encourage women to practice this sport in France.
In 2014, three Parisians founded the Realaxe association with this in mind.
On the program: regular gatherings, targeted at women but open to all, in skateparks across Île-de-France.
Last weekend, Realaxe was for example in Villiers-sur-Orge, in Essonne, and it will take over the Quai de Jemmapes in the 10th arrondissement on Sunday 11 September.
Today, the association has around a hundred members "from 6 to 45 years old and of all levels", who take part in lessons supervised each week by qualified teachers at the Espace Glisse de Paris 18 or at the Charonne skatepark. .
The South-West, land of sliding
But the capital does not concentrate all the initiatives that aim to promote the place of women in skateparks.
Passionate about sliding sports, Manon Lanza chose to set sail for Biarritz a few years ago to be able to devote herself freely to the practice of surfing… and skateboarding.
Marked forever by her discovery of the famous Venice Beach spot, the native of the North published a book last year entitled “Skateboarding seen by a passionate person”.
In this kind of guide, she seeks to take the plunge for people who are tempted but reserved at the idea of getting on a skateboard.
Over the past few years, the 28-year-old has made a name for herself on social media, including via her Instagram account @allonsrider.
On the latter, which has 170,000 subscribers, Manon Lanza publishes a lot of content, photos and videos, of her waterside sliding sessions.
Allons Rider is also the name of the website that she co-founded and which brings together testimonials and provides advice to practitioners of the famous triptych: skateboarding, surfing and snow.
Biarritz is also the city that saw the birth of the Skate'Her collective in the spring of 2021 under the leadership of Lucie Curutchet and Gaëtan Ducellier.
As its name suggests, the group wants to restore confidence in women interested in skateboarding and offers mixed lessons in small groups of eight at the Capbreton skatepark, in the Landes.
Less than two years from the Paris Olympics, skateboarding is winning over a growing number of enthusiasts across France.
