Who Says Girls Can't Skate?
Nov 14 2006 / Los Angeles, CA All across America girls are dropping in and lucky for them the Alliance is there for supportThere was a time, a little more than five years ago, when pro skater Mimi Knoop didn’t know that a women’s professional skate circuit existed. Having skated on and off since she was a little kid, the sport was a hobby that she picked up and put down throughout the years, setting it aside during times like college, when she played soccer. But one afternoon shortly after college, between pouring beers and shaking mai tais at her bartending job in the Virgin Islands, she glanced up at the bar’s TV on the wall to see a girls’ skate competition going on. At the age of 22, it was her first glimpse at the nascent women’s skate industry, and, she figured, her last.
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“I had no idea,” she said. “I had missed the boat. I was 22. I forgot about it, and only fell into skating later.”
After the islands and bartending days were done, Knoop found herself in Southern California, and casually entered her first skate comp in Huntington Beach. That day was the start of her now prominent skating career. Six years later, Knoop is working with fellow skating heavyweights Cara-Beth Burnside and Jen O’Brien to leave less up to chance for more women and girls who want to get in the park, and open some definitive doors for the next generation of riders.
Together, Knoop, Burnside and O’Brien started The Action Sport Alliance, a non-profit association dedicated to increasing opportunities for women in skating, and establishing a heavier female presence at the pro level. Under the guidance of athlete manager Drew Mearns, who used women’s tennis as a model, in skaters formed The Alliance in 2005. For years, the women’s contest and expo circuit has been far thinner than than that of their male colleagues, and their prize purses notoriously small. Given the skater’s individualistic mindset in an industry where athletes work independently with respective sponsors, creating a unified voice was a novel concept.
Knoop said that it was Mearns who “planted the idea of organizing” in their minds. “[Mearns] based The Alliance’s concept on the women’s tennis model of the 1980s. We had no idea—we’re just skaters—it was to our advantage to meet him. We put it together, and everything clicked.”
Developing a clear message with a unified voice is the foundation of the Alliance’s growing stature. The group, whose board includes Knoop, Burns and O’Brien, hit the public radar when they pulled an unplanned, labor-union-style tactic just three days before the 2005 X-Games. When The Alliance board realized that the X-purse for the female skater’s was paltry in comparison with that of the men’s, they came together and threatened not to skate the event. “It wasn’t pre-meditated, it just happened,” Knoop said. “We got a little leverage from that, we got heard—and it turned into a mission to improve things, to work more closely with event coordinators, whereas before we had no communication. It’s not going to happen overnight,” she added. “But the ball’s rolling.”
Ultimately, the women did skate the X-Games in ‘05, thanks to a last-minute conference call with one of the event chiefs. Knoop said he promised that if they skated the games, they could sit down with him next year and try and improve things.
A year later, on the cusp of the 2006 Games that hadn't happened. But there were some incremental successes in the wake of Alliance efforts. For example, Burns and O’Brien are now on the X-Games board that determines the event’s invitees. Their involvement led to the inclusion of new female skaters in the Games, including one from Germany and one from Brazil. With smaller prize purses and fewer opportunities for exposure, traveling to skate is an option for few female pros. Offering a chance to participate in a major US event like the Games to more skaters, then, is a definitive step forward.
A Half-Pipe of One’s Own
The effect of Knoop’s initial, chance glimpse at the industry she would later dominate remains her primary example of what women’s skating needs more of, and why media attention is a fundamental element in the growth of it. Her wake-up call that afternoon in the Virgin Islands illustrates the significance of media coverage for the women’s skate arena, and reflects another component of the Alliance’s over-arching goals. “The media plays (or should play) a significant role here,” Knoop said. “Without decent exposure, many [people] are not even aware that girls’ skateboarding exists. Even other girl skateboarders aren't aware of it.
Knoop knows that massive airs and power moves make for a compelling media event, and women —while aggressive and talented in many cases—don’t typically go as big, high, or fast as their male counterparts in crowd-pleasing events like vert. She acknowledged this relationship between the intensity of media interest and the quality and scope of the talent pool. “I think quality exposure is something that should increase and grow as the level of the sport grows, [but] we should get at least modest coverage at our biggest events to get it out there.”
Despite this discrepancy in style and ostensible audience value, however, Knoop believes women can occupy their own competitive milieu. In their efforts to further women’s skating, The Alliance could be a part of getting recognition for women’s skating on its own terms. “I believe that both vert and street are the same in that the men are at
a much higher ability [and] amplitude level than the women,” she said. “But, that doesn't
mean the girls aren't fun to watch. It's just different -- it's like apples and oranges. You like each one for completely different reasons.”
If and when The Alliance defines and propels women’s skating on its own terms, the challenge remaining is to determine where female skaters fit in the sphere of media coverage. As it stands, coverage of women in the sport—not unlike the rest of the action sport industry—operates under a ‘separate but equal’-type model. When asked if this is a productive approach—or if media integration is the long-term goal-- Knoop explained that extensive airtime for men’s events is still productive in The Alliance’s vision.
“We should definitely be integrated into the media that now primarily covers the men,” she said. “Because their girlfriends, sisters, and moms are right there watching the programs with them. It could spark an interest in action sports for the girls out there -- if the girls at home see girls skating on TV, then they will be more likely to want to pick up a skateboard themselves and have the confidence to do so in a male dominated sport.”
Building value, creating a presence and attaining recognition of such is the key to gaining support and spurring growth in any industry. While there is an increasingly robust roster of female-focused skate brands, the chicken-and-egg relationship between the scope, level and significance of female skaters to the skating arena as a whole and the attention, support and development it gets therein is in a creaking transition. The potential effect of the Alliance’s efforts in propelling such an increase in value is particularly evident in comparison to the boom in exposure and subsequent growth of the women’s surf arena. “Possibly,” Knoop ventured, “some mainstream exposure through movies like ‘Blue Crush’ gave girl's surfing the boost it needed. I remember girl's surfing having a big boom after that movie. Without television or big screen exposure, we (girl skaters) have no way to reach the masses of the general public. Therefore, we have no way to really grow the sport outside our own industry.”
-Who's Afraid of Girls Going Big? Click here>
-Check out the very cool Alliance website here>
