VISTA — Takeeia Perry’s kids have found community through skateboarding around the world.
“It’s a community that always embraces you, wherever you’re from,” Perry said.
Perry’s son Jaxson, 6, took to it when the family was living in Japan as part of his father’s military career. Now living in Point Loma, Perry’s daughter Vali, 8, began skating in November after seeing how much fun her brother was having meeting people and learning new skills.
Vali worked on her drop-ins on a half pipe on March 7 at LVL UP, an Olympic-level training facility in Vista, as part of Exposure Skate’s Skate Rising, a free learn-to-skate clinic.
“This is an opportunity for her to make friends and meet girls,” Perry said.
Girls ages 4 to 16 found and built that community while learning from a team of volunteer Olympians and professional skaters. The 133 skaters who signed up ranged in experience from those looking to sharpen vert ramp skills to others getting their first pushes.
The event featured donuts from Mochichi’s and coffee from Tidewell Coffee Co.
Taking place the day before International Women’s Day, the clinic also included a question-and-answer session with accomplished women from the skateboarding community.
Author Rebekka Strand told the audience that her career followed her imagination.
“One day I go out and skate and I see a little pebble and I think, ‘What if that pebble did this? What if it did that?’,” Strand said. “Maybe someone picks it up one day, paints on it and then I write a story — make a whole world out of it. And that’s what I really love to do.”
Singer Beebs said she wanted to be a zookeeper growing up, but realized “that we’re animals, too, so even when you interact with other humans you’re basically a zoo keeper, so it’ll always happen.”
“No matter what phase you’re in — whether you’re painting or skating or whatever — just know that it’s all fluid and you can do all of the things at the same time and they all go together and you don’t have to pick any one thing and you can change it at any point you want,” she said. “There’s no failures, just lessons.”
Perry said she tries to encourage her kids to continue trying new things and grow.
“It’s how you react to it and push through,” she said. “I just support and maintain my composure.”
Professional skateboarder, Erin Wolfkiel, coached Vali and helped ensure safety throughout the event.
Wolfkiel, who has competed in Exposure Skate events since 2013, said it’s a “fun experiment figuring out where everyone’s at” and “then giving them a really small incremental step to build that confidence” to attempt “the next, harder thing.”
“You can translate these skills into anything,” she said. “It’s all about finding that one thing that helps you build those little steps, and then you can apply it to work, to school, to life, to whatever you want to learn.
“It helps build girls’ confidence in a way that I don’t think anything else can. And it truly can transform your life. It did for me.”
George Mava said his daughter, Leah, 11, has been pushing to visit more skateparks and learn new tricks.
This was Leah’s second clinic with Skate Rising, and Mava said one draw has been that “they’ve got good mentors here.”
Leah said she is currently working on navigating ramps, but that her favorite part of skating is “trying out new things.”
How does she feel when she learns something new?
“Happy,” Leah said.
Though he did not skate himself as a kid, Mava said he appreciates the in-person and offline elements of the skate community. He added that the motivation to go outside, make friends, and keep learning — especially through events like those offered by Exposure Skate — has been great for his daughter.
“This is a perfect example of kids being kids,” Mava said.
