Kickflipping My Way Into the Community
By Mateo Rodriguez
When I arrived to Úmbita, my site in Boyacá, I wanted to make the best first impression. I was moving to a conservative community, and I wanted to feel comfortable with them. I felt nervous to take out my skateboard and be perceived as someone who’s not serious. After a week in my new town, meeting community members through my host family and walking around, I felt a little more comfortable and began to take my skateboard to the local sports center where I would skate in peace and renew my energy for integrating into the community.
Kids would walk into the sports center and watch me as I tried to land a series of tricks that they had never seen before. I grew more confident showing off this passion of mine and started to ride down the giant hill that led down to my neighborhood. The brick roads would make a loud rumbling sound, and my neighbors started to recognize this sound as a sign I was back in the neighborhood.
Kids began stopping me and asking to ride my skateboard, and I came to realize that skateboarding could be a great opportunity to integrate with the youth of my community. Skateboarding is an extreme sport that inspires creativity, art, style, and determination; riding a skateboard can be hard enough that it can take weeks of practice to land a new trick. So, I took this as an opportunity to inspire the kids to do something different.
I started talking about beginning a skateboard club with the kids in school and shared a survey to gather more information. After I had enough interest, I spoke with members of my skating community back home in Toledo, Ohio. These friends were ready to share skateboards with my students in Colombia. In July 2023, I took a trip home to visit family and friends for twelve days, and I came back with a suitcase full of skateboards—15 in total. It would take a couple of months to get the program set up after I got back to Úmbita. I worked with one of my counterparts to set up authorization forms for the participants, and I talked with the mayor's office to see where I could host the classes. I developed lessons and learned new vocabulary to teach the sport in Spanish.
In September 2023, I hosted my first skateboard class. We started with the basics: the parts of a skateboard, foot positions, how to go faster, how to stop, how to turn, and how to stay safe on a skateboard.
The club is held for four hours a week and it takes a while to gain the consistency to progress to the point of riding with ease and doing more advanced tricks. The kids return and practice more each week. Three students have even obtained their own skateboards to practice on outside of skate class. We have a couple cameras available so they can have fun and brag about their accomplishments.
Students have come and gone, but instead of repeating the same information, I give my returning students the chance to prove their knowledge. When I bring up a topic at the beginning of class, a returning student is required to give an explanation or demonstration. Returning students are also encouraged to share their knowledge and help the newer students progress.
To incentivize participation and alleviate my work, I implemented a rewards system into the skate program in August 2024. Each class, the students can earn fichas as a reward, which are painted bottle caps that represent Colombian bills. Each class, I elect a banker to distribute the fichas, an auditor to help the banker, and a photographer to take class photos. These students receive additional fichas for their help. Hydration is important, so I offer free water to students that bring water bottles to class. Students without a water bottle are charged two fichas. When the students save enough, they can rent skateboards, soccer balls, and magazines for a week at a time. They can also purchase stickers that were donated by skate shops in Tunja, Bogotá, and Toledo.
Later in the fall, I held an open-invitation art contest for our skate club’s new look: our official logo. We had submissions from Colombia, Argentina, and the United States. Ultimately, we chose a design from one of our own Úmbitanos that would become our new skate logo and profile picture on Instagram.
Before this project finishes in December 2025, I have several more goals for my club. The first is to set up a library system for students to rent skateboards. Before checking out skateboards, parents of participants would need to sign an authorization form and students would need to watch training videos created by our skate club. I also plan to start a digital media club where students can use our cameras to record our skate club activities, community events, and create videos. Another goal is to raise funds for protective equipment. We have been very fortunate to only have minor injuries, as I encourage participants to skate within their abilities. However, I have already contracted for two skate obstacles to be built, and with these exciting advances, I need to continue to protect my students and encourage them to skate safely.
It has been so much fun to watch the club and students progress. The club is for everyone: parents, kids, friends, and people that want to try something new. I’ll be forever thankful to Úmbita for letting me build a skate community in a place I will always consider home.
Disclaimer: The content of this publication is generated by individual volunteers. The opinions and thoughts expressed here do not reflect any position of the United States government or the Peace Corps.