ASR was a fun weekend and we got a lot of support from the shops and companies that attended. Our friend Colin stopped by the booth for an interview. Thank you for helping us spread the word.

Girls in Action Sports Unite!
September 11, 2008

I’m a huge fan and supporter of women’s skateboarding and I’ve been seeing Courtney Payne-Taylor and her Girls Riders Organization van all over the country as I’ve been traveling to different skate contests and events. I finally got a chance to catch up with her at ASR to find out what GRO is all about. Here’s a quick interview:

Q: I’m going to link over to the Girls Riders Organization website so people can learn more and find out about upcoming GRO events, but can you tell me quickly what GRO is all about?

Courtney Payne-Taylor: The Girls Riders Organization is a non-profit organization on a mission to inspire, educate, and support girls in action sports. We started off in skateboarding, we’re expanding to BMX next year, and then to motocross, hopefully, in 2011. The idea is just to fulfill the needs of girls in action sports at every level, from inspiring a girl to get on board in the first place to helping her progress to the next levels, get involved in competition, get sponsors, everything.

Q: Tell me a bit about where you’re coming from personally. How did you get into skateboarding yourself, and what inspired you to establish GRO to get other girls involved?

Courtney Payne-Taylor: I started skateboarding in Indiana. It’s one of those states where there are very, very few other girls skating. After a few months of doing it and just absolutely loving it and not seeing any other girls out there, I just felt that there was something missing, like, “I’m loving this, why aren’t other girls discovering this same sensation?” So I set off on a mission to find out what that answer was, what the concerns were that were keeping girls out of it, and to try to overcome that, because it’s such a wonderful thing to be involved in.

Q: When you look at the roots of skateboarding, women there from the start, as far back as the 50s, 60s, and 70s, but then it really dropped off and became more of a guys’ thing. What do think changed to push women out of the sport? What turned girls off of it?

Courtney Payne-Taylor: I wasn’t even born back then so I can’t really say, but I think when skateboarding first started it wasn’t all that renegade and aggressive, and girls were there in the beginning, because obviously it’s really fun to do. Then skateboarding went through several ups and downs and took on more of a renegade image, became something that was less acceptable in society. Those kinds of things impact girls more than guys, unfortunately, and I think it just pushed a lot of girls away from it. Plus, there’s just always been a lot more support around the guys, all around, which is sadly the same as in any sport. It’s a matter of the girls coming together, building a support system, and growing the level of involvement in skateboarding. Girls have been there from the beginning and we’re seeing more and more girls out there, so it’s getting to be where we’re undeniable.

Q: I’m seeing girls at almost every skatepark now, and I’m getting stoked to start taking my daughter out skating with me. What do you think has changed to facilitate that, and what more would you like to see changed to get to where your goals are for the organization?

Courtney Payne-Taylor: I think what’s really bringing more girls out at this point is that skateboarding is in the public face so much. They are seeing it, and the more they see it the more they start to think about it , and that’s why we’re starting to see more and more get in there. The awareness is out there now, so now it’s a matter of going from building an awareness around skateboarding to building an awareness around girls’ skateboarding and giving girls a place within skateboarding. That’s what we hope to do, and that’s why it’s really important for the magazines, for X Games, for everybody to really help push it out there and show what it’s about.

Q: Can you tell me about some of the specific things that GRO does?

Courtney Payne-Taylor: We basically just tour around in the van, going city to city, and we set up girls’ days at local parks everywhere we go. If you’re a new skater or you’ve never skated, we’ll teach you the basics of skating. If you already skate it’s an opportunity to come out and meet other girls, and if you’re really good and want to progress to the next level, we’ll help you out with getting to those next steps, getting to contests, and connecting with sponsors who want to support girls’ skateboarding. Next year we’re expanding out, and now that we’ve got so many girls on board and progressing, we’re starting a contest series with state and national contests, helping girls all over the country participate and be seen. We’re also starting an online video contest next year, which will allow girls internationally to compete against each other. We’re also building a team. Our team riders are all really young girls who are up and coming, girls nobody’s ever heard of before but who are coming up really fast and have really positive attitudes and want to help get other girls in their area involved.

Q: Can you tell me about the girls on the team?

Courtney Payne-Taylor: Yeah. They’re so awesome. The first girl we put on our team is out of Oregon. Her name is Justyce Tabor, and she’s 12 years old. Then there’s Erin Wolfkiel out of Middleton, OH. What I love about the new girls coming up is they’re not “bowl skaters,” they’re not “transition skaters,” they’re not “street skaters,” they’re skaters and they want to get involved in every aspect of it. They skate the pools, they skate the vert ramp, they skate street, they skate. Justyce and Erin both went to the Oregon Trifecta this year for the first time. Erin placed 2nd overall, and Justyce finished 5th overall, and it was their first World Cup Skateboarding event. It’s really exciting. We’re building the team now, adding a couple of more girls, and starting to look at who’s coming up in BMX. We’re finding, everywhere we go, that girls want to be a part of action sports.

Q: What partnerships have you made to help achieve your goals?

Courtney Payne-Taylor: We know we really need to work together with anybody who is working around girls’ skateboarding. We’ve approached the Alliance and Wicked Wahine and some of the other groups that have been around for girls skateboarding for a while. Etnies has been with us since the beginning with their Girls Get On Board program, doing a lot of support to help us keep the van going around the country and keep growing. And from there it’s a lot of people making little donations, people giving us product, people helping to reduce the costs in small ways to keep this thing going and growing.

Q: Walking around ASR this year I notice a couple of companies really pushing their girls’ product lines and even their girls’ skate teams.

Courtney Payne-Taylor: I’m really excited to see that happening. Certain companies like Etnies have been involved with the girls for years and it’s exciting to see so many other companies getting out there. Osiris has had some girls for a while and now they’re really promoting them with the Children of the Revolution video. Now a lot of other companies are very interested in finding out who’s coming up, who’s winning contests, who’s out there. The connections are there and they just need to be made: It’s an exciting time to be in girls’ skateboarding.

Q: Have you had any skaters, male or female, who have helped mentor and support you in the same way you’re trying to do for other girls?

Courtney Payne-Taylor: I don’t think we have enough time for me to list them all, there’s been so many! But I will say this: One of the great things about this, and where I got the idea for it from, is that when I decided to try to do something for girls’ skateboarding I started traveling around and seeing what was out there, just trying to learn, and I found that people in skateboarding at every level were really supportive: This is something a lot of people have wanted to see happen. If I flew somewhere and I had no hotel, people put me up. People fed me if I was hungry, and people gave me drinks if I was thirsty. Skateboarders, surfers, BMX riders, motocross, any of that… It’s a very close family, and people in action sports are always there to help each other out. That’s one of the most beautiful things about these sports and one of the things that really drew me to skateboarding: Not just the skateboarding itself, but being part of this whole culture that is so amazing, and creative, and supportive. I’d love for there to be even more girls involved in it.

See the interview on Fuel!

Next ASR we are doing it again and looking for Volunteers. If you want to help out send an email to Courtney.gro@gmail.com.