We are on a mission to promote skate sports and skate facilities as a place to have fun, get fit, meet amazing people and be safe. East Skate Club officially became an Incorporated charity in December 2020, to address the needs of a growing number of children and youth today who are being excluded from traditional, organised sports because of its hyper competitive culture, its focus on talent iden
tification and exclusion of participation from lack of access including socio-cultural and socio-economic reasons. Our focus is getting kids off the couches and devices and developing recreational skateboarding skills and social connections. The big picture on inactive populations, found in NZ Sport insight shows a need for continued development of active recreational programmes for our tamariki and rangatahi. Within the Howick Local Board, 10% and 14% of tamariki and rangatahi, respectively, are “inactive”. In addition, NZ Sport research finds that there is an emerging downward trend in belonging to a team or club, with most weekly participation being for children in non-competitive sports and activities. We are a community-led organisation that delivers a range of active recreational programmes including multiple beginners skate lessons, during school term, to children in the Howick and Pakuranga region. In addition, we advocate on behalf of the voices in the community to develop our skateboard parks and facilities ensuring that they are available for everyone to access and are safe and function for the sport. We host regular pop-up skateboarding sessions, to activate interest in skateboarding within the community, as well as monthly BBQs at our local, Lloyd Elsmore skatepark. We welcome whanau as this enhances the quality of our programme. We are fortunate to have a large group of volunteers as well as valuable relationships with local companies. We have a wealth of talent within the organisation including pro-skaters who are mentors and trainers in our skate lessons, and who train up and pave the way for future skateboard trainers.
