When I was in middle school, I begged my parents to get me a skateboard. I dreamt of weaving through the streets and sliding down handrails. I even used to doodle little skateboard designs in the margins of my notebooks, eager to customise my own board someday. Unfortunately, my parents didn’t buy into my skateboard obsession. To them, it was all a matter of mobility, and since I had a bicycle anyway, it didn’t seem like a necessary purchase.
What my parents failed to understand is that skateboarding is about much more than getting from point A to B. It’s a subculture built around creativity and risk-taking, lessons that I and any kid could’ve used as we developed. Unfortunately, the lack of a skate community around me and my parents' insistence stopped me from living out my skateboarding dreams. But don’t fret — a homegrown company is now here to foster and encourage skateboarders of all ages and levels across the country.
Weskate is an Indian company growing India’s skateboarding community through various community and resource-oriented initiatives embodied by their motto, “We Skate, We Build, We Program.” The WB Skateparks construction company, for instance, is a subsidiary employing design and construction experts from around the world to build more skate spaces across India and beyond. In 2023, they built Sikkim’s and Kochi’s first skateparks, and since then, they have also built parks in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Kathmandu, Nepal.
The heart and soul of Weskate are its skateboarding classes and workshops. Though its programmes are available to people of all ages, Weskate largely works with children. Its volunteer teachers empower children to embrace their interests and build their identities through skating. As someone who yearned to be a skateboarder as a child but now feels nervous when I even try to step on a board, I can attest to the value of getting kids to explore action sports in a secure and safe environment.
Though skateboarding is not mainstream in India just yet, Weskate is part of an exciting and steadily growing Indian skate movement. We all could benefit from the creativity and risk-taking it promotes.
Weskate will also soon be launching their new line of skateboards, Sphere Skateboards.
You can follow them here.
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