When I was making a collage for the EXPOSURE Skate 2016 calendar – I came across this rad shot.
I just love pictures with girls skateboarding together, having fun & encouraging each other. This shot is from the babes_brigade in Toronto. I wasn’t able to get it into the collage but I was able to find out more about these rad girls when I chatted with Stephanie Battieste.
SF: How did the brigade start and how long has it been around?
SB: Babes Brigade was recently launched in July 2015
The group was founded by myself on the premises of wanting to skate with other girls. I have been skating downtown Toronto almost on a daily basis for over seven years. It was evident that there was a lack of female skaters. I had met a few ladies usually only visiting Toronto, but over the past couple years more started to pop up. I had talked to them about skating and their experiences as a female and I also found that although I may be very comfortable at a busy skatepark dominated by men, other women felt intimidated and uncomfortable. I also knew that having more ladies around would reduce that feeling!
My personal experience having grown up with three brothers has made me very comfortable around the opposite sex, and until recently I was actually more intimidated by women, not having grown up with any sisters and being somewhat of an outcast tomboy. I had had the idea for the name and logo influenced by Powell Peralta and I knew I could use social media as a platform to meet up with other female skaters.
SF: How many babes are in the Babe Brigade?
SB: It has been growing quickly and is hard to say just how many women are in the group but there are over 700 members/followers supporting the group so far, Our last group event had almost 20 participants. I am hoping the numbers keep growing at the pace they have so far, the biggest advantage is that this is the only women’s skateboarding group in the downtown Toronto core.
SF: Do you skate together regularly – at parks – indoor/outdoor – I saw the Toronto Ladies Skate Jam 2015 on 11/22 did you plan that? Anything you want to share about the jam?
SB: My presence in the community has already brought me other opportunities to partner up with other people to help host female based skateboarding events. I was asked to work with the city of Toronto, Malvern Skatepark who has a skate group but wanted to host an event just for the ladies who are part of it. They are all from high school and were just learning. It was so nice to be able to assemble some of the more experienced and older ladies of the Babes Brigade to help teach the younger girls. It was a huge success and we all learned from eachother and the girls have some inspiration and encouragement to take with them.
SF: Is there a lot of skateboarding in Toronto?
SB: Skateboarding is becoming bigger and bigger here and the parks are starting to get packed! There is a recent launch of the Toronto skateboard committee, which I am part of and the sole purpose is to fulfill that need for more parks especially in the downtown core and to better maintain the pre existing ones. Two popular parks in the city are Dunbat (Dundas and Bathurst ) Skatepark which is in the heart of the city and Ashbridges Bay which is fairly new and is a concrete park complete with a street course, bowl and lots of flat ground
SF: Why do you think it’s good for girls to skate – what benefits do you get out of it – why is it fun for you – why do you want to get more girls skateboarding?
SB: Back to the first question, having a network of females in the city helps create a more comfortable environment especially for new girl skaters. Growing up skating and not commonly seeing women skate left me a little less confident in what I could do skating because I didn’t really have anyone to look up to and admire. With the rise of social media it is a lot easier to see the women who are on top and are a huge inspiration, such as Poppy Star Olsen from Australia, she is a pro vert skater at the age of 15! we did an event with her at CJ’s Skatepark in August 2015, also an opportunity extended to me based off of the fact that this is the only group here, doing what I’m doing with the Babes Brigade, it is a very rewarding experience and we are all connecting and making new friends through it.
I plan to maintain the group aspect of the brigade but also want to lead to having a sponsored team of female skaters from across Canada!
Also our most recent event starts this Monday Dec 7th -5-7pm ladies only skate jam at
Skate Loft in Toronto, it will be held weekly and hosted by myslef, Team leader of the Babes Brigade!
Here is an article about the babes brigade and our event from CJ’s Skatepark
Thanks Stephanie for all you do to keep skateboarding fun & empower girls – better late than never a collage just for Babes Brigade & I really do hope to make it to Toronto on a Monday night!
