Atita Verghese Is India’s First Female Pro Skateboarder And She’s Building Skate Parks For Underprivileged Children

Photo: Atita Verghese/Instagram

Women don’t skateboard in India, right? Wrong.

It may be one of the poorest countries in the world, but skateboarding is taking off, with women at the forefront. That’s in large part due to Atita Verghese, the first female professional skateboarder in India.

Verghese was 19 and in between high school and college when she discovered the sport. She wasn’t a good student in the traditional sense, but once she received her first skateboard from the HolyStoked Collective, she got a different kind of education thanks to traveling the world and experiencing new things.

💎plazaaa @vans_india #skateandappreciate 📷: @teenagemutantninjatetley A huge massive THANKS to @chroma.kind/ @mahfiaboss and @moniquethebeat for this incredible opportunity 😌😘😘

A photo posted by Atita Verghese (@rattyatty) on Jan 4, 2017 at 7:11pm PST

Now 24, Verghese has quite the resume. In 2013, she partnered with the HolyStoked Collective to build a skate park in Bengaluru, where she and her friends taught underprivileged children how to skate. They also tutored them in English and Math, and taught them photography skills. Because of their success with the pilot program, they received a grant from a German NGO to build 10 similar skate parks across the country, and five abroad.

In late 2015, Verghese organized India’s first ever all-girls skateboarding tour, where she invited 12 other female skateboarders from nine countries to visit four cities in India. The crew traveled by bus to spread positive messages to young children via skateboarding.

They recently released a short documentary of their trip, which is well worth the watch.

So, if you’re wondering how powerful sports can be. Look no further than Verghese and her vision.