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Barnstormer introduces girls to skateboarding

By Bob Putnam, Times Staff Writer


In print: Saturday, May 10, 2008

Courtney Payne-Taylor, center, lives in her van and conducts clinics throughout the East Coast and Midwest in order to introduce more girls to skateboarding. At a Dunedin park, she works with Skye Green (long black pants), 10, while Ivy Dupre, 7, (in pink) skates with Christa Sherker, 32. DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times

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DUNEDIN — A dozen girls file into Sterling Skate Park. They are handed skateboards and helmets.

They are eager, even though most do not know an ollie from a heel flip.

Courtney Payne-Taylor teaches them the difference.

After explaining the basics, Payne-Taylor has the girls rolling along on their boards, zooming from one side to the other.

"It's exciting to see girls who want to learn the sport," she said.

Two years ago, Payne-Taylor founded Girls Riders Organization, or GRO, to get more girls interested in skateboarding. She holds clinics year-round. Last month, she had four in this area, including the one in Dunedin.

"I just felt there was a need for something like this," Payne-Taylor said. "I got a late start because there was never anyone around to teach girls how to skate."

Payne-Taylor, 25, was introduced to the sport by accident. A business major at Indiana University, she went to the opening of a skate park in Bloomington three years ago in hopes of marketing the event.

While there, someone asked her to hop on a skateboard. She did.

"I was hooked after that," Payne-Taylor said.

She was consumed by the sport, skating every day. But she always had to skate with the boys.

"I went months without ever seeing a female skater," Payne-Taylor said. "I thought I could change that."

She started by offering free clinics in the Midwest. They were so popular, she expanded with stops across the country.

Now she is a vagabond skateboard instructor, soliciting donations from the girls and their parents and traveling the East Coast and Midwest in a van she lives in.

"The hope is to get a network of girls set up in each stop so they can skate with each other," Payne-Taylor said.

Female skateboarders have always had a tough time establishing themselves in a sport dominated by men.

In the past 12 years, the Summer X Games has gone from six events designed specially for women to two.

Two years ago, Cara-Beth Burnside, a two-time X Games gold medalist in skateboarding vert, formed the Action Sports Alliance to create a stronger, more unified voice for women in action sports. That same year Burnside and other female riders threatened to boycott the X Games in hopes of forcing ESPN to offer better prize money and exposure.

"I just want what's fair for the women," Burnside told USA Today. "I want us to feel good about going to the Summer X Games and not feel embarrassed about the poor prize money or lack of coverage."

Those concerns are at the professional level. Payne-Taylor is trying to maintain growth with a grassroots effort.

So far, it's working.

Payne-Taylor's organization is branching out, and the GRO tours the country 10 months out of the year. There are plans for workshops in Ecuador.

"We now have girls who started off with lessons who are now volunteering their time teaching other girls to skate," Payne-Taylor said. "That's all you can ask for."

Bob Putnam can be reached at putnam@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4169.