The Red Bulletin June 2019 (UK)

B U L L E V A R D
“THE MOST
REBELLIOUS
THING YOU CAN
DO IS TO STAY
WHO YOU ARE”
Very Old Skateboarders
SKATE OF MIND
In her sixties, Lena Salmi has created
a global skateboarding movement to prove
that the sport isn’t only for teens
I n February last year,
Facebook staged a showcase
on London’s South Bank,
where it exhibited photos
of its most inspiring groups.
Among them was an online
community of skateboarders.
But the group wasn’t chosen
in recognition of its members’
talents or awards. Far from
being teenage wonders, the
average age of the skaters was
closer to 60 than 16, and their
only care was skating for as
long as they could.
The Very Old Skateboarders
and Longboarders group is
a global movement of almost
4,000 skaters, aged largely
between 60 and 99, who are
challenging what the world
of skateboarding looks like.
It was founded in 2013 by
two women, Lena Salmi (now
65) and Elizabeth Stuart
(67), who believed they were
being judged unfairly because
of their age.
“When I met Elizabeth
[at a longboarding camp in
France], we felt like people
were treating us like old
ladies, like we couldn’t do
stuff,” says Salmi. “It made
us realise that no one can
treat us like that, and that we
were as good as anybody else.
We were inspired to make
a space that’s just for older
skateboarders.”
Come 2019 and the group
has snowballed into something
much bigger. Its Facebook
page is updated every day
with videos and photos of its
thousands of ageing skaters,
shot at skate competitions,
skate parks and even group
meet-ups across the world. Its
members have been filmed
for BBC documentaries and
interviewed by global media.
The group’s ethos, however,
has remained the same.
“The only entry
requirement is that at some
point you’ve thought you
were too old to skateboard,”
says Salmi. “Our youngest
member was a 50-year-old
woman. People had asked
her, ‘Why are you doing that
kind of kids’ stuff?’”
According to Salmi, the
important thing to learn from
the Very Old Skateboarders
is to not judge on first sight.
“Open your mind and your
ideas,” she says. “Of course
skateboarding is rebellious
when you are 65, but, in my
opinion, the most rebellious
thing you can do is to always
stay exactly who you are.”
facebook.com/groups/
VeryOldSkateboarders
BEN AWIN/HYPEBAE LOU BOYD
22 THE RED BULLETIN