By: Sara Li

Women are behind the increase in the popularity of skateboarding and surfing, with an estimated 200,000 females getting into sports since the pandemic. The latest snapshot in Australia found that many females ages 15 and up had taken a liking to sports such as skating (119,000) and surfing (196,000) from 2019 to 2021.

Reports showing people doing “exergaming” or using gaming consoles like Xbox or PlayStations to exercise have risen. It went from fewer than 10,000 participants in 2019 to over 935,000 in 2021. Other sports have also become more popular, like basketball which gained 219,000 participants, and football which grew by 196,000 players. Reports found that physical exercise has returned to pre-pandemic levels, but women are still the most active.

Many females got into sports during this period. Ella Smit, 17, from Gippsland, said she fell in love with skateboarding a few years ago when watching professionals on the world stage. She said, “I saw girls skating and doing tricks on TV and YouTube and wanted to give it a go,” and added that she watched 14-year-old British skateboarder Sky Brown at the Olympics and was inspired. “I watched her during the Olympics and thought she was really cool,” Ela said.

She is only one of the many who were inspired to start playing sports. Victorian Skateboarding Association president Bernard Griffiths stated that the addition of skateboarding to the Olympic

Games roster boosted participation levels among young people. He said, “Adults are participating in more activities than they did two years ago, and while men and boys are driving the return to clubs, women continue to be physically active more often,”

Source: Girls surfing the new wave of sports | KidsNews. https://www.kidsnews.com.au/sport/females-behind-big-boost-to-aussies-skateboarding-and-surfing/news-story/63166875b1d41adca4e15049604b676c