Diné ladies ‘represent’ at premier skateboard camp

WINDOW ROCK
In Mid-July, four middle-school girls and three skateboard mentors traveled to Woodward West skate camp in California, one of the best skateboard camps in the country.

The trip was partly funded through 4KINSHIP, a Navajo owned clothing brand that is also focused on giving back and helping the native community.

4KINSHIP CEO, Amy Denet Deal, said they were happy to help pay for the trip for the seven native ladies who went to the camp. They also coordinated with Woodward and the Poseidon Foundation, and the collaboration made this trip possible.

“It was such a beautiful thing to be involved with and just to see little girls that were super shy and kind of like not sure about the trip, but then they’d come back with these big smiles on their face,” Denet Deal said. “It’s just been just a wonderful auntie role to be involved in that.”

The four middle-school campers who went on the trip were Kaija Awelagte, Cheyenne R. Jones, Kaeleigh Ahasteen and Aliyah Whiterock. Accompanying them were three young Navajo women who were invited to the camp to act as mentors, Di’Orr Greenwood, Cecely Toadacheenie and Peyton Alex.

Recently 4KINSHIP started up their Diné Skate Garden Project, which is aimed at building community through skateboarding.

The trip to Woodward West was a unique opportunity that Denet Deal wanted young skateboarders to experience, especially girls as she felt female skateboarders on the rez are underrepresented.

“I see this inequity, and so instead of just expecting other people to do something about it, I think it’s important as a brand that we step up and really show what can be done by us in our brand on how we can lead the way,” Denet Dale said.

According to Alex, going to Woodward West was expensive, with slots costing at least $1,600 each.

However, thanks to Alex’s artistic work that was recently sold through 4KINSHIP, it helped to pay for the trip.

Alex was interesting in skating when she was young but got little support from her family and friends. However she skated whenever she got the chance. She said it’s a challenging sport, but it gives her a feeling of achievement and freedom.

She describes her first time at Woodward as a mentor as “amazing.”

“You hear a lot of skaters that are my age that their dream still is to go to Woodward, so being able not to just go by myself, but to take four girls that were the age when I wanted to skate at a camp like that, it made me feel like I made my dream come true as well as theirs,” Alex said.

Another mentor was Greenwood, who is also a native artist. Among her wares are designed skateboards, which recently were selected to be featured on U.S Postage stamps.

Greenwood has been skating for many years, originally using it as a mode of transportation when she used to live in Phoenix while studying in college. Eventually she started experimenting with skateboard tricks and before she knew it she was doing skate competitions.

Greenwood is part of the Poseidon Foundation and was invited to be a mentor at Woodward the year before and then again this year.

“It was truly an honor to advocate for these girls, to get them a good sign-up rate and to find the people who would fund their trip. It was a beautiful blessing to have, it went from being just myself as the only Navajo woman there at the camp last year, then this year to have over seven…I got to see people from my community in a world class facility, right where they belong,” Greenwood said.

For one week the girls got to experience a world-class facility alongside a hundred other campers there as they learned from pro skaters. There were seven different skate parks within the facility: while there are only five skate parks on the entire Navajo Nation.

They also got to share some of their culture with others. For example, Alex spoke with a child who couldn’t believe there are people in the U.S. who grew up without electricity or running water.

Whiterock is from Tuba City, Arizona and Awelagte is from Zuni, New Mexico.

Both girls were excited to get a chance to go to such a prestigious camp as they both enjoy skating.

“I got into skating because it looked fun and I would usually see movies about skating or see clips on my social medias and my sister use to skate too,” Awelagte said.

“What makes me enjoy skating is that it’s pretty fun to do and it promotes creativity,” she added.

Awelagte said that skateboarding is fun, but it also motivates her, and it has also taught her to never give up or stop trying.

Whiterock said she always wanted to learn how to ride a skateboard since she was little. Since picking up the sport, she found that she enjoys learning something new everyday, be it tricks or maneuvers. It had tougher her important lessons like being patient.

She knew Greenwood and Toadacheenie before the trip and followed them on Instagram, where she first heard of Woodward and was invited to come along.

“It was a good experience and was really fun,” Whiterock said. “The trip was long, we stayed for a week and I learned the 50-50 Grind.”

The 50-50 Grind consists of jumping onto an edge and riding alongside it before jumping off and landing on the ground again. It requires agility, balance and other such skills to perform.

Awelagte said her time at the camp was fun too, spending seven days in a new place and getting to know other kids her age who also have a passion for skating. She learned how to ride more comfortably and picked up a couple of new tips and tricks.

According to Denet Dale, this was the largest group of Navajo girls who ever attended Woodward West and they hope to do it again next year and perhaps increase the number of girls taking the trip.

They hope to further promote skateboarding through their Skateboard Garden projects and with role models, like Navajo President Buu Nygren, who performed skateboarding tricks once at Two Grey Hills Skate Park that many kids and young adults saw on social media.

“I think it’s absolutely cool that the tribal leader knows how to skate and it’s a way he can relate to the youth,” Awelagte said.

Whiterock thanked the sponsors’ 4KINSHIP, the Poseidon Foundation and Woodward West for the opportunity. She also thanked the mentors who were there, Greenwood, Toadacheenie and Alex.

“And also to my mentors, who taught me how to ride since I was 4 years old, Jazmine Barney and Eugene Barney. And my sponsor Naqwatsveni skateboarding,” Whiterock said.

Denet Dale in turn thanked the community each girl is from, and everyone who had supported them in helping the youth and skateboarding community to grow.

Greenwood has no doubt this trip was beneficial to the kids and who knows, one day maybe they’ll grow up to be mentors themselves and will be invited to teach at Woodward as well. She is hopeful that entities will continue working together in helping to get more rez students a chance at learning to skateboard.

Alex too hoped this story will encourage more skaters, especially girls and she hopes to hear more of them going to Woodward and that skateboarding will grow on the Nation.

“To give back to the community, my grandma always told me, ‘If I want to help myself, then we have to help others,’” Alex said.

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