B U L L EVA R D
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
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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
THE RED BULLETIN
BEN AWIN/HYPEBAE
Very Old Skateboarders
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
LOU BOYD
“THE MOST REBELLIOUS THING YOU CAN DO IS TO STAY WHO YOU ARE”
