The way we roll: the use of longboards and cameras by girls to roll through the urban outdoors

Abstract

We use a nonrepresentational (NRT) lens to explore the affect generated in the use of an action sport for girls from disadvantaged backgrounds in a short-term Sport for Development (SfD) project. Longboards and GoPro cameras were used to enable adolescent girls from disadvantaged communities to participate in urban outdoor action sport and to be digitally engaged by making vlogs of their participation. We used an NRT framework to explore the ways affects were produced during longboard instruction practices. The data consisted of 36 longboard instruction observations, 22 focus groups and 230 min of selected video fragments with the girls. We show how 'U on Board' became an counter pedagogic space and discuss how such SfD projects can create knowledges and pleasure in ways that can open up new possibilities for shaping sport practices.

Leaders building relationships with young refugees during a sport project

“…Longboarding is a relatively informal leisure activity that can be organised independently of an existing sports club or location and seems to appeal to youth globally although it does not have a global competitive tradition (Thorpe, Ahmad, and Williams 2018). This category of sport is associated with an emphasis on having fun rather than on competing and being active together outdoors (Smits 2019;Smits and Knoppers 2020;Thorpe 2016). Longboarding has no clothing specifications; participants can wear head scarves.…”

“…Similarly, Andrews, Chen, and Myers (2014) have argued that experiences of pleasure, fun, and enjoyment in physical activity act as nutrients, contribute to the wellbeing of participants. The results of an urban SfD program targeting disadvantaged girls revealed how a longboarding project evoked fun and enjoyment in physical activity that was assumed to inform the wellbeing of participants (Smits and Knoppers 2020). Ley and Barrio (2019) contended that SfD projects for groups such as refugees need to be noncompetitive and pleasurable if they are to contribute to the wellbeing of participants.…”