The fine folk at Skateistan have been working hard over the last 2 years building a reputation in Johannesburg for the great work they do for the inner city youth and encouraging the children of Jozi to get involved in such a rad initiative. Concurrently, they have been planning the construction for their skate school and skatepark facility in the Maboneng precinct in Johannesburg. International staff have been preparing local skaters and volunteers to take hold of the wheel and have confidently passed the torch to an awesome, motivated local crew who are sure to keep the program in good hands.
The official opening of their amazing state of the art facility went down on Sunday, 14 August which brought out skateboarding personalities/philanthropists such as Tony Hawk and Jim Thiebaud as well as rippers such as David Loy, Shawn Hale, and Thalente Biyela to break in the facility and welcome a new generation of skateboarding radness to the city of Johannesburg.
Check out a few clips and photos from the day to see what went down. Congrats to Skateistan for the hard work and thanks again for having us!
Behold! The new Skateistan skate school located in the Maboneng Precinct of Johannesburg. Headed by Newline Skateparks with assistance from the Skateistan staff and local labor, this is the result of months of hard work. Nice one guys!
Pretty hard to believe the school is made out of 4 floors worth of shipping containers. Skateistan staff and volunteers give a tour of the facility here complete with blackboards and colorful chairs.
You can’t go wrong with a fresh Real deck, some Spitfire Formula 4s, and a stack of vintage Nat Geos.
American childhood decay board series?
Classroom setup looking nice!
Skateistan history lesson with complimentary stickers.
Nidaa and Chris, 2 Skateistan folk who helped make it happen.
Tony Hawk and Skateistan founder Ollie Percovich cut the ribbon to officially open the Skateistan South Africa skate school and learning facility. Ph. Rudi Jeggle.
Some young men who are sure to benefit from this awesome facility. The future of Johannesburg skateboarding? Time will tell.
Must be a drone in the sky.
Tony Hawk helps a young lady with her first time on a skateboard.
High five!
Thalente Biyela and David Loy, demo-ing.
Khule Ngubane, switch bluntslide.
Tre flip to rock fakie from the Birdman.
Gimme a “Hale yeah” for Shawn Hale’s back noseblunt.
Khule is always great with the kids.
The gents try to figure this skateboarding thing out.
Two of skateboarding’s many do-gooders and give-backers, Jim Thiebaud of DLX and Ollie Percovich of Skateistan. Thanks for hosting us and for all you do to support skateboarding, guys!
The ladies line up for lessons. Skateistan pushes female participation super heavily throughout their many locations which is another reason why they rule!
SA OG Dallas Oberholzer gets things going before the Birdhouse crew pulls through. Dallas is no stranger to this thing.
David Loy smith grinds for a sea of humans.
Tony closes things off with a front D shortly before McTwisting his shin into the coping and flipping out of the bowl. It was rad to see ripping and a head count of such magnitude at Germiston bowl. Thanks for having us, Skateistan!
All content: Mike Chinner