Skateboarding in Ghana

Spreading the skateboarding word

The pioneers of skateboarding in Ghana are taking to the road in country-wide tours to spread the word on this fun, free and fitness-building sport.

Skateboarding is in essence surfing on land and was invented by surfers keen to keep their balance sharp on days when there was no swell. Ghana’s nascent homegrown surfing scene has the benefit of world-class waves all-year round, warm waters and beautiful beaches, but conditions here for skateboarding are not as ideal. There are no skateparks, the quality of roads can generously be described as uneven and finding a smooth stretch of pavement is as rare as…well, Ghanaian skateboarders.

Still, when Sandy Alibo set up social enterprise Surf Ghana, the extreme sports enthusiast was keen it would champion both surfing and skateboarding. The French national was introduced to the small group of local surfers in Busua on holiday in Ghana with friends and was as impressed by their willingness to teach others in the community and spread the sport as with their skills in the water. Drawing on contacts she had built up during her time as the action sports strategist of mobile phone company Orange back home, Alibo was able to help out by organising the importing of donated surf boards and get more villagers riding the glassy waves.

Time in Busua also introduced Alibo to the village’s skateboarding scene, which at that time began and ended with one man.

“His name is Jacob,” Alibo tells me. “People in the village thought he was mad and he had pretty much been rejected by everyone.”

Alibo felt for him. Her time with Orange had involved hanging out with BMX riders, surfers and skateboarders and she had seen and experienced the sense of belonging those communities offered. It was empowering. She wanted Jacob to feel that too and set about organising a skateboarding event, inviting other skaters from across Ghana and paying for their travel and accommodation.

Among those who answered the call to come to Busua were members of Accra skate group Skate Nation, including its founder Joshua Odamtten.

It’s fair to say that without the 30-year-old Odamtten there would be no Ghana skateboarding scene. Now 30, the Accra native was just entering his teens when he first saw someone ride a skateboard in the capital. Fascinated, he secured his own board through a Chinese friend and set about trying to teach himself through YouTube videos.

“I was the first person to start doing tricks on a skateboard in Accra,” he says. “I learned watching clips of my heroes such as [American] Chris Coles.”

The start of a scene

The initial reactions among Accra residents to the teenage Odamtten’s skateboarding efforts were bemusement and even disdain.

He says: “Some felt I was wasting my time skating and that I am stupid to be roaming the city with a piece of wood with wheels while my peers are playing football and making money.”

The criticism didn’t bother Odamtten. He relished his outsider status. “The skateboarder’s lifestyle is an individual way of living,” he says. He persisted with his passion, finding and frequenting the city’s best skate spots such as the promenade outside the National Theatre, Mile 7 in Achimota and the Accra International Trade Fair. Other kids began turning up eager to learn and Odamtten offered guidance, including helping get them boards from outside the country.

This was the beginning of Skate Nation with Odamtten selecting members that shared his love of his skateboarding as well as his desire to teach others and spread the growth of the sport in Ghana. The collective’s unofficial home is the smooth apron of asphalt in front of the Trade Fair where they set up a collection of makeshift ramps and rails for tricks. “The ground is perfect for skating there and no-one kicks you out like the other spots so we skate in comfort, any day, any time,” he says.

Skate Sundays

Odamtten can be found here up to five times a week, practising his tricks or teaching others – his renown is now so established he is able to charge for lessons for those that can afford it. Still he dispenses plenty of free advice and ‘Skate Sundays’ at the Trade Fair have become a popular opportunity for anyone interested in skating to come and watch some of the country’s best skaters in action, hear some great music from Skate Nation DJ and manager JP Dadson and give skateboarding a try.

“We started Skate Sundays as a chance for skaters from all over just to meet, skate, compete and teach others,” says Odamtten. “It has helped develop the love for the sport and gain ground and followers. Exhibiting to the general public has helped to override the perception of some that skateboarding is dangerous.”

Joshua Odamtten is one of the best skateboarders in Ghana and has probably taught about 80 per cent of Accra’s skaters over the years

Alibo is also keen to overturn notions that skateboarding is reactionary. With the sport to be one of the events in the delayed 2021 Olympics and 85 million skateboarders worldwide, she says its outdated to think of it as rebellious and rulebreaking and the focus should be on how it can bring people together.

This was the intention behind Surf Ghana’s first skateboarding event in Busua. Skate Nation brought around 20 of its members – it now more than 50 – and Alibo, immediately recognised Odamtten’s talent on and off his board. She could see he would be fundamental to her plans for the evolution of skateboarding here and asked him to become a board member of Surf Ghana.

“Joshua is the book of skateboarding,” Alibo says. “He is one of the best skateboarders in Ghana and has probably taught about 80 per cent of Accra’s skaters over the years. He is an ambassador for the sport.”

The pair share a belief in the life-changing power of skateboarding. Odamtten says there are many among Skate Nation who were once troubled youths, but who have gained a new sense of self-worth from the discipline required to learn skills on their boards.

“A lot had family and anger issues,” he says. “But once they stared skating their attitude has totally changed. Now they teach others and feel they are giving back to society.”

For her part, Alibo sees skateboarding as a much-needed source of creativity and community for the youth of Ghana, a country where more than half of the population are under 25. Scan the Surf Ghana Instagram site, which is now closing in on 8,000 followers, and you’ll find the team involved in fashion shoots, some of the country’s coolest festivals such as Chale Wote and Afrochella and teaming up with talented local artists like Art Soul Kojo, Ahmed Partey, David Alabo and Awo Tsegah.

“People seek the freedom skateboarding inspires. They are looking for a space to escape and pursue a sport that’s not about teams or competition, but is focused on your own ideas and taking a risk. Our community is strong and it celebrates street culture and art. Skaters are very open-minded.”

Most skaters are also pretty fit. Skateboarding burns calories, is good for your heart and encourages you to work on your agility and flexibility. Alibo believes the sport could be an important tool in combatting Ghana’s public health challenges.

Fitness benefits

“Research shows nearly half of Ghanaians are overweight,” says Alibo. “The country has a young population, but you’ll find most playing of sports and most sport facilities in schools or universities. Once you are out of education it is difficult to get involved and there are no public youth centres. With skateboarding all you need is a board for daily exercise.”

Getting your own skateboard is now easier and more affordable. While Surf Ghana has overseen the donation and delivery of 230 surfboards and skateboards since it began and has long-term plans to produce its own affordable made-in-Ghana skateboards, the decision by global sporting goods chain Decathlon to start selling skateboards at its outlet in Accra’s Junction Mall has upped availability considerably. With prices starting at GHC 250 (US$ 43), these kid-friendly boards have begun many a skateboarding journey. Decathlon has recognised the market that is there in the capital and along Ghana’s coastal axis a skateboarding scene is taking shape, but Alibo’s bigger picture vision includes spreading the transformative effects of skateboarding to more remote parts of the country where recreational options are more limited and most young people have never even seen a skateboard before. To this end, in 2018 she began road trip Skate Tour GH.

Skate tour

“The first year we started in the Western Region and visited Busua, Cape Three Point and Kumasi,” Alibo says. “The idea was to teach 600 children to skate. We would stop randomly at schools on the street and start skating. We held pop-up skate event with DJ sets and an art workshop. We would teach both boys and girls how to skate and reward the best skater with a skateboard.”

“Many villagers don’t know what we are doing, but we always got a warm welcome once they have realised we are not bandits, just cool teenagers who want to share our passion.”

The following year was even bigger, attracting the sponsorship of skate clothing and accessories brand Vans, and targeting 1,000 children from nine villages across 800km. There were new stop-offs at the Volta Region’s Piki, Akosombo and Lomé as well as return visits that convinced the team of the positive effect they were having.

Alibo says: “We left a skateboard behind at one village. They didn’t know we were returning, but when we arrived we found children riding it, practising a sport when there is no sport infrastructure.”

The tour was just as life-changing for the skaters who accompanied Alibo. Many had never travelled beyond their hometowns before. For Odamtten it was the chance to meet new communities of skaters such as those in Lomé on the Togo border and in Kumasi, where the donation of 20 skateboards by Alibo helped in setting up Troop Skateboarding Club.

“Getting to travel and meet new faces and teach them skateboarding is such fun,” he says.

This year’s tour – which was due to visit Tamale, Wa and the Côte d’Ivoire and create a DIY skate park near Lake Bosomtwi – has had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Alibo is still hoping it will happen before the end of the year.

The next big project is the creation of a skate park in Ghana. It would be the first of its kind in West Africa and offer, Alibo says, a safe place to practise the sport and a hub for the scene’s artists and other creatives.

Skate park campaign

It would also help to put Ghana on the global skateboarding map and signal the country as skater-friendly to a potentially massive tourism market. “We want surfers and skateboarders to come here and chill with us,” Alibo says. “That connection will only improve diversity and black representation in these sports.”

The building of the skate park is scheduled for early 2021 but the campaign has been running for close to two years now and Alibo admits they are still looking for land and partners and for their crowdfunding scheme is still shy of its target.

Odamtten is excited about the prospect of the park, but he realises there is much work still to be done. “The campaign for the skate park has not been an easy one,” he says. “It needs total commitment from individuals to make that dream come through.”

Youngsters get their first skateboarding lessons on Skate Tour GH

He and Alibo will keep pushing to make the skate park a reality. Just as skateboarding involves many falls before a trick is perfected, they know how important it is to put in the time. As Odamtten says: “The challenges that come with skateboarding are what appeal to me most.”

To contribute to the campaign to build Ghana ‘s first skatepark, go to Surf Ghana’s GoFundMe site

Follow the latest Surf Ghana events at its Instagram page.

To help fund the work of Skate Nation, visit its website at skatenationgh.org

To watch or take part in Skate Sundays, head to Trade Fair in Labadi, Accra, on any Sunday afternoon.

How to master your first ‘ollie’

Joshua Odamtten is one of Ghana’s best skaters – his signature trick is the very advanced half cab flip – but here he breaks down one of the simpler, but still impressive skateboarding tricks: the ollie.

Position your front foot an inch from the front truck (that the front wheels are attached to) while ball of the back foot is placed in the middle of the tail of the board.

Bend both knees as you get ready to jump.

Press the back foot quickly down on the tail towards the ground.

Drag your front foot along the board as you jump.

Try to land with knees bent and both feet over the trucks

Surf Ghana in numbers

230 Sports equipment collected and donated

2,000 Children trained in skateboarding and surfing

15 Sports and cultural events per year

8,491 Fans and supporters on Instagram @surfghana

Skate Gal Club

While Ghana’s skateboarding scene has a few very talented women skaters, Alibo (right) noticed that the vast majority were men. She has made sure that the skate tours target just as many girls as boys at the schools they visit, but she also wanted to give girls their own space and chance to shine.

She says: “Skate Gal Club is a series of events that celebrate women. Women can be shy about skating in front of men when they know they are beginners. These women-only sessions are more comfortable and not about competition. There is also the chance to talk about women entrepreneurship or art and every event has a guest speaker.

“It’s a sisterhood and the push many women need. Having these women around me make me stronger to face all these men – most men think women don’t have a seat in the sports industry. We are launching a big movement – bigger than us”