BEHIND THE COACHING SCENES WITH ‘SKATEWELL CLINICS’
The girls behind Skatewell Clinics, Amanda and Grace specialise in private and small group lessons around Brisbane. We met up with Grace to have a little chat about the motivation behind Skatewell Clinics and what inspires them to get out there and teach skateboarding early Saturday and Sunday mornings while most of their friends still snooze away in bed.
THE BEGINNING
Skatewell Clinics started in 2018. At the time, Grace was coaching skateboarding lessons in the council clinics with ASCI (still runs, check out when and where here) which got her hungry for more.
“I was in my day-job just shoveling mix, that’s what I do, and I would really like to turn it into something more,” she says.
“But I guess I was quite afraid of how to do that, you know, you’ve got a lot of things to consider, like getting insurance and that kind of stuff and as a business you gotta meet the customers’ needs, so that’s daunting as well.”
Grace is actually relatively new to skateboarding herself, so launching a skateboard coaching business alone seemed unambitious, since she wouldn’t be able to coach the more advanced students.
Her partner Amanda, on the other hand, has been skating for more than 15 years and when the two of them decided to team up professionally, Skatewell Clinics was born.
“So yeah, I said to her, I wanna do something like this but to fulfill the needs and demands I need someone else to take on the advanced students. Because I didn’t want to just offer a beginner’s service where I teach someone to get on the board, push, do kick turns and then that’s it, sorry I can’t do anymore.” Grace says – and luckily, Amanda was in on the idea straight away.
Today they run Skatewell Clinics as a team, where Grace helps beginners get comfortable on the board, while Amanda guides their progress through to the next levels.
“To be able to share something and teach something to someone, that’s the passion behind this.”
- Grace, Skatewell Clinics
MORE THAN JUST SKATEBOARDING
To Grace, being a skateboard coach is about much more than earning a bit of extra pocket money. Through coaching in the Council Clinics she got passionate about teaching.
“That’s the first time I actually felt purpose.” she says.
To be able to share something and teach something to someone, that’s the passion behind this. Especially for the students that struggle to learn. In skateboarding, there’s kids out there that pick it up so fast, but then there are kids that are like ‘I don’t want to stand on the board’ and it’s those lessons especially that I get a high from because I see them from not believing in themselves to believing in themselves.”
A SPOT FOR EVERYONE
Grace’s skateboarding journey has taken her from being a super social (infamous) hula hooping butterfly to a more secluded role where she mainly goes to the skateparks to join Amanda or to coach her students.
Eventually she found joy and purpose in singing and music, but her passion for teaching skateboarding prevails. She has found her skateboarding niche in coaching but she still feels respected and welcomed in the skateboarding community.
“That’s the best thing about this sport, about skateboarding, that you can do it in your own way, but you are connected to all the others,” she says.
While skateboarding is super social, it also creates a room for the shy, more introvert kids. They can hang out and skate without stressing about coming up with exciting topics to talk about - they can always talk about skating. Or simply just skate together. Skatewell Clinics are very tuned in to these specific kids and are aware that not all skateboard students require the same kind of coaching.
“The students we mainly get are the shy ones, needing help to get out of their shell,” Grace says.
“There are going to be coaches that are the perfect match for the different students. Some people need large groups and high energy, others need small groups and soft voices”
- Grace, Skatewell Clinics
Another, more unfortunate tendency Grace and Amanda have witnessed from their students is that some of them give up very fast and believe the internet is to blame:
“Because everyone can just jump on YouTube and see other kids who can do all these wild tricks and they think to themselves that they aren’t good enough, but what they don’t see on those clips is the hours and hours, sometimes years, that went into learning that trick.” Grace argues.
At this stage they need the encouragement to keep going and they need to learn that life isn’t always easy.
“You just wait, be patient and practice and it will come back,” she tells them.
“Also, skating is more than learning new tricks, the most important thing is to have fun!”
WHAT SKATEWELL CLINICS OFFER
Skatewell Clinics offer skateboard lessons to girls and boys of all ages and levels. However, they generally coach private or semi-private individuals and small groups. So, someone books them in and bring a couple of their friends along. They regularly see about 10 students. Some every week, some every fortnight and every so often.
Their approach is holistic and focused on giving each student the individual attention they require.
As Grace says, they break it down and help you see it as four wheels, trucks, deck, knees, ankles, everything. Rather than just human vs. skateboard.
WHAT WILL THE FUTURE BRING
When asked about the future for Skatewell Clinics, Grace has a rather surprising answer.
“A vision I am imagining is getting more into coaching adults – because I feel like skateboarding gave me so much life when I started as an adult. I wanna share that, especially with anyone who’s lacking purpose. For me, skateboarding transformed me from not caring about myself to wanna be the ideal version of me. I could see myself doing workshops e.g. team-building”
On that note, here’s Grace’s advice to adults getting into skateboarding:
“See it as a whole, holistic skateboarding, see it as a deck, trucks, wheels, feet, ankles, knees etc. Start at a point where you can be calm, then build up skate muscles slowly but steadily. And remember, it’s never too late”
AWESOME, HOW DO I BOOK LESSONS WITH SKATEWELL CLINICS?
Find more information about Skatewell Clinics on our coaching page here
