“I don’t want to get in anyone’s way”: mapping girl skateboarders’ navigation of place and power in skate spaces

Skateboarding is an informal activity with a relatively low cost of entry, and a range of potential practice grounds. Without formal gatekeepers, it is potentially inclusive on social, economic, and cultural levels. Participation has increased overall in recent years, including by girls and young women, who are increasingly visible in skateboarding organisations, international competition, and media. However, skateboarding spaces remain dominated by white, middle-class, male participants. Why, then, is the increased diversity of participation not diversifying the wider culture of the sport? Furthermore, skateboarding research has not been methodologically innovative, limiting its potential to see what is happening. This paper charts the development of a mapping tool as part of a wider study of young woman skateboarders, designed to better understand how different skateboarders (and others) use, move, and interact within skateboarding spaces. Drawing on behavioural mapping frameworks, we show how our mapping tool developed into a comprehensive, transferable system through which complex, fast moving, leisure settings can be studied. We conclude that being in a space does not always confer full access to participate in it. Examples from our research and consultancy demonstrate how the system can be used to illuminate power relations and interactions within active leisure settings.