NATIONAL STUDY OVERVIEW

The Beyond the Board: Skateboarding, Schools and Society study was funded by the Skatepark Project,(formerly the Tony Hawk Foundation). The study focused on youth who are passionate about skateboarding—including skateboarders who are integrated into thriving skateboard communities and those who might feel disenfranchised from the skateboard community or the community at large. The study included a national survey with over 5,000 responses and over 120 interviews. Researchers explored how skateboarding identity affects the way skaters interact with each other, with schools, and with broader society. The study’s focus on skaters from low-income and/or minoritized backgrounds ensured that findings reflect diverse perspectives. By gaining a deeper understanding of the complexity of skateboard ecosystems, we hope to inform skateboarding scholarship and practice.

One challenge the research team faced was how to recruit people to take the survey. We are grateful to a generous group of professional skaters and extensive network of community partners for helping us spread the word about the survey.

Understanding the intentional diversity of the research team is important because we brought a wide variety of perspectives to how we designed and conducted the study. One researcher is an avid skater; another is mom and wife to skaters; another is a novice skater; and several have no skateboarding expertise. We self-identify as Thai-Chinese-American, Black-Creole, Mexican, Mexican-American, White and White/Jewish, and as male and female, queer and straight, with varied immigration statuses and stories. Some of us came to the project with extensive experience working in high schools and colleges; others are students at the University of Southern California. Some of us are adept at crunching numbers; others use qualitative techniques to craft stories. Our team is deeply committed to issues of equity and highly reflexive about our craft and analysis of the experiences of skaters navigating their social worlds.