The freshly minted certified skateboard instructors show off their certificates at a ceremony held at the Embassy of France in Kingston.
~15 young people become certified skateboard instructors~
KINGSTON, Jamaica-- Skateboarding in Jamaica received a major boost in August with the certification of the first 15 officially certified Jamaican skateboard instructors in a ceremony at the Embassy of France in Kingston.
The historic event was organised by the Jamaica Skate Culture Foundation (JSC) and supported by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs through the Fonds Équipe France (FEF) programme and held under the patronage of the French Embassy.
It followed the assembly of the first mobile skatepark in Jamaica touted as a major step toward making skateboarding accessible to as many people across the island.
“The idea was to bring skateboarding into Jamaica and we have done two main actions. One is the mobile skatepark which can be brought in communities for kids to use it and to learn how to skateboard. It gives you discipline, it gives you respect, so it’s at the same time a sport but it’s also educational,” French Ambassador Olivier Guyonvarch told Observer. Meanwhile, the 15 young skaters from Bull Bay, Kingston, Montego Bay, Boston Bay, and Port Antonio, received their official certifications after an intensive training programme led by French state-certified instructors, including 2017 World Champion Benjamin Garcia.
“The second part of the project was, we have two coaches, professional coaches from France, who came from France, and they taught 15 young Jamaicans to be coach of skateboarding,” Guyonvarch said.
The new instructors will be responsible for sharing their passion and supervising safe skateboarding practice in their communities, helping structure an emerging discipline across Jamaica.
Founded in 2020 by Rémy Walter, Jamaica Skate Culture has been playing a major role in developing skateboarding on the island. Walter, who has been a skateboarder since 1976, said he launched JSC, “with the purpose to develop this sport as a social tool and also an Olympic sport. And we’ve been working very well with the French Embassy since I met the ambassador.
“And the purpose of our foundation is to promote skateboarding with our mobile skatepark that has been financed with the programme by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said, noting that the mobile skatepark was designed and built in Germany by IOU Ramps.
The mobile skatepark supplements the only two concrete skateparks in Jamaica, the Freedom Skatepark in Bull Bay, St Andrew; and the Boston Bay Skatepark, located in Portland.
What’s more, the programme includes a pioneering partnership with the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech), which will provide its facilities to host indoor skateboarding sessions and training.
According to Walter, “This collaboration is the first step toward establishing a Jamaican Skateboarding Academy, giving young people the chance to earn diplomas, pursue sport-study programmes, and prepare the most talented athletes for international competition.”
In the meantime, the certification ceremony, presided over by Guyonvarch, welcomed several distinguished guests including Antonio Otávio Sá Ricarte, Ambassador of Brazil; Jan Hendrik van Thiel, Ambassador of Germany; Mark Berman, High Commissioner of Canada; Marcelino Miranda, Legal Officer at the International Seabed Authority; Florette Blackwood, Consultant to the Jamaican Ministry of Sports; and Dr Claire Sutherland and Andre Baugh University of Technology Jamaica (UTech). ~Jamaican Observer~
