With her skateboard in hand, Atefa gets her bearings — Assembly

The 17-year-old from Afghanistan shares how the nonprofit Skateistan helped her learn confidence on and off the board.

Assembly's Game Changers series features female athletes around the world who defy convention on and off the field.

“I didn't have much to do,” says 17-year-old Atefa of her life before skateboarding. “I just went to school and came home again. I had low self-esteem and was completely isolated.” Then she heard about Skateistan, a nonprofit that teaches students leadership and life skills through skateboarding and arts-based education. Intrigued, Atefa attended the opening of Skateistan’s expansive skate school in her home of Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, one of the largest cities in the country. As soon as she saw other girls skating, she signed up.

Her family didn’t approve of her participation at first. “People didn't have a good opinion about girls skateboarding and people didn't talk about it well,” Atefa remembers of her community’s initial reaction. “These behaviors made my family oppose my going there.”

In some areas of Afghanistan, long-held cultural beliefs fuel gender discrimination, which prevent girls like Atefa from enjoying the same opportunities as boys. Although many families refuse to let their daughters play sports, some parents see skateboards as toys, a loophole that allows girls to participate in Skateistan’s programmes.

Atefa was able to ease her parents’ concerns with the help of a Skateistan community educator. “She explained everything that happens at Skateistan and why it’s good for girls,” says Atefa. “She invited my family to visit Skateistan so they could see it all. This solved all the problems and they let me go back.”

Since then, Atefa has become a regular at Skateistan’s skate school, the largest indoor sports facility in Afghanistan. And she’s proved to be a natural talent. After a lot of hard work (and some spills), Atefa became the first girl in the country to land a kickflip. She has since become a regular on the Skateistan podium, winning several of the organisation’s competitions.

Last year, Atefa travelled to Nanjing, China with Skateistan to attend a training camp organised by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) where she was able to hone her skills, including learning to ollie down four stairs. Atefa excelled in the OCA competition and came in sixth place out of 21 athletes. “Participating in an important competition [like the one I took part in in China] is not always easy and is accompanied by fear and apprehension,” she remembers. “But that never diminishes my interest in participating. It makes me practice and strive more for that important competition and think about how much experience I can gain.”

Part of the challenge of skateboarding competitions is that athletes only have one minute to show off their skills on board. “At first, it seemed really difficult,” Atefa says of competing in such a short timeframe. “But after I won first place in one of those competitions at Skateistan, I became more confident and told myself that this is a minute that can determine the fate of a competition, so you should always do your best to achieve your goal. One minute to get the result we really want.”

Atefa channels the confidence she’s learned through skateboarding into other areas of her life, such as her work as a Skateistan Youth Leader where she supports younger students in skate classes and the classroom. “I learned to be a good leader at Skateistan,” she shares. “I help younger children to skate and I keep them safe. Now, not only in Skateistan, but everywhere else, I can be a good leader. And I can teach those things that I have learned at Skateistan to others.”

After her success in China, Atefa was slated to compete at the Asian Skateboarding Championships in Singapore as part of the Olympic qualification season, but the competition was cancelled due to COVID-19. Although she was disappointed not to be competing in Singapore, Atefa shares that overall this was a “really good year” for her because she successfully graduated from high school. In Afghanistan, there are an estimated 3.7 million children out of school — and 60% of them are girls. Atefa has witnessed firsthand the barriers that prevent her peers from completing their education. “From economic problems to poor teaching in schools and universities, a large number of young people have dropped out of school,” she explains. “Often children and teenagers have to work instead of going to school; and for girls, if they get married then they usually don’t finish their education.”

Through accelerated learning programmes, book clubs, study groups and workshops, Skateistan is working to improve learning outcomes for their students. The organisation — whose work is the subject of a recent Academy Award-winning documentary — now has two schools in Afghanistan with a third under construction, as well as facilities in Cambodia and South Africa.

Atefa on her trip to China for the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) training camp. (Courtesy of Skateistan)

Atefa has “a lot of dreams” for her future, but one of her top ambitions is to become a champion skater in Asia. She wants to use her platform to help other students follow her lead: “As a girl who can skate, I would like to do useful work for the development of this sport in Afghanistan so that everyone in all parts of Afghanistan can skate freely.”

Editor’s note: Atefa is a pseudonym.