Former skateboarder Sharné Jacobs is empowering young South Africans through her initiatives, Girls Skate South Africa and Johannesburg Skate Club. Her programmes foster inclusivity, life skills and a pathway to skateboarding excellence. Growing up as one of four children in the Johannesburg suburb of Alberton, Sharné Jacobs was always a sporty child.
She dabbled in sports such as cricket and rugby, but it was skateboarding that tugged at her heartstrings. When she was brave enough to eventually take the sport up in her teenage years, she was the only girl at the skatepark – just like Elissa Steamer was the sole female skater in Pro Skater. Despite her love for skateboarding, often being the only woman in a male-dominated field took its toll on Jacobs, and shesevered ties with the sport.
Older and wiser, she enjoyed skating a bit more, rising to become a prominent name in South Africa. Jacobs participated in competitions, but even then, she was never quite pleased with the number of women and girls able to rise to the upper echelons of the sport. Hence, in 2015, Jacobs founded Girls Skate South Africa and began pouring her energy into becoming a skating coach.
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The organisation fosters the inclusivity and representation that Jacobs so desperately longed for when she began her skateboarding journey. In continuing with her mission of being the change she wants to see in society, in 2022, Jacobs opened theJohannesburg Skate Club(JSC), which focuses on underprivileged communities around Johannesburg, looking for South Africa’s next big skateboarding star, as well as keeping a multitude of children off the streets. Jacobs coaches her youngsters from the Nike Shapa Soweto sports centre in Klipspruit, after being handpicked by Nike to be a mentor at the sports hub.
The club also has a branch in Alexandra. “What made me want to do this is because of what skateboarding has given me. I wanted to give that back.
Skateboarding has given me so much,” Jacobs told Daily Maverick. “So, I want every person to feel what I feel from skateboarding. That was my inspiration to start the club and to start giving back to the young ones.” “It’s really important to give the children something to do.
Skateboarding also teaches them life lessons,” Jacobs said. “I want to show them that Soweto is not where it ends, that there’s so much more to life. They can take themselves further with skateboarding, especially with the lessons that it teaches you about life, like not giving up.
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