India is home to 1.34 billion people where the absolute majority hoots for Cricket. Yet, under all the noise there are some who prefer the sound of grinding on a skateboard. Till a few years back, Skateboarding in India was non-existent among the Cricket crazy masses but that scenario is now changing.

“Skateboarding is all about _____”

The blank has a different meaning for just about everybody who indulges in the sport. Every skateboarder has their unique drive.

Zhen Paintal, an avid Skateboarder shares about her relationship with the sport, “It’s like a friend I never had! I personally like it because it brought me face to face with my being, something I forgot to relate to a while back,”

“Same with any other core adventure sport. Skateboarding reminded me what balance actually means and how much fear I’ve gathered over time,”  she adds.

The first stepping stone for Indian Skateboarding was in 2003 with India’s first skatepark i.e. Sk8Goa. It was built by UK’s proskater Nick Smith.

Nick Smith is one of the early evangelists of the Indian Skateboarding scene. Back then people moving around on wooden boards with four wheels was not a common sight in the country and would draw attention.

There have been many factors that have lead to the growth of the sport since then.

Navin Devnani, an aspiring skateboarder who also looks after Customer Experience & Business Development at Active8Sports, talks about three major factors that led to the present state of skateboarding in India.