Tell us a little about yourself

My name is Bridget. I’m 15 and come from Melbourne, Australia. I learnt to skateboard on a penny board on an overseas trip when I was 4 years old. I was a child actress, so I travelled a lot for different roles around the world and often had to go on public transport. I preferred to roll everywhere rather than walk. On my 9^th birthday, I spent my birthday money on a real skateboard and decided I wanted to be a professional skateboarder like Tony Hawke, and skateboard around the world.

Tell us about the trip you have planned

Later this year I’m travelling through the middle of Australia to film a doco about my skate journey and design my first skateboard series. I want my series to reflect my journey and be something really special and memorable, while I explore the Northern Territory. I’d love to meet other female skateboarders and maybe encourage some to pick up a board and have a go.

I want to go and explore my own back yard here in Australia and get other girls here skating. I’d love to see more funding put into girl’s skate lessons because I think it’s really important for girls to have a sport like skateboarding to show them how capable they are, and a strong female mentor that understands they have different needs to boys. Guy coaches are great but don’t always understand what girls need as a female mentor does.

Why are you filming a documentary on skateboarding?

I’m filming a doco to celebrate my own skate journey as a personal project for myself. If that inspires other girls to get out and try skateboarding too, that would be awesome. When I get back home, I’ll be getting some new skateboards designed – then I want to travel around Australia again, and give my boards away to girls that can’t afford them, like me when I started.

I combined my love of acting with skating and have been lucky enough to land some amazing skateboarding jobs, for bands like Spiderbait and some other cool roles. You never know where you might see my face pop up on a skateboard! I’m using what I’ve earnt to fund my own skateboard project so other girls can start skateboarding too and enjoy it like I do.

How important is diversity in skateboarding? 

There aren’t a lot of resources for female skaters in Australia. The sport is starting to take off but needs more noise and funding… and also the versatility to expand the network of who controls and governs decisions made around skateboarding here in Australia. Not everyone is getting a voice and being heard.

It’s a very narrow sport here still.

A lot of girls here are taking off oversees, mainly the U.S, to get sponsors and the right training and facilities. I’ve lost that buzz - I had a big accident in 2020 while self-training which put me on life support. I have a permanent brain injury now.

At the moment, there are a few girls paying crazy amounts of money to travel and be coached, all chasing the same dream. There has been a change in the culture of skateboarding since it became an Olympic sport. That is massively unachievable for the majority of kids here unless they have parents that are willing to fork out lots of money for it. It shouldn’t be like that - every girl should be able to try a sport if they like it and think they might be good at it.