CT SKATER GIRLS in the media

[Joe Iacovelli]

Katii, Elisa, and Lisa are features in the Hartford Courant today. I'll post the article below. You should also look out for Lisa on the Jane Pauley show this weekend and on the Today show with Katie Couric Monday morning. She'll be our slalom representative in the Skateboard Mom contingent.

Special note on the article. The girls got their sponsors names in print. They deserve some sort of spiff (maybe a Fat City gimee cap too);

Extreme Bonding
Skateboarding A Family Affair For Mom And Two Daughters

June 25, 2004
By CARLY L. SCHWARTZ, Courant Staff Writer

AVON -- Hours before the buzz of Saturday morning traffic echoed through the Farmington Valley, Lisa Woodward and her two daughters hit the streets.

Their car was the only one in sight for miles on the town's back roads - but they weren't driving. As the trio maneuvered on skateboards through the Avon hills, Woodward's husband trailed dutifully behind, carting coffee and doughnuts for the girls and their mom to enjoy during breaks.

"Just a coffee and a doughnut and a run," recalled Elisa Campbell, 17, Woodward's oldest daughter.

While most teenagers look for ways to escape their parents, Woodward's daughters relish the time they spend skateboarding with their mom.

And lately, the family coffee runs have taken a backseat to international slalom skateboarding competitions. Most recently, the three competed at the Luna Slalom Jam in Jackson, Miss., where the 37-year-old Woodward beat out her youngest daughter, Katii Campbell, 14, in the women's division.

"Competitions for me are more about the fun than the competition," Elisa said. "Skateboarding is more of a chance for my mom and I to bond than anything else."

The girls often take time off from classes to travel to races with their mother. Katii is about to enter her freshman year at Avon High School; Elisa will be a senior. "It's worth it because we experience so much together," said Elisa, "more than we ever would in school."

"I'm not a soccer mom," explained Woodward. "I'm a skater mom."

According to Elisa, not only is Woodward a skater mom, but a cool one at that.

"My friends are jealous," she said.

The family first discovered competitive skateboarding a year ago, when Elisa noticed an online advertisement for a race in Deerfield, Mass. Woodward took the girls to the race, where the three learned slalom, timed races through a course marked by cones.

"We were hooked," Woodward said. "We just loved competing."

Their affinity for competition has since taken the women to Georgia, Washington, D.C., Colorado and other destinations across the country. Over the past year, the family befriended skaters of all ages and nationalities, from a Latvian nuclear physicist to a snowboarder from Vermont.

"The variety of people that come into the sport is just amazing," said Elisa.

At the "Fat City Racing" World Championship in Morro Bay, Calif., last October, Katii secured the third-place title for juniors in slalom skateboarding worldwide.

But some of the most fun takes place when the races are over. "After the race we get to shower, put on a dress and just be girls ... go out on the town," Woodward said.

Her daughters recently joined competitive teams that are put together by corporate sponsors; Katii is with Radikal, and Elisa is with Seismic. Their friendly competition extends to their Orchard Farms Lane home, where Katii flipped through a pamphlet listing the world rankings, finding her and her sister's names.

"Oh, I killed you!" she said to Elisa.

Grabbing the booklet from her sister, Elisa scanned the list. "Well ... I'm on the cover," she responded, pointing to a picture of herself at the top of a slalom course, decked out in skateboarding gear.

With Elisa applying to college next year, competing will be more difficult. But in the meantime, the family plans to attend as many competitions as they can, and are looking forward to races in Oregon, Colorado and California.

They're not worried about the future, said Woodward. Right now, "we just really want to go."

[Matthew Wilson]

Family Values AND Skateboarding. This is fantastic. The new American role model-family is here.

That's a fantastic article! Thanks for posting that Joe.