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NPR News

This 13-year-old skateboarder just made history in front of Tony Hawk

NPR | By Manuela López Restrepo
Published June 28, 2023 at 4:59 PM EDT
Arisa Trew, the recent record breaker for the first girl to complete a 720 in competition, during the Women's Park qualifiers of the Sharjah Skateboarding Street and Park World Championships in 2023.
Francois Nel
/
Getty Images
Arisa Trew, the recent record breaker for the first girl to complete a 720 in competition, during the Women's Park qualifiers of the Sharjah Skateboarding Street and Park World Championships in 2023.

Who is she? Arisa Trew is a 13-year-old surfer and skateboarder from Australia's Gold Coast.

  • She recently made history at Tony Hawk's Vert Alert competition held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

  • Trew became the first female skateboarder ever to land a 720 in a competition – it was also her first time ever landing the trick.

    • What's the big deal? For the uninitiated, a 720 is a skateboarding trick first pioneered by Tony Hawk in 1985; it requires the skater to complete two full rotations while in the air.

  • This week marked the 20th anniversary of Hawk landing the world's first 900 – for you math wizards out there, that means he added another half rotation to his time spent up in the air. 

    • View this post on Instagram A post shared by X Games (@xgames)

  • Hawk was in the audience watching as Trew made history and went on to win the women's final. She also earned a portion of the $75,000 shared competition prize.

  • Hawk's competition was part of an effort to revitalize vert skating – the kind of skateboarding that takes place on a ramp, or half pipe.

  • After shuttering the category 13 years ago, the X Games is reintroducing a women's category for vert skating, where Trew has already qualified due to her performance at Vert Alert.

  • One metric, from GoSkate, a skateboarding lesson resource, estimates that 40% of new skateboarders are women.

    • What are people saying?

    Here's what Trew shared on Instagram after her feat:

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Arisa Trew (@arisa_trew)

    And her coach, Trev Ward:

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Trev Ward Academy (@trevwardacademy)

    Plus, the man himself, Tony Hawk, on how Trew brought the house down:

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk)

    Kim Woozy from Skate Like a Girl on the significance of Trew's accomplishment for their movement:

    It just kind of shows us that we're nowhere near the limits.

    I've seen the progression really ramp up in the past 5 to 10 years. And mainly that's because I believe that there is an infrastructure, and support and investment now for girls to skateboard and pursue skateboarding from a financial aspect or professional level.

    I think every time there's a new sort of milestone check, including this one and there's other great examples as well, it's just an indication that this is absolutely just the beginning of what has been a movement that used to be a lot more unacknowledged or unseen.

    So, what now?

  • According to the Olympic World Skateboarding rankings, Trew is ranked 14th in the world in her division.

  • Trew is seeking a spot on the Australian national skateboarding team for the Paris 2024 Olympics. 

    • Learn more:

  • Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee to return to competition, with 2024 in their sights

  • An Indigenous lacrosse team reclaims its native identity

  • Hoop dreams of a Senegalese b-baller come true at Special Olympics

    • Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    NPR News
    Manuela López Restrepo
    Manuela López Restrepo is a producer and writer at All Things Considered. She's been at NPR since graduating from The University of Maryland, and has worked at shows like Morning Edition and It's Been A Minute. She lives in Brooklyn with her cat Martin.