CAREERS: Catch me if you can...

Skate boarding is globally recognised as an integral component of youth culture. Here, until recently, it was largely associated with youth that come from affluent backgrounds.

Youngsters like Kelvin Murage, 21, have given the sport a national face though. For him, this is not only a job, but a calling as well.

“God gave us the gifts we have, and it is only right that we give them back to him. Skate boarding is my calling, it is how I express my faith,” he says.

His interest in the sport was sparked by a skateboarder featured on a certain TV program - he was only 11 and eager to learn, and with no playmates, (he grew up in a remote village in Nyeri) television was all he had. When his curiosity got the better of him, he made his first skateboard. 

“I had never seen or held a real skateboard but I decided to make one anyway - I used the backrest of an old chair, on which I attached  wheels from my mother’s old suitcase. She was very angry with me when she came home that evening. That day, I slept outside in the harsh Nyeri cold. My mum is a policewoman, very strict, a disciplinarian,” he says, adding that at the beginning, she did not understand skateboarding and why he was interested in it.

Kelvin was hooked to the sport though, even though he had watched it just once. Unfortunately, there were no skateboarding parks where he lived, and as he would find out years later, there are very few of them in the country.

His passion took a back seat throughout most of his primary and secondary school years. After his parents separated, he moved all over the country with his mother due to the nature of her job. She was finally posted to Nairobi. By then, he was in Form Two, and joined Ofafa Jericho High School, in Makadara, Nairobi. In his final year of high school, he came across a YouTube video that forever changed his life. It was a post about a skateboarding competition in Nairobi, in which a schoolmate was participating. Keen to learn the sport, he frantically sought the schoolmate, who introduced him to the Nairobi skateboarding scene.

“Television gave me the dream, but when my first skateboard didn’t work well, I lost hope of ever skateboarding. Connecting with the skateboarding communities in Nairobi really opened my eyes, I learnt old and new tricks and I was directed to where I could acquire a skate board. I immediately started saving to buy one,” he says.

He would skip the customary mandazi at lunch time, and by the end of the term, he had saved Sh2,500. He then started window shopping.

On his first inquiry, he was informed that a skateboard costs around Sh18,000, which was well beyond his reach. He was tempted to give up but instead decided to keep looking, eventually finding a skateboard that cost Sh2,500. It might not have been a pro board, but it was definitely a start. In spite of the pressures of his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exams, he spent extensive hours on his board practising. His mother was not happy about it, but she was cautious not to discourage him  from pursuing his dream.

STAUNCHEST SUPPORTER

“The first board did not last because it really wasn’t much - I saved up for my second one, which broke too, but this time round, I did not have the money to replace it. My mum bought me my third and  fourth board,” he says.

Today, his mother is his staunchest supporter. By the time he completed high school, they were living in Ruai, in the outskirts of Nairobi, and the daily commute to access skating facilities in town was not only too expensive, he would arrive home late.

“At the time, there was a lot of  mugging in our neighbourhood, but instead of mum asking me to stop skateboarding, she rented me a small room in Umoja so that I could be closer to the CBD.”

While his peers were taking up French and computer classes to pass time as they waited for their KCSE results, Kelvin was skating. In the absence of an official skating park, the young enthusiast used the Aga Khan Walk parking lot. The place is empty on Sundays, providing ample space and the obstacles required for street skate boarding. After a while, roller bladders joined him and his friends and took over the place, forcing them to move to Uhuru park; a venue that proved more ideal.

“Uhuru Park is not a skating park, but at least it has all the basic elements and obstacles required in this sport. They are gaps, rails, stairs and flat ground necessary to try out new tricks. There is only one fully fledged skater park in Nairobi, which was built by an NGO. It is in Kangemi though, and therefore not easily accessible,” he says

In developed countries where recreation and youth development is taken seriously, skate parks are common. With none of these locally available, Kenyan youth enthusiastic about skating have to make do with what is there. They have so far created a skate boarding sub-culture within Nairobi and are building the sport one trick at a time. 

“We have had to improvise and use the internet to learn how to construct some of these obstacles, such as half and quarter pipes,” he explains. 

Does skating pay?

It has not become a competitive sport yet, so opportunities are limited. Also, most competitions don’t have prize money, but we get a lot of merchandise. I make my money through teaching children how to skate. I also work with an American skating ministry that is supporting my craft. I started an online community called Christian Skaters, and through it, I was able to network with two US-based skater ministries; Skaters of Christ and Christian Skaters International. I have been organising trips into the country for them and connecting them with the local scene when they come over. They are currently opening a skating shop in Kenya; I am their local liaison.  

Skateboarders get really bad falls, have you had any injuries?

I like high and scary places that give me an adrenaline rush. I specialise in street skateboarding. I love stairs, bowl tricks, gaps, stairs and rails.

I once rolled my ankle and had to go to hospital to have it straightened out, but I was  back on my board in about a week. Skateboarding is a painful sport, you have to be ready to taste the pavement every once in a while.

Who are your role models in skating?

Locally, Kelvin Maina and Victor Murage. They have been around for some time now and have really set things up for us. Internationally, Luan Oliveira, who comes from the favelas of Porto Alegre, Brazil, and has gone on to win many Super Crown World Championships and lucrative endorsements. There is also Letícia Bufoni. She is a professional skate boarder from the USA. Chris Chann also inspires me, but everyone has a unique way of skating, you have to take time to develop your craft.

Which is the most common type of Skating in Kenya?

Due to lack of facilities, Vertical skate boarding is not very common in Kenya, so most of us practice Street skate boarding. It involves the use of urban obstacles such as stairs and their handrails, planter boxes, drainage ditches, park benches and other street furniture. It is the easiest form to practice because it does not require specialised facilities. Park skateboarding encompasses a variety of sub-styles adopted by those who ride skateboards in purpose-built skate parks. Most skate parks combine half pipes and quarter pipes with various other “vert” skateboarding features as well as “street” obstacles such as stairs and rails.

What do you do apart from skating?

I am currently studying a degree in Computer Science at Pioneer International University.

Obviously, skating means the world to you. Why?

Every good thing in my life has came through skate boarding, it’s the path I was meant to take. I also got saved thanks to an American skate boarder I met sometime back - I currently work for a Christian skate boarding ministry.