Watch: Skateboarding Influencer Inspired by Barbie Takes an Innovative Approach to Inclusion in Sport

The Barbie fever has officially struck everyone. Barbie fans had been waiting for another installment of their favorite movie series for a long time now. However, this time even a non-Barbie fan got caught in the mix. Australian skateboarding YouTuber Ricky Glaser is the latest person in line to embark on a magical Barbie journey.

Glaser boasts over 447,000 subscribers on YouTube who constantly get impressed by skateboarding tricks. Every fan likes to contribute to their fandom while adding a touch of their own, and Glaser decided to do just that.

Barbie and the Skateboarding Adventure

Every Barbie movie comes out with a new avatar of her. Despite there being 35+ Barbie movies, Glaser noticed that no movie features a skateboarding Barbie. “She had many different careers: an astronaut, doctor, firefighter, gymnast, but she was never a skateboarder. I know Barbie would love skateboarding if she ever got the chance to try it, so I know what I have to do,” Glaser said at the beginning of his video titled “Barbie goes Skateboarding!”

The YouTuber took it upon himself to introduce Barbie to skateboarding. He joined forces with his girlfriend, who helped him don the appearance of a real-life Barbie! Once he had his makeover done, he went to the mall and bought several things he thought the real Barbie would like. He also ventured into the Barbie world and checked out several Barbie figurines and merchandise. After shopping, he stepped on a pink skateboard with the word “Barbie” printed on the top and bottom of the board. The 31-year-old dashed on his skateboard while donning the appearance of Barbie at Venice Beach. “There’s a lot of Barbie fans standing right over there. Let’s go impress them with some skate tricks,” said Glaser as he headed to the beach that is also shown in the latest movie.

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The public at the beach and his viewers on the channel thoroughly enjoyed watching him pull off several tricks. Glaser failed to land his tricks every time perfectly, but he was skateboarding at the end of the day and having fun. The video ended with Glaser joking that Mattel, Inc. got inspired by the video. He uploaded a stock video showing Mattel employees discussing a possible toy release in his likeness for 2024. While the video will definitely encourage more young girls to pick up skating, sometimes, change is also needed on the ground level. Attracting young females and non-binary people to their skateboarding community, two individuals have set out on making the sport more inclusive.

Making More Girls Step Up… on the Skateboard!

While Glaser observed that Barbie was never a skateboarder, it turns out that this is true for many girls and not just Barbie. Young girls seldom pick up skating or skateboarding in their childhood or teenage days. The sport is mainly dominated by boys and men, who started skating when they were five. Romantic partners Em Rafnson and Maddy Nowosad noticed this gap themselves when they began their skating journey well after their teenage years. They really wished for a skating community composed of girls and non-binary people to welcome them to the sport. But now, they have joined hands with several like-minded skaters and have started their own community.

The non-profit skateboarding community “Next Gen” teaches girls and non-binary people below 18 years of age to skate. They provide instructions and also promote skating culture among young girls. They received an even greater footfall this summer than last time. Initiatives like these will definitely make skateboarding more popular and appealing among girls. Have you ever come across girls who are into skateboarding? 

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