EMPOWERING TUNISIA’S SKATEBOARDING COMMUNITY WITH NEW PARKS

Two new skateparks emerge in Tunisia thanks to collaborative efforts between the Decathlon Foundation, Make Life Skate Life, and our team.

By Decathlon Skateboarding

March 4^th, 2024

TUNISIAN SKATEBOARDERS MOBILIZE TO DEVELOP SKATEBOARDING LOCALLY

In 2022, a small group of skateboarders, some of them members of Decathlon Tunisia, got together to try and make their dream come true: to build a skatepark. Together with Génération Sports X-tremes (GSX), a skate association based in Sousse, a port city in eastern Tunisia, they decided to contact the Decathlon Foundation.

The Decathlon Foundation is an entity created in 2005 thanks to the involvement of employees around the world. The aim of this foundation is to enable team-mates to become involved locally in a solidarity sports project (construction/renovation of sports fields, purchase of sports equipment, training in sports-related professions, etc.). Since 2005, over 913 projects have been supported in 47 countries.

To find out more about the Decathlon Foundation and its projects , click here.

EMPOWERING TUNISIA’S SKATEBOARDING COMMUNITY WITH NEW PARKS

Back to Sousse. When the teams at the Foundation received this project proposal, they reached out to us, the Decathlon Skateboarding team, so that we could support the local teams with our experience. It was at this moment that we learned about the skatepark project in Sousse.

On our part, we had already collaborated several times with the Decathlon Foundation. Their financial support enabled us to develop a skatepark at La Condition Publique in Roubaix in 2020 and to participate in the construction of Snoubar Skatepark, the first public skatepark in Lebanon in 2021. These projects are extremely important to us; we are proud to contribute to the development of skateboarding and the diffusion of its culture by creating skateparks in places that lack them.

Our first contacts with the GSX association date back to September 2022. At the time, they had secured a site for building the skatepark and had just received funds from the Decathlon Foundation. They were seeking advice regarding the design of the skatepark and skilled labor to manage the project's execution. It seemed obvious to us that we should connect them with our friends at Make Life Skate Life.

Construction of Colorama Skatepark at La Condition Publique in Roiubaix.

MAKE LIFE SKATE LIFE

Make Life Skate Life (MLSL) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) whose mission is to promote skateboarding and its culture through the construction of skateparks. They also develop skate programs that have a positive impact on the lives of disadvantaged youth worldwide. MLSL assists local organizations in independently managing skateparks and programs with their own means of creative development. Their projects have resulted in the creation of new skateparks, skate shops, skate schools, and employment opportunities for locals. Since 2013, they have built over fifteen skateparks worldwide (including in India, Bolivia, Nepal, Morocco, etc.).

It was in 2021 that we worked together for the first time on the construction of Snoubar Skatepark in Beirut, Lebanon. This project materialized in early August 2021, just days before the tragic first anniversary of the explosion at the Beirut port. Today, the skatepark has become the focal point of the local skate scene, with classes offered several times a week and boards and protective gear lent out for free.

Construction of Snoubar Skatepark in Beirut, July 2021.

When we contacted Arne, director of MLSL, to introduce him to the project in Sousse, he told us that they too were in the process of building a skatepark in La Marsa, a coastal town some twenty kilometers from Tunis.

A few years earlier, they had met members of the local skateboarding association, Giraffe Crew, who wanted to call on them to renovate their skatepark, which had fallen into disrepair several years earlier. This photo of the La Marsa skatepark speaks for itself. Built in 2006, it was the first skatepark in Tunisia and one of the first in North Africa. After several years in operation, it quickly fell into disrepair. This is often the problem with wooden outdoor skateparks with metal frames: they don't stand up well over time. Now impracticable and dangerous, it was gradually abandoned by local skateboarders, who redirected themselves to the few places in town where they could continue to skate. MLSL was now ready to help them renovate the La Marsa skatepark, and had just started its crowdfunding campaign to raise the necessary funds for construction.

We decided to organize a meeting with everyone involved in both projects: the GSX association, Decathlon Tunisie, La Fondation Decathlon, MLSL and our teams. For GSX, MLSL's design expertise and network of skatepark construction professionals were what they needed to make the Sousse skatepark a reality. However, it wasn't easy for the MLSL teams to take on a second project when funds had still not been found for the construction of their initial project, the skatepark in La Marsa.

The Decathlon Foundation enabled us to unblock the situation by agreeing to finance the skatepark project in La Marsa as well. On the strength of the experience of Beirut in 2021, where we witnessed the quality of the work of the MLSL teams, we were all convinced that if they took charge of the building sites and programming for both skateparks, the project would be a success. Since 2020, 200,000 euros have been invested by the Foundation in the development of skateparks that benefit several thousand young people on a daily basis.

BUILDING THE TWO SKATEPARKS

The workload is colossal with the two sites, but doing so together enables certain economies of scale to be achieved on rentals and the reuse of certain equipment to reduce the total cost of the project. The MLSL teams began by building the Sousse skatepark in November 2023. A team of 10 international volunteers came on site to carry out the work. Local skateboarders were also on hand to lend a hand. In the end, it took 3 weeks of effort and hundreds of liters of coffee for the Sousse skatepark to see the light of day.

The construction of the La Marsa skatepark took place between January and February 2024. Thanks to the hard work of volunteers, the skatepark was built in less than a month. We would like to thank all the volunteers for their hard work, without whom the project would not have been possible. Special thanks go to Kjell Van Hansewyck, who headed up the Sousse and La Marsa sites. His expertise and commitment ensured that both skateparks were completed to perfection, much to the delight of local skateboarders.

We were on site with a few team members to lend a hand with the final work, meet all the project members and organize the inauguration together. Our team rider Joseph Garbaccio was part of the adventure and documented the project in the video below.

Kjell at the controls of the helicopter to smooth the concrete of the skatepark.

THE REVIVAL OF THE TUNISIAN SKATEBOARD SCENE

Despite the lack of spots and skateparks, and the difficulty of getting hold of equipment, the Tunisian skate scene is very dynamic, with over 300 skaters in Tunis alone. Skateboarding is also becoming more feminine, thanks to a small group of female skateboarders who are beginning to break down stereotypes. On site we met several locals, including Malek (@Malekbanamor), based in Sousse, manager of BLKOT Skateboarding and creator of the first Tunisian skate magazine MAGNIFY. But also Ghazi, Ahmed, Sahbi, Youssef, Achref and Aziz behind the Giraffe crew (@Giraffecrew), who try to bring Tunisian skateboarders together by organizing regular events. Together they are helping to revitalize the skate scene and introduce and develop skate culture in Tunisia.

A BOARD TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKATEBOARDING

Our partnership with Make Life Skate Life also extends to our products. In particular, with this board in the colors of Snoubar Skatepark. 10 euros per board sold will be donated to MLSL to support their future projects. Boards available in 8" and 8.25", resin construction with 7-ply FSC-certified Canadian maple. Boards are only available online, on your country's Decathlon website, whether .fr, .es, .de, .be, etc.

A series of t-shirts and sweatshirts should follow very soon, we'll keep you posted 👀

This collaboration aims to have a significant impact on the skateboarding community, both locally and internationally. By supporting MLSL's future projects through a portion of skateboard sales, we aim to contribute to the expansion of skateboard culture and the creation of safe, accessible spaces for skateboarders worldwide. We hope that this initiative will not only encourage skateboarding, but also the emergence of new communities and the strengthening of existing ones. What's more, by choosing sustainable, FSC-certified construction for our boards, we aim to promote environmentally-friendly practices in the skateboard industry. Together, we aspire to create a lasting positive impact beyond the realm of skateboarding, promoting inclusion, community development and environmental sustainability.