GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

When Zea Page was 8, she asked her mother why only boys rode skateboards.

"I didn't know girls skated," says Zea, 11, now a sponsored rider who drops into 9-foot-deep concrete bowls and competes in the boys categories of local skate competitions.

Zea no longer has to be told that girls can skate. She and her mother, Kristin, 30, and her 8-year-old sister, Kyla, are part of a growing legion of women and girls who are picking up a sport once considered off limits to them.

"It's definitely growing," says Barb Odanaka, the founder of the California-based Web site www.SkateboardMom.com. "Now, you're seeing all-girl skate camps, you're having a lot more skate shops trying to encourage girls, and there are more and more skateboard companies that are marketing toward women."

Odanaka has seen a spike in interest on her own Web site, which represents moms and non-moms alike. On Mother's Day, she sponsored the Mighty Mama Skate-O-Rama, an event in Laguna Niguel, Calif., that drew a couple of dozen mothers with serious skateboarding addictions.

Women's skateboarding will be a featured event at this summer's X-Games in Los Angeles, and the California organization, the All Girl Skate Jam, will be presenting all-female skateboarding events at this summer's Warped Tour. The group was launched in 1997 with the motto "All ages, all abilities, all girls."

Oregon is well represented when it comes to women skateboarders, says Patty Segovia, founder of the All Girl Skate Jam. The state, which is well known for its disproportionately high number of municipal skate parks, has a reputation for spawning gritty skaters.

"Rumor has it some of the best (women) cement pool skaters are out of Oregon," Segovia says.

Mark Page, 36, would still like to see more female Oregon skaters. Together with Kristin, Zea and Kyla, he runs Harvest Skateboards, a small Eugene skate and T-shirt company with a mandate to "harvest a new generation of female skaters." The family organizes skate contests open to males and females, and is putting together an all-female skate jam in August. Mark Page would like to make the gathering an annual event and hopes to start a West Coast league for female skaters.

"I have two girls, and a wife, I'm surrounded by females," Page says. "And I want them to have every opportunity that I see males having."

An avid skater who used to teach skateboarding classes for the city of Eugene, Page says he is to blame for his family's skate habit, but he believes the sport is a healthy activity that builds self-confidence.

"It can be extremely frustrating," he says. "But they realize that you can try really hard at something, you can fall down and get hurt, but eventually, you're going to pull it off."

Zea, who now has her own Web site (www.zeaskates.com) and a sponsorship deal with the Idaho-based skate company Concrete Divas, continues to pull off her own tricks, which include "hand plants" "front- side 50-50s" and "half-Cabs." She skates on her family's indoor ramps and ventures into local skate parks during the warmer months.

"I think (skateboarding) is really fun," she says, during one of the family's regular Saturday morning outings to the Cal Young skate park.

"When you have a new trick that you've just learned, you feel really excited and happy."

Lyndsey Hull, 18, a Harvest-sponsored rider who has been skating for two years, is encouraged by the number of women she sees riding in local parks.

"When I was little, I was never handed a skateboard," Hull says. "I guess I knew girls could always do it, but I wasn't into it (then). Now I could never see myself not skating."

Hull subscribes to the women's boardsport magazine SG, and follows the careers of several female pro riders. She started skating at the relatively tame Amazon Park snake run, where she learned how to "pump tranny" (ride transitions), before graduating on to more difficult skate parks.

Kristin Page learned to skate in the 1980s at a time when skateboarding was tied into the punk rock scene and was viewed as a male-dominated sport. She says attitudes toward female skaters are slowly improving.

"Boys are a little more accepting, but there's still a little bit of a stigma," she says. "A lot of girls want to start, but they get really intimidated when they show up at a park."

Odanaka, the founder of skateboardmom.com, learned to skate during the 1970s. At that time, she says, skateboarding was seen as a co-ed sport in parts of Southern California. There was very little stigma attached to women riders, and they often skated alongside the men.

"There were just as many women skating (as men)," says Odanaka, a former member of the Hobie Amateur Skate Team.

Today, the prevailing attitude among many young male skaters when it comes to female riders seems to be one of partial acceptance.

"It's pretty awesome when girls can skate, but it's not very often," says Jake Kalstad, 14.

Zach Bailey, 17, is slightly more optimistic.

"I think the majority of people are down with (supportive of) chicks skating," Bailey says.

Female riders are being welcomed at local skateshops, where an array of shoes and clothing aimed at women skaters are on display. There are skateboards designed specifically for female riders and more women are buying skate gear. At Boardsports Inc. in Eugene, co-owner Jonathan Faulkner estimates 10 percent of his customers are women.

"It used to be zero (percent)," Faulkner says. "Five years ago, there weren't very many women that would stop in here unless they were related to us or worked here."

At Tactics Boardshop, which carries ladies-only skate shoes and an Icelandic clothing line with the slogan, "For girls who ride," women have been increasingly drawn to sports once dominated by males, manager Chrissy Holleman says. She points to a rise in female surfers and snowboarders that predates the growth of female skateboarders. "Girls want to play a tougher sport these days," Holleman says.

A spin-off of the female skating phenomenon is women riding longboard skateboards. The boards, which can measure nearly 4 feet in length, are more stable and easier to ride than typical 2 1/2 -foot street boards. They also are built for speed and can be used for transportation.

"It's a good way to get around and have fun," says Shauna McHugh, 21, a University of Oregon student who rides her long board to class. "I usually get a lot of attention. It's kind of funny when people are just like, `Wow, a girl skater. Right on!' '

When she's feeling more daring, McHugh notches up the intensity by riding her board down south Willamette Street, where she's been known to hit 25 mph. Last year, she crashed during a downhill longboarding competition in California, but the injury hasn't quelled her enthusiasm for skateboarding.

"There's just something about it," McHugh says. "I ride (my skateboard) everywhere I go, and when I don't have it, I'm just so upset."

LADY RIDERS

Here are some online resources for female skateboarders:

Harvest Skateboards: Profiles of male and female skaters, information on local skate parks, merchandise, product reviews, links (www.harvestboards.com)

Zea Page's Page: Home page of 11-year-old Eugene skateboarder with trick tips, skate park etiquette, photos and links (www.zeaskates.com)

International Society of Skateboarding Moms: Profiles of mothers who skate, photos of women skaters (www.skateboardmom.com)

All Girl Skate Jam: Official site of the International Girls Skateboarding Association with photos and information on contests (www.allgirlskatejam.com)

SG Magazine: Site for women's boardsports magazine (www.sgmag.com)

SkateboardDirectory.com: Search engine for all things skateboard related (www.skateboarddirectory.com)

Gurlz on Boardz: Photos, articles, links, merchandise (www.realskate.com/gob.htm)

CAPTION(S):

The Pages (left to right) Kyla, 8, Zea, 11, Kristin and Mark have found family fun in skateboarding. The family organizes skate contests open to males and females. "Girls want to play a tougher sport these days."- CHRISSY HOLLEMAN, TACTICS BOARDSHOP MANAGER