Chub Rollz, a judgment-free space for plus-size skaters

Brut America

"As fat people, the first assumption is that we're trying to lose weight."  This skateboarder wanted to make sure no one ever felt like an outsider in a skate park. So he created Chub Rollz, a judgment-free space for plus-size skaters ...

Transcript

00:00When these videos come out, we always get folks that hit us up in the DMs immediately

00:11after saying, I cried when I saw your video.

00:14I've literally gone my whole life thinking that I could never skate even though I've

00:18always wanted to.

00:19That's really what this is all about, creating a space where all of us feel welcome to do

00:23the things that we want to do.

00:40I went online to find others like me that were heavier or fat, what were their recommendations

00:49for the best boards.

00:50I immediately got hit with some fat phobia in some of the groups.

00:57There was also just really a lot of misinformation out there that boards couldn't handle weights

01:03over 200 pounds, which is completely not true.

01:08A lot of people in my life that were fat said, hey, I really do want to start skating.

01:25It seems really cool.

01:26I'd love to get on a board with you, but I don't know which kind to buy.

01:31I really am convinced that I just can't do it, and so I wanted to create a space where

01:36folks could come out and try just getting on some boards, even if they've never been

01:40on a board before.

01:41Going to skate parks is really intimidating, and not only being fat, but kind of being

01:44a queer person, and we got a lot of those stereotypical body dudes, right?

01:49I know I have every right to be there, it just doesn't always feel good.

01:53A lot of us were really afraid that if we went out into the public, into skate parks,

01:57or even just out in our neighborhood, that we'd get laughed at.

02:00Even online, when we post some of our videos, hoping that our community will support us,

02:04we get a lot of hate in the comments, and so we wanted to create a safe space where

02:09we just would be supporting each other, and if somebody fell down, we would treat it just

02:14like any other skateboarder would when you fall, and just, you know, like, oh, you're

02:17right?

02:18Yeah, cool, get back up.

02:19A lot of times when we're out in the community, you know, as fat people, the first assumption

02:33is that we're trying to lose weight.

02:36One of our members tells a story about how on New Year's, they went for a skate just

02:41because they were really excited about a new board that they had gotten for the holidays,

02:46and then somebody went up to them and was like, oh, are you starting your resolutions

02:50early?

02:52And it was this immediate thought of like, oh, like, fat people don't want to be fat,

02:56and that's just so hurtful, because a lot of us are actually quite comfortable in our

03:00bodies, and it's the world that's not comfortable with us, and the arrangements that have not

03:05been adaptive for us.

03:15True skaters will always support you, will love to see somebody on the board, will love

03:21to see somebody connecting to the art, to the craft, to the activity, and folks that

03:28want to gatekeep and think that only certain types of people should skate, or that it's

03:34only for certain types of communities, those folks have not been very great to us, and

03:40those are the people that are usually really not great to the girls at the skate park and

03:45are not great to people of color at the skate park, and not great to queer people at the

03:48skate park, and also not great to fat people at the skate park.

03:52And so really, it's about folks that have gotten to be the sole image of skateboarding

03:56for a long time being frustrated about that, whereas another whole part of that crew is

04:01really excited to step back and allow that space to be reclaimed by the rest of us.

04:07We're just trying to have fun, and some of us are doing it for commuting, some of us

04:11are doing it for, you know, just for mental health, some of us are doing it as a way of

04:19how we've been grieving through the pandemic and a lot of loss, and so, you know, skating

04:26is for everybody.

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