Skate like a girl: Skatepark of Tampa hosts girls only meetups

TAMPA (FOX 13) - The Skatepark of Tampa is helping to get more girls into skateboarding by dedicating an entire day to letting them ride. 

Arianna Deris 11 and has only been skateboarding for four months but it didn't take her long fall in love with it. 

"I heard about the girls skate meetups and I come to every single one of them," she said.

For the last eight months, the Skatepark of Tampa has dedicated the last Saturday of each month the girls. 

"We want to encourage the girls to come out and try something different, make friends, and it's really to empower each other too," said one of the Girls Meetup Coordinators Alexandra Bibiloni. 

The girls meetup allows girls of all ages to break out their boards and ride together and without intimidation.

Bibiloni and her partner Marley Miller organize the Girls Meetups every month and have been skating at the Skatepark for nearly a decade. 

"When I started skating there were no girls here and it was terrifying honestly it was intimidating I was 12 years old. There were no girls. I would stand here for most of the day," Bibiloni explained. 

Now the pair works together to change the environment for the girls cruising around the skate park these days. 

"Now, it's cool that we have all of these role models all of these professional women skateboarders and all these girls that want to get together and foster the environment for, you know, girls to have those people and be able to grow in our own little community," Miller explained. 

Women and girls skate for free six days a week at the Skatepark of Tampa. 

For more information, visit https://skateparkoftampa.com/spot/