The way we roll: the use of longboards and cameras by girls to roll through the urban outdoors

Abstract

We use a nonrepresentational (NRT) lens to explore the affect generated in the use of an action sport for girls from disadvantaged backgrounds in a short-term Sport for Development (SfD) project. Longboards and GoPro cameras were used to enable adolescent girls from disadvantaged communities to participate in urban outdoor action sport and to be digitally engaged by making vlogs of their participation. We used an NRT framework to explore the ways affects were produced during longboard instruction practices. The data consisted of 36 longboard instruction observations, 22 focus groups and 230 min of selected video fragments with the girls. We show how ‘U on Board’ became an counter pedagogic space and discuss how such SfD projects can create knowledges and pleasure in ways that can open up new possibilities for shaping sport practices.