The Skate School’s 11-year-old skater makes the podium at the 2024 Street Lines Skate Tournament
Shayne Robinson explained that all their girls at The Skate School in Cresta are dedicated and talented.
Danielle Pan (11), a skater from The Skate School in Cresta took second place at the 2024 Street Lines Skate Tournament at the renowned Thrashers Skatepark in Pretoria.
The fourth edition of the event saw defending event champions and 2024 Olympians, Boipelo Awuah and Brandon Valjalo reclaim their titles in the women’s and men’s divisions respectively.
Street Lines has evolved into the biggest skateboarding contest in South Africa with the event capped at 70 skateboarders from across the country competing in the women’s and men’s categories.
Danielle said the competition was fun, and she wasn’t expecting to be placed. “When I heard there was going to be Olympians there, I was nervous, and I told myself I want to go there and have fun and have smooth runs.”
Each skater had two 45-second runs with the top-scoring run counting, while in the finals, each skater had two 45-second runs along with four best trick attempts. The top-scoring run and the top two best tricks counted towards their final score. Judges took consistency, difficulty, style, and use of park into account when making their decisions. Six women and 15 men advanced to the finals.
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In the women’s division, Street Lines newcomers Danielle and Ashley Gindre made their mark by skating the park with confidence and impressing the judges in a closely fought battle for second place. Danielle’s run included a mellon grab over the box and on the quarterpipe, a mellon grab 180 and a boneless on the bank to claim second place.
“I was excited, and I didn’t think I would make second place. I was quite shocked when my name was called. I love skating because I get to learn new things and I get to spend more time with my friends. “
Danielle started skating at the age of eight and said it had not been easy to balance school and skating. “I do make space for training and my homework. I want to be a professional skateboarder and go to the Olympics one day. I have good coaches that are helping me a lot. I have improved a lot from when I started.”
Danielle’s coach Shayne Robinson said The Skate School was all about promoting girls in skateboarding.
“We are looking at how we can get girls involved in a sport that has not always been open to them. Saturday was the most nerve-racking day I ever had because we are different from what the skating industry is used to. It was nice that we were able to show them who we were. To have one of my skaters in that position was amazing.”
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