3 Takeaways:

• Las ChicAZ is a nonprofit which teaches individuals the basics of skateboarding. 
• A skate clinic was held for girls ages 5 to 16 at the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Skate Park.
• The clinic provided Community skaters with free helmets and skateboards and featured a coloring book session. 

Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Adaptive Recreation Coordinator Ethan Larned is always looking for new ways to get Community youth involved in fun and exciting activities and games. 

Late last year, Larned met with Natalie Krishna Das, who is the owner of Las ChicAZ, an Arizona nonprofit that promotes the basics of skateboarding as part of a healthy lifestyle. The two began chatting and eventually began brainstorming on how they could collaborate on future projects and events. 

Weeks later, their brainstorming conversation turned into reality. 

On Jan. 23, with the help of Las ChicAZ, Community children spent the evening learning how to become the next great skateboard legend like superstar skateboarder Tony Hawk and the first-ever female pro skateboarder, the late Patti McGee, a.k.a. “the First Betty.”

Nearly 20 skateboarders and their families attended the clinic, which was held at the Salt River Skate Park and included a coloring book cool-down session. Helmets, skateboards, safety pads and more were provided to ensure the safety and protection of all skating participants. 

“Las ChicAZ is a conglomerate of women, and some guys too, and we take lots of fun trips together to plan epic skateboard events,” said Das. 

To date, Las ChicAZ has traveled throughout Arizona, California and Mexico to educate and share how skateboarding can contribute to a healthy and positive lifestyle. 

She continued, “We’re excited to be here. We’ve also created a custom coloring book; we’re excited to share that.”

The skateboard-themed coloring book featured black-and-white designs by local children who participate in events hosted by Las ChicAZ. Each completed art submission was sent to Das for the creation of the coloring book. 

Das also said that each clinic they host features a word or theme of the day. The theme for this skate clinic was “perseverance.”

“We’ll teach the kids about the word ‘perseverance,’ have them use it in a sentence and then share different stories about how we persevere,” said Das. 

Additionally, Das and her fellow skate clinic team members presented each skateboarder with friendship beads as a token of their appreciation. “For any good deed we see them doing, or if they do any special tricks, we give them one of these special beads.”

Das stated that the Community was “very nice” to her and the Las ChicAZ team, and the nonprofit looks forward to returning to the SRPMIC soon.