Photos from last years Vans Park Series via Ian Logan

Looks like the Vans Park Series will be making 5 stops before the World Championships that will be held in the USA.

Unfortunately, at this point, it seems that the women's events will only be included in ONE of those stops prior to the finals. That means the women have only one chance to qualify for the World Championships and only 2 stops (including the finals) to add to their income for the year.

The men will compete in Australia (March 4),  Brazil (April 8th), Sweden (May 27), Canada (July 8) and both men and women will compete on August 1-5 in the USA. The women will also be included in the final in September at a location that is  TBD.

We applaud Vans as they have  been doing a lot over the years to help women gain visibility in the sport, but they can't do it all.

The question is, what we can we do collectively as a group to raise more awareness and more sponsorship dollars so women can be included in all 5 qualifiers?

We have women who are definitely qualified to compete, and live in Brazil, Australia, Sweden and Canada - so that makes it doubly hard and expensive for them to come to the US to compete in these two events.

If the women can not make a living from competing, then their sponsors will be need to step up even more to assist them with their living expenses throughout the year, yet sponsors will shy away from giving women the sponsorship deals they deserve, if competition coverage isn't there.

It's a vicious circle, and one that women in skateboarding have been dealing with since the 1970's.

So what is the answer?   We'd love to hear your thoughts!

* We have calls into Vans as well as the ISF asking these questions and are awaiting a response.


Here is the official press release from Vans: