By Ozzie Hoppe

In Bangalore, a swiftly growing city in India known for its tech industry, skateboarding is increasingly popular among young men and women.

Atita Verghese (Atty), 23, learned about the sport while taking a year off after high school. Atty didn’t have enough money to buy a skateboard, so she would often wait for the boys in her neighborhood to finish skating and use their boards.

After she got started, a Bangalore-based skate collective, Holy Stoked, gave her a board as a gift. Several years later, Atty now teaches skate classes.

Atty helps a young skate student down a transition.

Atty is active in championing girls’ skating in India. In 2015, she organized an all-girl skate tour that traveled by bus to four different cities in India. During the trip, the crew built ramps from scratch and conducted local skate workshops for girls while helping to break down the stereotype that skating is only for guys.

Atty does a Smith grind while warming up before teaching a skate lesson.

After participating in track and field in high school, Atty turned her passion for sports toward skateboarding. With full support from her mom, she keeps up a steady routine of skating daily. She has inspired countless girls in India to skate by making the idea more accessible and giving them the confidence to get started, regardless of what other people think. Atty performed at a TEDx talk in April 2016 called “Skateboarding Today, Revolution Tomorrow.”