The Joburg Skate Academy rewriting the rules of action sports

A cracked tennis court in Ferndale has become one of South Africa’s most unlikely sporting success stories.

The Skate School Academy, a grassroots skateboarding academy founded by photojournalist Shayne Robinson, has produced three 2025 South African national champions while training on a damaged and weathered court in Randburg.

Now the community behind the academy is rallying to help the school build something bigger.

The academy recently launched a BackaBuddy crowdfunding campaign to raise R27,000 for a crane truck to move key skate infrastructure onto the property. The goal was fully funded in just five hours. The campaign remains open, with the team now aiming to raise an additional R15,000 to complete a mini ramp ahead of its open day on 30 May, exactly six years since the school first began.

Robinson, a World Press Photo award-winning photojournalist who spent two decades documenting conflict zones across Libya, Haiti and the Middle East, started the school during lockdown in 2020 while teaching his daughter, Auralia, to skateboard on the same cracked court.

Today, students affectionately call him “Gramps”, and Auralia has become one of the country’s top young competitors.

Champions from a cracked court

Despite limited facilities, The Skate School delivered standout results at the 2025 South African National Championships, earning three national titles and seven podium finishes.

The champions include Ayanda Ndlovu, who won the U16 Boys division; Izzy Stewart, champion in the Over 13 Girls category; and Ronewa Mudau, who claimed the U13 Boys title at just 10 years old.

Other podium finishers included Danielle Pan, Payton De Wet and Thendo Masinga, while several additional riders placed in the national top five.

“We train on a broken court, but we train like champions,” said Ayanda Ndlovu. “The Skate School taught me that where you come from does not decide how far you can go.”

A skate space designed differently

The academy was intentionally created as an alternative to traditional skatepark culture, which can often feel intimidating or inaccessible for younger riders.

More than 70% of the school’s skaters are girls, and the academy has also developed a structured coaching system called Skate Track, designed specifically to support neurodivergent athletes through calm, progressive coaching.

The programme has already expanded internationally through collaborations with She Skates Kenya, helping grassroots skaters in East Africa access structured coaching tools.

“This was never only about one court,” Robinson said. “If structured coaching can help a young skater in Randburg, it can help a young skater in Kenya too.”

A women-only skate competition is coming to Joburg

The Skate School is also preparing to host The Inaugural Motherland on Women’s Day, 9 August, South Africa’s first women-only skateboarding competition.

The event aims to create a dedicated platform for girls and women in a sport where female skaters are still frequently underrepresented.

“Motherland is about giving girls their own stage,” Robinson said. “Not as a side category or an afterthought, but as the main event.”

How to support

Funds raised beyond the initial campaign goal will go toward plywood needed to finish the mini ramp before the academy’s anniversary open day on 30 May. The team is also appealing for old tablets to support its digital training hub.

To support the campaign, visit BackaBuddy.