Supplied
Twenty-three-year-old Sophee “Soph” Hills has been helping girls all over the East Coast build their confidence and skating skills through programs like Gisborne’s Surely Skate and more recently through Shred Sessions in Napier.
It started out as a fun thing to do with her sister and get out of the house. Now, Sophee “Soph” Hills is rarely without her skateboard and is completely “addicted” to the sport.
So much so that she started Shred Sessions in Napier, a program that provides free equipment, training, and a safe space for girls, Takatāpui, or non-binary youth to learn and build their confidence in skating.
Hills, 23, started skating about four years ago, along with her younger sister, Tessa, who liked the fashion of skate culture but didn’t “want to be posing.”
The couple bought boards from local Gisborne surf shops: a longboard for Soph and a cruiser for Tessa.
With no one else to skate with or learn from, the sisters focused on getting comfortable pushing, hitting the local trails whenever they felt like skating.