On December 7, 1990, Jamaica’s surfing capital – Bull Bay, Kingston – received the newly-born Ackeam “Bob” Phillips. Bull Bay is known for the great surfers it has made, as most great Jamaican surfers originate from the little town. One thing Ackeam’s mother did not know was that she would be forced to punish her nine year-old son for surfing. Ackeam recounts memories of going to the beach to surf behind his mother’s back. Anyone could understand his mother’s fears and concerns as Ackeam started surfing before he knew how to swim. Later on his mother was forced to accept that she could not stop her son from surfing; she eventually realised Ackeam who had just finished surfing would come home sunburnt but with his smile a little brighter.
Ackeam’s first love is surfing and he has represented Jamaica in surfing contests all around the world. He has been training in Brazil, Peru, Jamaica and will be going to Hawaii soon to train some more. His early success in the surfing industry has not only warranted him the ISA scholarship but also the title as one of the world’s best professional surfers.
“Skating is like surfing on land, I love it,” Ackeam told me with a grin on his face. He finds that skateboarding is convenient; as with surfing you have to wait for a wave but with skateboarding the wave is all around. When the sea is flat, the streets, curbs, handrails, ramps and other man-made obstacles become the surfer’s waves.
Ackeam believes group skating helps each member of the skater gang to become better skaters as individuals because they usually trade tips. Skateboarding is fun but often risky, so Ackeam feels good knowing his skater gang has his back. Their relationship dates back to their hometown, Bull Bay, where most of them grew up together. These youths take part in skating, surfing and some even master both. Ackeam is one of those versatile few. Like Ackeam, Shama is passionate about making skateboarding more known in Jamaica. The group mainly does street skateboarding in the urban and suburban areas in hopes of making skateboarding more popular around the Kingston area.
Jamaica beams with the talent to make great skateboarders but unfortunately the necessary resources and financial aid are not available. Shama speaks for Ackeam and other professional skaters in Jamaica when he says, “The main goal is to build a real skate park, not a skate park in a gully”. A dream of theirs is to gain the resources to make many Jamaican skateboarders and also, to make it possible for Jamaicans to make a career out of professional skateboarding. Skateboarding in Jamaica is recently becoming popular through these skaters’ dedication and hard work. Between skate raids, interviews and social media publicity they have managed to make at least one more Jamaican aware of the existence of skateboarding daily. Financial constraints have proven to retard the possible growth that these talented youths of Jamaica have to offer.
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