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Zach Mack and Nestor Judkins build Pakistan’s first skateboarding park
Breaking down all socio-economic barriers
Hat-swap: Local leader Bota Don with his skateboarding guest, Zach Mack.
“I remember when Nestor [Judkins, friend, famous skateboarder, do-gooder] first called me and said the words ‘Let’s build a skateboard park in Pakistan.’ My first thoughts were, ‘Can we go there?’ I didn’t know much about it. But he’s like, ‘Yeah, we can. We are going to set up Pakistan’s first skateboarding park.’”
This is Zach Mack, famous skateboarding documentarian, and another do-gooder. Make no mistake, Zach Mack has definitely been around, surfing and skateboarding, making documentaries and quietly doing cool things all over the world. Recently, he helped expand skateboarding in Havana, Cuba.
So these two local guys, Zach Mack (full name, MacKenzie, from San Diego), and Nestor Judkins (from, okay, Los Gatos) decided to do the Pakistan thing. Nestor founded a non-profit, Salad Days of Skateboarding, at the end of 2019, just in time for Covid. But it finally came together at the start of this year. The idea was still a little daunting. “I mean, the media make Pakistan look sketchy at best, a scary place,” says Zach. “Me, personally, I prefer to watch food shows. But Nestor said his Pakistani contact was dead keen to get skateboarding going over there. He wanted me to make a documentary of the whole thing. So I’m like, ‘Alright. Let’s do it.’”
Self-help ramp under construction.
So in February of this year, Nestor and Zach and a couple of other skateboarding pros landed in Pakistan. “We all brought a bunch of skateboards and shoes, and tools to help build ramps there,” says Zach. “And we were instantly surrounded by the most friendly, hospitable people I’ve experienced almost anywhere in the world. And I’ve been many places. It was amazing. Everyone wanted to just have conversations with us, and buy us tea, or bread, or yogurt, and give us a good time.”
This was in Lahore, the ancient city of Pakistan. “We met the skateboarders, and they were all extremely happy. We started teaching kids, and they were having so much fun just skating. They weren’t worried about anything else once they were skateboarding. And everybody wanted to learn.”
You wonder though: wouldn’t this new western invention invite resentment from more traditional Pakistanis? “It didn’t seem like it. I’m sure it depends on the household. It’s definitely very western. But skateboarding is in the Olympics now. So that fact helps break down barriers for children to skate, because their parents see it as an Olympic sport now. As opposed to the ‘counter-culture’ image with ‘bad kids,’ like we grew up with.
“Honestly, parents and kids over there don’t have much knowledge about it. But they see the joy it brings their children, and how skateboarding really breaks down all socio-economic barriers. Because all you need is a skateboard and a hard surface, and you can have kids from a poor neighborhood skating with kids from the richest neighborhood, and they all become friends. Before that, they had no way of meeting each other, but now they can meet and become friends. So it helps the community grow.”
Nestor Judkins takes skateboarding class with girls in Lahore.
Zach says their Pakistani friend in Lahore, Shaihan, was the one really pushing to get Pakistan’s first skateboarding park. “So he set up all these meetings with government officials who worked for the Parks Authority, because in Lahore they have something like 830 parks! And a huge horticulture department. We met the head of horticulture and the head of the whole Parks Department, and showed them everything, and they were very interested. And then it happened very fast. Like, within a couple of minutes, they were like, ‘Alright! We have to do this.’ And they bring out the chai tea, a good sign. And we even got to pick out a plot of land, between a cricket pitch and a soccer field. And it’s all set to be built in January of 2023. It’ll be a great place to train, and eventually they could have a Pakistani skateboarder on their Olympic team! You never know.”
But what about traditions? Clothes, the long shirts, baggy pants Pakistanis wear? What about the restricted roles of girls? “While we were there, some of the boys, and some girls would just skate in traditional garb. One of them would even be barefoot, because the traditional sandals are loose. Aqid was this kid. He would just run up and kick his sandals off and go barefoot and charge everywhere. I’m actually working on a documentary on Aqid and his pals, for release in September, at a film festival in Croatia.”
But were older, more traditional folks suspicious of this new idea? “No, they were just so entertained by the demonstrations we gave. We had the two professionals with us. Even if it was simple tricks and maneuvers, like our guys have been doing forever, everybody just loves watching it.”
Young Pakistani girl on her first skateboard ride.
A big plus: there’s no language barrier in skateboarding. “Everybody’s super-excited about it, and then once they see how happy it makes their kids, and then they see us on television and in the papers there, and how with skateboarding everybody’s just instantly friends, they loved that.”
And girls? Not a problem. “A lot of them really picked it up fast. Especially in Islamabad. Although I think there were sometimes bad looks from people who might have thought they shouldn’t be doing that. The girls know it’s a kind of progressive thing, [but] they were having fun, and the boys anyway didn’t mind at all.”
Zach says he often thinks back to that kid Aqid, when he first saw a skateboard, how he lunged straight at it. “He’s in the long tunic shirt and drapey pants, but that no way stopped him having so much fun. It brings you back to being a kid again when you see something like that, like, just pure joy. And watching the girls have such fun. It reinforces what an amazing tool skateboarding is. All you need is the skateboard, and then you can go anywhere in the world and you see another skateboarder, and you’re instantly friends. Just talking about it fills my heart up. I feel emotional. It gives me goose bumps. That’s skateboarding. There’s nothing else like it in the world.”
Here's something you might be interested in.
Zach Mack and Nestor Judkins build Pakistan’s first skateboarding park
Breaking down all socio-economic barriers
Zach Mack and Nestor Judkins build Pakistan’s first skateboarding park
Breaking down all socio-economic barriers
Hat-swap: Local leader Bota Don with his skateboarding guest, Zach Mack.
“I remember when Nestor [Judkins, friend, famous skateboarder, do-gooder] first called me and said the words ‘Let’s build a skateboard park in Pakistan.’ My first thoughts were, ‘Can we go there?’ I didn’t know much about it. But he’s like, ‘Yeah, we can. We are going to set up Pakistan’s first skateboarding park.’”
This is Zach Mack, famous skateboarding documentarian, and another do-gooder. Make no mistake, Zach Mack has definitely been around, surfing and skateboarding, making documentaries and quietly doing cool things all over the world. Recently, he helped expand skateboarding in Havana, Cuba.
So these two local guys, Zach Mack (full name, MacKenzie, from San Diego), and Nestor Judkins (from, okay, Los Gatos) decided to do the Pakistan thing. Nestor founded a non-profit, Salad Days of Skateboarding, at the end of 2019, just in time for Covid. But it finally came together at the start of this year. The idea was still a little daunting. “I mean, the media make Pakistan look sketchy at best, a scary place,” says Zach. “Me, personally, I prefer to watch food shows. But Nestor said his Pakistani contact was dead keen to get skateboarding going over there. He wanted me to make a documentary of the whole thing. So I’m like, ‘Alright. Let’s do it.’”
Self-help ramp under construction.
So in February of this year, Nestor and Zach and a couple of other skateboarding pros landed in Pakistan. “We all brought a bunch of skateboards and shoes, and tools to help build ramps there,” says Zach. “And we were instantly surrounded by the most friendly, hospitable people I’ve experienced almost anywhere in the world. And I’ve been many places. It was amazing. Everyone wanted to just have conversations with us, and buy us tea, or bread, or yogurt, and give us a good time.”
This was in Lahore, the ancient city of Pakistan. “We met the skateboarders, and they were all extremely happy. We started teaching kids, and they were having so much fun just skating. They weren’t worried about anything else once they were skateboarding. And everybody wanted to learn.”
You wonder though: wouldn’t this new western invention invite resentment from more traditional Pakistanis? “It didn’t seem like it. I’m sure it depends on the household. It’s definitely very western. But skateboarding is in the Olympics now. So that fact helps break down barriers for children to skate, because their parents see it as an Olympic sport now. As opposed to the ‘counter-culture’ image with ‘bad kids,’ like we grew up with.
“Honestly, parents and kids over there don’t have much knowledge about it. But they see the joy it brings their children, and how skateboarding really breaks down all socio-economic barriers. Because all you need is a skateboard and a hard surface, and you can have kids from a poor neighborhood skating with kids from the richest neighborhood, and they all become friends. Before that, they had no way of meeting each other, but now they can meet and become friends. So it helps the community grow.”
Nestor Judkins takes skateboarding class with girls in Lahore.
Zach says their Pakistani friend in Lahore, Shaihan, was the one really pushing to get Pakistan’s first skateboarding park. “So he set up all these meetings with government officials who worked for the Parks Authority, because in Lahore they have something like 830 parks! And a huge horticulture department. We met the head of horticulture and the head of the whole Parks Department, and showed them everything, and they were very interested. And then it happened very fast. Like, within a couple of minutes, they were like, ‘Alright! We have to do this.’ And they bring out the chai tea, a good sign. And we even got to pick out a plot of land, between a cricket pitch and a soccer field. And it’s all set to be built in January of 2023. It’ll be a great place to train, and eventually they could have a Pakistani skateboarder on their Olympic team! You never know.”
But what about traditions? Clothes, the long shirts, baggy pants Pakistanis wear? What about the restricted roles of girls? “While we were there, some of the boys, and some girls would just skate in traditional garb. One of them would even be barefoot, because the traditional sandals are loose. Aqid was this kid. He would just run up and kick his sandals off and go barefoot and charge everywhere. I’m actually working on a documentary on Aqid and his pals, for release in September, at a film festival in Croatia.”
But were older, more traditional folks suspicious of this new idea? “No, they were just so entertained by the demonstrations we gave. We had the two professionals with us. Even if it was simple tricks and maneuvers, like our guys have been doing forever, everybody just loves watching it.”
Young Pakistani girl on her first skateboard ride.
A big plus: there’s no language barrier in skateboarding. “Everybody’s super-excited about it, and then once they see how happy it makes their kids, and then they see us on television and in the papers there, and how with skateboarding everybody’s just instantly friends, they loved that.”
And girls? Not a problem. “A lot of them really picked it up fast. Especially in Islamabad. Although I think there were sometimes bad looks from people who might have thought they shouldn’t be doing that. The girls know it’s a kind of progressive thing, [but] they were having fun, and the boys anyway didn’t mind at all.”
Zach says he often thinks back to that kid Aqid, when he first saw a skateboard, how he lunged straight at it. “He’s in the long tunic shirt and drapey pants, but that no way stopped him having so much fun. It brings you back to being a kid again when you see something like that, like, just pure joy. And watching the girls have such fun. It reinforces what an amazing tool skateboarding is. All you need is the skateboard, and then you can go anywhere in the world and you see another skateboarder, and you’re instantly friends. Just talking about it fills my heart up. I feel emotional. It gives me goose bumps. That’s skateboarding. There’s nothing else like it in the world.”
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