Submitted by andreas on
It's not often that pro skateboarders pass through Afghanistan. In fact, it's only happened twice before! Skateistan was happy to welcome a group of eight traveling skateboarders, including filmmakers and a photographer, to Kabul last week. The crew included Kenny Reed, who was one of the first pros to ever visit Afghanistan back in 2009, featuring in the full-length Skateistan documentary "Four Wheels and a Board in Kabul."
Hailing from Germany, France, Russia, the UK and the US, the VisualTraveling crew were at the end of a two-month long skate trip through Central Asia, where they were filming for an upcoming skate film created by Patrick Wallner. Stopping first in Mazar-e-Sharif, Northern Afghanistan, to skateboard at a skate demo for the local Governor Atta, they flew into Kabul to squeeze in one more day of street skating and a demo for the kids at the Skateistan park!
For Skateistan's skateboarding students, the event was super exciting since most had never seen sponsored skateboarders before. The Afghan youth are always curious to learn new tricks and expand their understandings of what is possible to do on a skateboard. For the young Afghan skate teachers, it was a chance to show off their skills and get some tips from the visitors.
The other visitors were Michael Mackrodt, Kirill Korbkov, Laurence Keefe, Daniel Zvereff, Alexi Lapin and Gosha Konyshev. It was a pleasure for the staff at Skateistan to host such a friendly, down-to-earth crew of skaters.
Gosha Konyshev blew minds during the demo.
Gosha ollies over a bench on top of Bibi Maru hill.
Kenny Reed, backside 5-0 during the demo.
Michael Mackrodt hanging with Noorzai and Merza at Bibi Maru hill.
Michael chilling with the Skateistan instructors.