A new documentary follows Amber Clyde, skateboarder and founder of Girls Skate NZ, as she works to rebuild her confidence in the sport while juggling solo motherhood.

Amber Clyde remembers being bullied as the only girl at the skate park in Birkenhead – but these days all the same bullies are sliding into her DMs. Now a sponsored skateboarder and founder of Girls Skate NZ, Clyde has dedicated her skateboarding career to empowering women and girls to find their confidence on the board. “For me it’s like therapy,” she says. “I want to show young girls that they can do anything.” 

First established in 2018, Girls Skate NZ began offering free beginner classes to girls interested in skateboarding. “Girls belong in skate parks too,” she told Stuff in 2019. “Growing up it was so intimidating, I struggled so much. It was daunting because it was full of older males.” Since then her classes have ballooned from four attendees to over 20 per workshop, and she launched New Zealand’s first female skateboarding competition. 

But while being a passionate advocate for women in the sport publicly, Clyde has also had to learn how to be an advocate for herself privately. In Back on the Board, a new documentary for The Spinoff, Clyde brings audiences inside the realities of balancing skateboarding and teaching with being a solo mother. With two young children to look after, Clyde can barely find any time to get back to the sport she loves most. 

Still, she fights to carve out time to build her own confidence back up after the birth of her second child. “The more I can skate, the more I can help the girls,” she says. But with so much on her plate and so much at stake, the risk of injury looms larger in her life than ever before. Will Clyde be able to navigate solo parenting while also mentoring the next generation of young girl skaters? And will she ever find her own footing back at the skate park?

Back on the Board is made with the support of NZ On Air.