Skateboarding in IRAN – Insight with MJ Rahimi

Here is a follow up to my previous post about skateboarding in Iran,  my friend M.J. tells us his story about building skateparks & skateboarding in Iran.    Inspiring Story!

wZa: Hi MJ, who made the skateparks in Iran?

MJ: Our skate parks were all made in Germany. Two of our skate parks are made by Rhino Ramps, One was made by the Concrete skate parksof Germany, as well as the final blue skate park from the pictures.

wZa: How many skateboarders in Iran today?

MJ: Most skateboarders are in Tehran, the capital of Iran. The population of skaters is scarce, barely approaching a hundred, give or take, but there are also many good skateboarders scattered in other cities of Iran like Esfahan, Tabriz, and Shiraz.

The security guards of most parks and public areas don’t allow skateboarding, leaving only a small selection of unauthorized skate spots.

wZa: How did you get the support from the government to build so many great skate parks?

MJ: Good question, several years ago I had decided to build a handmade skate park at Enghelab sport complex where I was coaching. Over time and struggle my friends and I got the money from its manager and put together the first legitimate skateboarding competition sponsored by Red bull. The skate competition yielded great publicity from local newspapers, magazines and live TV broadcasts. A magazine had titled the event “From handmade skate park till DJ music”. This publicity caught the attention of the government and the managers of the federation. They were revolutionized by the publicity and decided to invest in skate parks from Germany.

wZa: I remember a few years ago you sent me an email with some photos of some local competitions do you still do them now?

MJ: Every couple of months we host different kinds of contests. There are three main types of skate contests that are hosted varying in time and place. The First type of contest is a game of skate. The second is best gap trick, and the final type is the best run in a skate park.

wZa: Its amazing how you made skateboarding a recognized & respected sport in Iran, with government & public support & built so many good parks, what were your difficulties getting this done?

MJ: At first we were less than 5 skaters in Iran, we were skating for fun. There was no competition and no federation by that time. We bought skateboards from abroad with the little money we had because we didn’t have any skate shops in the country and as teenagers we were broke. When we were skating in public parks inside Tehran most of the people were wondering what we were doing and what this sport was about.

The skate federation of Iran was established about 10 years ago. When it was first established, the federation did not include skateboarding. I went there with a few friends and explained to them what skateboarding is actually about. We showed them skateboarding videos, photos of Skate Parks, and competition’s. It was incredibly difficult to describe something that they hadn’t even heard of before.  However, still after all these years we encounter many problems with the government and the federation mostly about insignificant things like hair style, clothing etc.

wZa: I don’t know too much about Iran, but I heard that there is much control by the government on the import of foreign goods & media – also there is much internet blocking as well, is this true? How about Skateboard products & media?  Most skateboard brands are from USA & there is a lot of skateboard media on the internet, such as  youtube.com & Vimeo.com & also the skateboarding websites like  theberrics.com & Thrashermagazine.com. Can skaters access these websites easily from Iran?  How do you keep connected with the rest of the skateboard world?

MJ: Yes, we have limited access to foreign goods and media and with all these prohibitions and sanctions. Except for  theberrics.com and Thrashermagazine.com most of sites are filtered here but we can access them by VPN.

With our countries economic condition, the price of the U.S. dollar raises daily, currently it’s causing an inflation that is 3 times the price of decks from last year. The saddest part is not just the lack of skate goods being accessible to the skate starving population buts it influence on the mentality of skaters. The difficulty undergone by skaters to access skate parts will eventually wear out their will/motivation to skate over time. Having a sense of community with one another and communicating with the outside skate world keeps us battling the harsh influences of our currently ill conditioned economy.

wZa:  Thanks so much for the interview MJ,  much respect for your efforts on skateboarding in Iran.  One day, I hope to be able to visit Iran &  skate with you in your amazing parks!  Skateboarding has no boundaries!!  I salute you, MJ!