Shraddha Gaikwad, skateboarding star whose life is stranger than fiction

Tribune News Service

Vinayak Padmadeo

Gandhinagar, October 2

Shraddha Gaikwad is back in her humble abode in Wagholi in Pune, having won the National Games gold in the skateboarding street.

The wonder girl is going places. She has worked in a few TV advertisements, including for Pantene and Patanjali. In the ads, she is seen doing what she does best — skateboarding. She has also played a bit part in the film ‘Skater Girl’, released in 2021. “Whatever good is happening to me now is because of my involvement in skateboarding. I cannot thank the sport enough,” Shraddha says.

The 16-year-old says that under ‘normal circumstances’, she would not have come anywhere near a skateboard park. For a girl from Beed, considered one of the more backward parts of Maharashtra, who relocated to Pune due to ‘family problems’, what are the odds for making it big?

But luck, hard work, perseverance and some wonderful people, who went out of their way to help her, colluded and Shraddha has prospered.

Her father, Ravindra Gaikwad, first moved to Pune in 2017 to look for a job. Thanks to a friend who was working at a Decathlon sports store as a security guard, he got a similar job. After a few months, the Gaikwads moved into a small house in Wagholi. Being the eldest among four siblings, the young Shraddha had to take lunch to her father daily.

During one such round, the then 12-year-old saw a customer trying to ride a skateboard. Curious, Shraddha tried it too and liked it. Soon, she was doing a lot better than most others. This became a routine — she would hand the lunch box to her dad and then ride the skateboard.

An employee of the store, Shrikant, spotted her and started to give her basic training at the basketball court next to the store.

Next came a chance meeting with her current coach, Swapnil Magare. A workshop on skateboarding was held at the store. Magare and his team were there to give tips to new riders. Shraddha was also there and asked Magare to coach her. “Magare sir asked me to show what all I knew. So I rode the board and he was very impressed and started training me every Saturday and Sunday,” Shraddha said.

Store manager Abu Sheikh saw her riding the board barefoot one day. He asked her to come to the store’s skateboard section pick up any board a pair of shoes.

“I told him I can’t buy it as I do not have any money. He said it was free, and I started to cry. The board was worth Rs 5,000. It was a big amount for us. Still is,” Shraddha said. “When I came home, my father thought I had picked up the board and shoes without paying and we would get into trouble. When I told him that it was for free, all of us cried,” she added.

However, her career almost ended before it could take off. Magare wanted Shraddha to take part in Jugaad International Skateboarding Competition in Bengaluru in December 2018. At first, Ravindra was a bit hesitant, and his family too said a girl has no place in sports.

Leap of faith

But Ravindra took a leap of faith and sent Shraddha to Bengaluru. Once there, the girl froze. She had not seen a skateboard park before and had never competed in front of people. “I started to cry. I was missing my parents. This was the first time I was travelling alone. Magare sir then called my parents and after talking to them, I calmed down and started to skate,” the Class XI student said. “I did not know anybody there but many knew my name. Turns out Magare sir had made an Instagram account in my name and used to upload my videos. They were cheering me when I was on my runs. It was wonderful. I won bronze there,” she said.

This opened the advertisement world for her. First came the Patanjali gig. “You know I was the first one from my family to sit in an airplane. We were all so proud,” she said of the day she shot the ad.

She then featured in ‘Skater Girl’, directed by Manjari Makijany and produced by Vinati Makijany, daughters of actor Mac Mohan. “Everything has come to me because of the sport,” she said.

Talking of the National Games show, she added: “This is the first ever gold for me. This is special. Now I will do everything to get better and hopefully get a medal in the Olympics.”

Her life reads like a film script. Winning more and more medals, Shraddha is making her life more amazing than a movie.

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