Alexis Schempp (Allan) of Pittsburgh, PA has her mom to thank for introducing her to skateboarding in the early 2000s because after finding her mom’s old skateboard at age eight, she became hooked! The following year, when Alexis was nine, her family moved to Oceanside, CA and she was soon recognized for her fearless approach to skateboarding.
These early photos of Alexis are from the skatepark/skateshop Shady Skates where she started skateboarding in PA, as shared on her social media.
Alexis even made the cover of Push skateboard magazine’s premiere issue, which was an insert contained within International Longboarder magazine in August 2002, edited by Canadian east coast skater, Denise Williams. Alexis was documented launching herself off the roof of a limo or mini van, followed by an interview, which was also shared on the Push website.
So I hear you’re really big on old school skating… what kind of stuff do you like best?
I like when they do all the handplants and things, that’s cool. I have this friend, Mike [Vallely], he does a lot of handplants and old-style stuff. I try to do what he does.
Do you work on a lot of the old school stuff?
Mostly if I’m on a miniramp or in the bowl, I do my 360s and handplants, invert, revert.
What kind of tricks are you working on now?
Lately I’ve been working on this one trick where I try to air over this thing — at the Carlsbad — I try to grab my board and air over it.
What’s your favourite kind of terrain?
Street and miniramp.
Favourite street trick?
That would be hard to say, cuz I like a lot of them.
You’ve only been skating a year and a half…
Actually, a year.
Okay, a year. Obviously you’re progressing really fast. Why did you start?
Well, first this kid who lived across the street from me wanted a skateboard, and I had an old skateboard so I went over and got it. Then he started doing it, and I thought it would be interesting for me to try. After a while I started learning to drop in on this little baby ramp, and then I started going to the skate park and just got better and better each time.
You moved from Pittsburgh to Oceanside. Why?
I thought it would be better because it’s… Pittsburgh is a nice place to go street skating, but it’s always snowing and icky out. Plus, there wasn’t that many skateparks. There was one I would always go to — Shady Skates.
You’ve been competing…do you like it?
Yeah, I love it, it’s fun. I don’t care if I win or lose, it’s just fun.
Where are you competing this year?
I’m going to see if I can get into the Vans Triple Crown. I think I might try to do some All Girl Skate Jams, too, but I don’t know when they are.
If you could session with anybody, who would it be?
I don’t know…I have a lot of pro skateboarder friends. Kristian Svitak, my mom’s boyfriend. Mike. Tony Hawk, Carabeth, that would be cool.
So besides skateboarding, what’s going on? How’s school?
Well, some girls at school normally pick on me, say I’m a tomboy. A lot of kids just don’t like me because I’m a skateboarder, and they say, “Ewww, skateboarder.” And I say, “I don’t care.” I just do what I do and I do what I do.
The first day I walked into school, everybody was making fun of my shoes because I had these big Etnies shoes. A lot of people didn’t believe that I was a sponsored skater. They’d say, “You can’t do anything, girls can’t skate.” They still haven’t seen me skate…but we have this special student thing — like, you get to bring in a bunch of things to show. They’re gonna be bummin’ it.
What are the other kids into that’s so much cooler than skateboarding?
They think, like, scooters and bikes and football and basketball. Or some other kids even say, “Oh, I can do a 900! I can boardslide down eighteen stairs!” Like, oh my god.
Denise acknowledged Patty Segovia for taking the photos.
Alexis became sponsored by the female owned and operated Cherry skateboards, Roxy, Hawk shoes, Accel Wheels and was a brand ambassador for Vans. In 2002, she competed well at the Cleveland triple crown placing third in street behind Vanessa Torres and Amy Caron and returned in 2004 with a fifth-place result.
Eva Chen featured Alexis in an article for Teen Vogue in November 2006, which was more fashion than action, but still positive coverage. Alexis shared how, “Guys at the skate park used to laugh at me and say, ‘Girls can’t skate’… Then I showed them a few tricks – and we became friends.” She also made appearances in USA Today and Sports Illustrated.
Alexis went on to pursue music but continued skateboarding. Here is a clip of Alexis filmed by Lisa Whitaker, filming Blog Cam #118 for the Girls Skate Network on December 28, 2021:
Her Instagram account features a ton of footage, more recent photos, and updates on her musical career!
Reference:
- Williams, Denise. “Alexis Schempp,” Push Skateboard mag v.1 no.1 (Summer 2002): 4. *Inserted within International Longboarder v.3, no.4 (Summer 2002).*
Womxn Skateboard History 