Franziska “Franzi” Stolz of Switzerland was introduced to skateboarding in 1995 and a few years later she gained access to a mini-ramp before becoming a competitive vert skater in the early 2000s, while also enjoying bowl and street. At this time, Franzi was a novelty since there were so few vert skaters in Switzerland, let alone female vert skaters in Europe! Her favorite parks were the Pumpwerk Basel indoor skatepark (where Franzi worked one day a week), Skatehalle Berlin and another Skatehalle in Lyon, France.
Franzi rode for a variety of sponsors over the years including Santa Monica Airlines, Nikita Clothing, Cool Girl Skateboards, Speed Rats Wheels, Barrio Berlin Skateshop, Suck My Trucks team, Murky’s Skateboards, and Anziihn Handmade. On an old personal website, there was mention of some press, including interviews and photos, such as a Titus female checkout, “Friends of Vertskate” zine, Limited magazine, The Box Mag, 24 Heures, and Berliner Tages Zeitung, as well as TV appearances such as an interview for Tele Basel.
It’s worth noting that Cool Girl Skateboards was initiated by Sabine Schenk and Frank Davern in 2004. Schenk appears to be based out of Munich, Germany with Frank representing California. The company described itself as the “first skateboard label with a punk edge for girls only,” and they embraced the “girls kick ass” mantra of the era. They hosted a website with interviews, skate park reviews, upcoming events and a variety of features like “Ask a Pro” with vert legend, Holly Lyons. Karen Schirm of Bremen, Germany, was Franzi’s street-skating teammate.
Photo: Franzi riding her Cool Girl skateboard, and competing at the 2006 Boardstein Jammer 4
On November 11, 2011, at age 36, Franzi was interviewed for a crafting website (as an avid beanie-knitter!) called Sock It To Me, where she shared her early life growing up in a small rural town of Mosnange with a population of 700-900 people. Franzi went to boarding school and “took up snowboarding as a hobby and instantly became hooked. It was only after falling in love with shredding the slopes that she decided she needed a similar pastime that she could indulge in all year round. That’s when she discovered skateboarding.”
Franzi recalled how a local skateshop offered a skateboarding workshop in 1995 for new skaters. “It was a bit easier for me to try skateboarding that evening because I wasn’t the only girl or the only beginner. That night I learned how to do an ollie, which is an important basic trick,” and within three hours she could actually get some pop! Unfortunately, she didn’t have her own board and her local streets were impossible to skate on, so her dreams were paused. At the end of 1996, Franzi moved to Thun, Switzerland for a new job, and took up skateboarding again at the “Rollorama” skate hall in 1997, focusing on mini-ramp until 1998, when she ventured over to the vert ramp!
Above: Gallaz Skate Jam 2002 by Christina Stegt
Franzi eventually began competing at a local level, such as the Gallaz Skate Jam in 2002 in Munster, Germany, where Christina Stegt captured a few photos of Franzi, and female skaters from throughout Europe came together. Gallaz shoes was the first female-oriented skateboard shoe brand via Globe Industries, based in Australia who took sponsoring women riders seriously.
Photo: Franzi with Elska Katharina Werner in 2003 at Hot LaWa Games
In 2003, Franzi entered the Basel Skateboard Championships but the girls were expected to compete against the guys. It was in 2003 that the Rollorama shut down, forcing Franzi to travel three hours by train to hit up the ramp in Basel. So, the decision was made in 2004 to move there with some friends who loved BMX riding. This meant that Franzi often practised vert skating alone and was often lumped with the guys at vert contests.
In an article from 2005, Franzi shared some of her travel highlights including competing against the Brazilian prodigy, Karen Jones at the Mystic Sk8 Cup in Prague as the lone two female vert skaters. She was joined by Tina Neff at the “Splash Festival” in Chemnitz, Germany, and they had to battle their way through a snake session / jam contest with 13 guys! Franzi was stoked to have beaten three guys and acknowledged that Tina was her favourite person to skate with.
Franzi then ventured further afield to compete against other leading women vert skaters internationally, including World Cup contests throughout Europe and North America. Franzi was often the only European woman representing in vert (see her full contest results below).
Photos: Franzi in 2007 including the Hot LaWa Games (Bernhard Scheffold), the Fest Cup (Bernd Hentschel), World Championships in Rotterdam (Fred Ferand), and Swiss Championships in 2007 and 2008 alongside Silvana Gut, Maria Kunzle and Carmen Zobrist
The pro female vert skater lifestyle wasn’t exactly luxurious. In 2011, she said, “I’m living in a very small rented apartment, I don’t have a car or a driver’s license, and I’ve had to pay for everything myself: traveling, accommodations, the starting fee at all contests.” Fortunately, this was around the time that Skip Engblom and his Santa Monica Airlines skateboards stepped up and offered to help cover some costs.
Above: 2009 contests including 1st place at the vert World Cup in Italy
Franzi reported that in 2011, after 14 years of skating, she had only had two major injuries, “a serious concussion and broken nose the day before the Slam City Jam World Cup in 2004, and a torn ligament in her right knee during a hand-plant attempt in 2008.”
Above: Franzi at the 2010 Block Winterhur contest and Vert Attack 4 & 7 in Malmo
Here is a video from 2012, welcoming Franzi to the Suck My Trucks Berlin team:
Franzi considered pursuing vocational education training, “but there needs to be a good vert ramp in town. I want to get better and learn new tricks, but it’s hard to do that here since I feel like I’m stuck at the level that I’ve been at for a long time. It would be amazing for me to learn some new skills in a new country where I can also skate on a decent vert ramp, but I don’t know if that’s possible… I hope so!”
Photos by Chris Eggers and Julien Glauser
Franzi was then featured in a magazine called Anzeige Berlin in January 2013 (issue 43) with a BS Air photo by Adam Sello.
It looks like Franzi opted to pursue her arts and crafts with a dedicated website selling her various creations but continued to be a regular competitor at the annual Suck My Trucks contest for girls and women in Berlin. She was a mentor and inspiration to many young European skaters.
Above: photos from Suck My Trucks contest in Germany including skaters like Candy Jacobs, Karen Jones, Renata Paschini, and Anna Kruse (RIP).
Above: poster for the “Wheels for Girls” day in 2015 at Pumpwerk skatepark with Franzi seated bottom right
Photographers: Adam Sello, Bernhard Scheffold, Bernd Hentschel, Chris Eggers, Denise Herman, Fred Ferand, Julien Glauser, Stephan Scheunig
References:
- Editor. “Cool Girl: Franziska Stolz.” Sock It To Me (November 11, 2011).
- Stolz, Franziska. “About Me.” Personal website.
Franzi’s Skateboarding Results:
2001
- Gallaz Skate Jam Münster (GER) Vert 2. von 4
2002
- WCSk8 Grandprix Skateboarding Lausanne (SWI) Vert Girls 1.
- Ispo Summer games München (GER) Vert Girls 2. von 3
2003
- WCSk8 Nokia Totally Board Invitational Amsterdam (NL) Vert Girls 3.
- Hotlawa Freiburg (GER) Vert Girls 1. von 2
- WCSk8 Scandinavia Open Copenhagen (DEN) Vert Men 38.
2004
- WCSk8 Slam City Jam Vancouver (CAN) Vert Girls 8.
- Hot-LaWa Games Freiburg (GER) Vert Girls 1. von 2
- European Skateboard Championships Basel (SWI) Vert Men 24. von 27
2005
- WCSk8 Mystic Sk8cup Prag (CZE), Vert Girls 2.
- C.O.S.Cup Chemnitz (GER) Vert Men 12. von 15
- C.O.S.Cup Berlin (GER) Vert Men 10.
- C.O.S.Cup Gesamtrangliste Vert Men 7. von 19
2006
- Adidas Clash 2 Invitational Berlin (GER) Vert Men 15.
- Festcup Karlsruhe (GER) Vert Men 7. von 12
- End of Summer Street contest Kriens (SWI) Street Men 6. von 9
- Street contest Olten (SWI) Girls 1. von 2 (= Wildcard für CH Meisterschaftsfinale 07)
- WCSk8 Mystic Sk8cup Prag (CZE), Vert Girls 4.
- WCSk8 World-ranking Vert Girls 10. von 18
2007
- Swiss Open Biel Street Girls 1. von 3
- Last Girl Standing Stuttgart (GER) Street Girls 2. von 12
- Schweizer Meisterschaften 2007 Street Girls 1. Von 3 Swiss Girls Champion
- WCSk8 Mystic Sk8cup Prag (CZE), Vert Girls 2.
- European Skateboard Championships Basel (SWI) Vert Mens Final 12.
- Hot-LaWa Games Freiburg (GER) Vert Men A 9. von 12
- WCSk8 Mystic Sk8cup Prag (CZE), Bowl Girls 5.
- WCSk8 World ranking Vert Girls 11. von 17, hätten die jedoch die richtigen Resultate verwendet, wäre ich 6. von 12
2008
- Swiss Skateboard Open Winterthur und Biel Street Girls jeweils 1. von 2
- Swiss Skateboard Open Frauenfeld Bowl Girls 1.
- Schweizer Meisterschaften 2008 Street und Bowl Girls 1. von 3 weiterhin amtierende
- European Skateboard Championships Basel (SWI) Girljam Street 14. von 25
2009
- Vert Attack 3 Malmö (SWE), Girls Vert 1. von 3
- Swiss Skateboard Open Winterthur Girls 1. von 2 Street und Bowl
- WCSk8 TIMtribu Rome (ITA), Girls Vert 1. Girls Bowl 1. und Girls Street 2.
- Swiss Skateboard Open Näfels Bowl Girls 1. von 2
- C.O.S. Vert cup Bielefeld (GER) Vert Men 8. von 10
- 20 Jahre Vertical Skate ramps Frenkendorf (SWI) Bowl Pro Men 7. von 8
- Schweizer Meisterschaften 2009 Bowl Girls 1. von 2, Swiss Champion Girls Bowl
- Multiglisse 09 Champigny sur Marne, Paris (FRA) Vert Men AM 2.
- WCSk8 World ranking 2009 Vert Girls 7. von 13
2010
- Vert Attack 4 Malmö (SWE), Girls Vert 2. von 4
- ISF World Championships Dew tour Boston 2010, Girls Vert 7.
- Schweizer Meisterschaften 2010 Bowl Girls 1. von 3, Swiss Champion Girls Bowl
- Multiglisse Champigny sur Marne, Paris (FRA) Vert Men AM 3. von 5
2011
- Suck my Trucks Girls contest Berlin, Germany Girls Vert 2.von3
- Air Attack Antwerp, Belgium Girls Vert 3.
- (un)official World ranking 2011 Ladies Vert: 3.
2012
- Chicks ‘n’ Tricks Girls contest Lausanne, Schweiz Mini ramp Team battle 2. von 6 Teams
- Suck my Trucks Girls contest Berlin, Germany Girls Vert 2. von 3
- NL7 Contest, Strasbourg, France Men’s Vert 16. von 18
- WCSk8 Rocky Mountain Rampage Colorado Springs, USA Girls Vert 6. von 7, Bowl 9. von 10
- Vert- und Bowl contest Bluebox Augsburg, Germany Men’s Vert 9. von 11
2013
- Vert Attack 7, Malmö Sweden, Girls Vert 1.
- NL Contest, Strasbourg France, Vert Men’s 7.
- Campus Ramp Jam, Karlsruhe Germany, Men’s Vert 18. von 20
- Rocky Mountain Rampage, Colorado Springs USA, Girls Bowl 4. von 6
- Rocky Mountain Rampage, Colorado Springs USA, Girls Pro Vert 10.
- Suck my Trucks, Berlin Germany, Girls Vert 1. von 3
- Bluebox Vert und Bowl contest, Augsburg Germany, Vert Men’s 17. von 18
2014
- Vert Attack 8, Malmö Sweden, Girls Vert 7.
- Suck my Trucks, Berlin Germany, Girls Vert 2. von 3
- Campus Ramp Jam, Karlsruhe Germany, Girls Vert 2. von 9
- Exposure, Encinitas, CA, Pro Vert 9. von 10
2015
- Suck my Trucks, Berlin Germany, Girls Bowl 7, Girls Street 21
Womxn Skateboard History 