A SCHOOLGIRL has been crowned a champion skateboarder after finding her uncle’s old skateboard in a shed during lockdown.

Katie Wood, 14, shone in the first girls’ Skate Scotland event in Glasgow as she defeated rivals from across the country.

The teenager, who lives in Dunbar, has grown increasingly passionate about the sport.

Her mum Sarah said: “She wakes up in the morning and wants to skate. That’s all she wants to do.”

Now, Sarah is calling for East Lothian Council to provide the skating facilities for the next generation of skaters.

She said: “It would be great to have a facility on her doorstep so she does not need Team Mum and Dad. It would create more of a skating community as well.

“She is one of the only skateboarding girls at her school.

“If there was a skatepark in Dunbar, surfing goes hand in hand with it.

“There would be more of a network of kids to meet.”

On how her daughter took up the sport, Sarah said: “This started in lockdown.

“Katie was supposed to be starting high school and she found a skateboard in a shed and a ramp from mountain biking.

“She was in the garden and then moved to the street and started exploring the parks.

“I think the skateboard was my brother Rory’s.

“Katie skates in Haddington and at Transgression at Ocean Terminal.”

Scores were awarded at the Glasgow competition – which took place at Kingston DIY Skatepark – for the technicality of the trick and the creativity of their skateboarding.

Often, Katie’s skating expertise takes her further afield to skate parks in Glenrothes, Arbroath, Dundee, Perth and Edinburgh.

Currently, Dunbar has a small skate park off Pine Street but there has been a campaign for a new facility.

Early proposals have identified two sites: at DunBear Park and near the Hallhill North development.

Katie said: “It means so much to me to have a skate park in Dunbar. Skateboarding is my life.

“If I had a sports facility to skate on in Dunbar, who knows what might happen? I’d love to make it to the Olympics!”

The S3 pupil at Dunbar Grammar School was also congratulated on her success.

Claire Slowther, headteacher at the school, took to social media and posted: “Well done Katie! I am not surprised that you have done so well… you are amazing on your skateboard.”