Over the past several years, more women and girls have started longboarding, a trend that shows no sign of slowing down. There is no doubt the Longboard Girls Crew has been an inspiration to many around the world. But Isabelle can trace her skateboard journey back to 1980. “I started skateboarding with the guys on the UCSD Surf Team. We would go to Del Mar [skatepark]. There was this kid who ripped. Later I realized it was Tony Hawk!” After a long hiatus for work, marriage and starting a family, Isabelle sent her children to the Encinitas YMCA Skate camp over the summer of 1997. From there, she says, “We got hooked on parks and downhill!”
Fast-forward almost two decades and Isabelle is still rolling happily. “Longboarding keeps me feeling graceful, balanced and strong,” she says. “I also feel content because the feeling of flowing on cement is such a wonderful release of energy. It’s also easily accessible.”
When it comes to answering people who tell her she’s “too old to skate,” Isabelle is forthright in her conviction. “Setting limitations on yourself, especially your physical being, is unnecessary and shortsighted in the bigger picture of a long, fruitful, healthy life,” she says. Shesays she listens to her own body, notwhat other people think of their body. “My body is strong and flexible, and skating keeps me that way. Skating has always kept my youthful body into my old age. I feel just as I did when I was 16: free, strong, spirited and happy. I don’t think there’s any age limitation on those needed emotions!”
Isabelle says longboarding makes her a better teacher, mother and partner. “I just feel like a better human being,” she says. “Feeling the wind in my face and being in the moment of enjoying the ride while making sure I don’t splat on the asphalt allows me to clear my head of any negative emotions. When I’m done skating, 
I feel freer from any baggage that I had before I started skating.”
All this physical activity has meant incredible payoffs for Isabelle. She can run up a flight of stairs without being winded or spend three hours in the ocean, surfing. “I can even snowboard the full eight hours to get the maximum output for my dollars spent!” she says. When it comes to falling, Isabelle takes a pragmatic approach. “A body definitely does not bounce as well when you’re older as it did when you were younger,” she admits. “But if you stay flexible and strong, it still bounces very well, and that’s part of keeping my healthy body into old age.” Because falling is inevitable, she doesn’t baby herself. “If I guard my body from small impacts, it will not be prepared for me slipping and falling later in life. This is when most people break their hips. I will bounce and walk to see the next day because I keep my body physically young.”
As her children grew up, Isabelle was able to be at many skate competitions with them. This has led to some truly memorable experiences. “At the age of 40, I dropped in on a vert ramp,” she says. “At 45, I skated the Albuquerque Ditch Slap with my son.” Isabelle loves interacting with all the people she’s met in the skate world. “We have such a tight nit community. They are giving and open-minded people who love sharing of the joy of community.” Over the years, both Gravity Skateboards and clothing line Emily Strange have supported Isabelle.
I’ve known Isabelle for well over a decade. Her zest for life is incredible. She teaches math to high school students, and I am quite sure she takes her passion and enthusiasm into her classroom and motivates her students in brilliant ways.
Isabelle’s free spirit mirrors perfectly what skateboarding represents to so many people around the world. “Life is short, so as I search for emotional and physical enjoyment I define what my needs are, not other people,” she says. “Skateboarding has allowed me from the age of 36 until 54 to hold onto my youthful body. Skateboarding builds confidence, determination, balance, strength [and] grace and makes for an excellent night’s sleep – it’s all good!” I couldn’t agree more.
Thankyou to Michael Brooke and Concrete Wave Magazine,
Issue No. Nov/2015