Know More About Ulrike Reinhard The Woman Behind The Skatepark in Janwar village

Young boys and girls are now enjoying skateboarding at a skatepark in Janwar village, in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh. Do you know of Ulrike Reinhard, a German Woman who established This Park?

This was the first skatepark for children in rural India. She also taught languages, music, dance, painting, 3D modelling, and general life skills here.

"A German woman visited Janwar & established skatepark in 2015. Many foreigners trained the children here for skateboarding,"  a local told ANI. We even went to Germany, Belgium for competitions. In 2018, the boy won a gold medal in a national competition and also went to China to represent India in skateboarding. However, like most sports apart from the mainstream ones, financial support is often tough for these skateboarders.

Madhya Pradesh | Young boys and girls enjoy skateboarding at a skatepark in Janwar village, Panna district.

"A German woman visited Janwar & established skatepark in 2015. Many foreigners trained the children here for skateboarding," says Arun, a local pic.twitter.com/0CzxSsl9sG

— ANI (@ANI) September 6, 2021

The park is called Janwaar Castle and is spread over 4,843 square feet. The park which encourages girls to use the rink has the policy "no school, no skateboarding." The rink definitely has had a  positive effect in encouraging girls to be involved in physical activities.

Asha Gond

Asha Gond whose well-known story Skater Girl has been recreated on celluloid was one of the girls Reinhard was tutoring. She was selected to attend school in the United Kingdom where she studied English. She won the 2018 World Skateboarding Championship.

Ulrike Reinhard

Reinhard who has lived and worked in the US was born in Heidelberg, Germany. She now mostly lives in a village near the Panna National Tiger Park and the Ken River. Ulrike with her idea wanted to disrupt the village to bring about a change. Her vision behind setting up the skatepark was to give rural Indian kids something they didn't know about and thus give them a chance to bring some fun into their lives. She was confident that this will raise their self-confidence, help them build social and learn what it takes to commit themselves to a set goal.

Reinhard has said in an interview that she chose India for her work because "I like India a lot -- for me it is like the Internet, with all its complexity and dynamics".

The Janwaar Castle model is now being replicated in several parts of India now.