“I found some videos on YouTube of people skating on a board with wheels and thought ‘that’s interesting’,” says Khim, remembering when he first stumbled across the sport in 2008 at the age of 14. Intrigued, he dug a little deeper and asked a friend who was returning from the US to bring him back a board.

“Nobody else was skating back then,” he adds. “I had to look at online videos and teach myself to ollie and do other tricks for the first two or three years. It was actually getting a bit boring skating alone.”

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With no skateparks in the city, Khim went to public spaces, piquing the interest of a small group of students. Together, they formed the country’s first skate group. “It was hard because none of us were skaters. We saw people doing moves online, like popping and jumping, and had to figure it out by ourselves.”

In 2011, Khim and the emerging scene were thrown a lifeline when Australian photographer and former competitive skater Samuel James, known personally and professionally as Sam Jam, moved to Phnom Penh and they quickly connected. “He taught me a lot and is a big part of me becoming a skater today,” Khim says.

“This played a big part in making our voices heard,” says Khim. “Lots of people started seeing skateboarding, as he [Sam Jam] also took photos and videos and posted them online. This is how a lot of kids were influenced.”

Under its outreach programme, educators go into underprivileged communities to connect with the most vulnerable families. Children are then invited to register for the weekly sessions. In “Skate and Create”, youngsters can spend an hour learning to skate, followed by another hour in the organisation’s classroom.

The “Back-to-School” programme sees Skateistan work alongside local schools to encourage children to get back into education. Students are also invited to drop in on the Skateistan centre to access its on-site library and educational facilities, where teachers are on hand to offer support.

The “Youth Leadership” initiative is aimed at students aged above 14 and sees them work closely with Skateistan’s educators to curate events, international cultural exchanges and develop leadership skills.

In 2018, Skateistan relocated to a purpose-built, 500-square-metre (5,400-square-foot) skatepark, complete with classroom, library, office and outdoor space, located in a creative hub called Factory Phnom Penh. It is where most of the capital’s skaters practise today.

Ly Panhabot kick-started his love of the board five years ago through Skateistan. “I went in and saw a board on wheels and had no idea what it was,” the 20-year-old business management student recalls. “I decided to take some lessons and fell in love with it.”

Ly says skateboarders are often dogged with thug stereotypes. “Because this is new in Cambodia, a lot of people don’t understand and that can be a challenge. As soon as they see groups of teenagers together, they automatically think we’re doing something bad. I want to change this mindset.”

In July 2019, with the scene gathering momentum among the country’s youth, Pisey formed the Cambodia Skateboard and Roller Sports Federation to elevate the sport and create a professional team to compete on the international stage.

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The sport was provisionally on the cards for SEA Games 2021. However, in July, host nation Vietnam announced the list of included sports, and skateboarding was missing. Cambodia and other nations will appeal against this exclusion, with a decision slated to be made in November.

Cambodia will host the games in 2023, with Pisey lobbying for skateboarding to be a recognised category as he polishes a top team to scoop a medal on home turf.

“Now that we have a federation, it’s starting to be recognised as a sport rather than a group of bad guys hanging around,” says Ly, who is hoping to be selected to represent his country in the next SEA Games.

As well as serving as an official platform to promote the sport, the federation works as a tool for social development. “It’s not just about developing a professional team,” says Pisey. “It’s about bringing people together, promoting equality and team work.”

Its latest programme aims to get more females into the sport, with a team of eight girls coached by Ly once a week. “A challenge is many parents don’t want their daughters to skateboard,” says Pisey. “We’re now pushing to develop one team of women, but currently they are beginners.”

Sophorn Pichvichheka, 18, started skating three months ago after seeing it on YouTube. “When I’m skating I’m really happy,” she says. “I found out about the girls’ group and joined straight away. I’m now learning rolling and flipkicks. My dream is to become good enough to one day represent my country in the SEA Games.”

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As part of the nationwide push, the federation has 10 clubs across the country. However, the main challenge remains the lack of parks. The federation plans to carry out fundraising drives to develop small skateparks in the provinces.

“The main challenge is the skateparks,” says Khim, who was supposed to represent Cambodia for the first time in the Asian Street Skateboarding Championship in Singapore in March. It was postponed because of Covid-19.

“We need proper ramps and rails because competitions are all about jumping stairs, skating rails and tricks. We need to practise that every day.”

Pisey says he is currently in talks to develop a world-class facility and training camp at an existing sports centre in Kandal province, which neighbours the capital. In December, the federation will host the kingdom’s inaugural Cambodia National Skateboard Championship in a bid to find the cream of the crop to form a professional team of men and women.

“Skateboarding is now being taken much more seriously than when I first started,” says Khim. “It’s developed a lot and this has given us an opportunity. We want to see Cambodia represented in skateboarding competitions across the globe.”