How did Girls Learn To Ride get started?
Mark Sperling, Girls Learn To Ride’s founder, started the program in 1999. His idea for the program originated when he was teaching his girlfriend at the time how to surf and snowboard. It was a frustrating experience for both of them, and he thought it would be easier to create a series of action sports clinics from which she could learn new sports than it would be to teach her himself! He started talking to his female friends, who told him they were going through similar experiences. At the time, Sperling was an action sports industry-marketing executive who was involved with skateboarding, surfing, BMX, motocross, wakeboarding, and snowboarding. So it was a natural progression for Girls Learn To Ride to teach those sports. The first Girls Learn To Ride clinic was a snowboarding day at Mountain High Resort in Wrightwood, Calif. Over 120 girls and women ages 7 to 53 attended the clinic. The next clinic was a skateboarding day at Mission Valley YMCA in San Diego at which 50 girls learn
