Filipino-owned Little Ripper Skateboarding Academy opens sport up to communities of color

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Filipino owner of Little Ripper Skateboarding Academy is trying to change the sport's future by opening it up to communities of color.

Little Ripper is the only indoor skateboarding school in Chicago. It started when Enrico Hufana was trying to teach his son how to skateboard when another parent asked him to give lessons.

"I gave her son a lesson. And she was all about filming her son and I," he said.

That video led to dozens of parents wanting lessons for their kids. So Hufana said he opened the doors to Little Ripper Skateboarding Academy.

"Being an AAPINH owner inspires other families to want to come and try to explore this world of skateboarding," he said.

Hufana said he fell in love with skateboard after moving to America when he was three. He said the sport has often lacked diversity.

"What we offer here is gonna allow children that are AAPINH to kind of not have to go through that, or feel out of place," Hufana said. "For them getting used to seeing a brown face teaching them something that's fun."

Now his academy has at least 100 kids from all walks of life taking lessons.

"I get a chance and an opportunity to kind of just change that skateboarding culture," he said.