AKA: Girl Skater, 2003: Amy Caron's part and the car she won at the Gallaz Skate Jam — where is she now?

February 2002, Melbourne. A 17‑year‑old Californian raises her arms in the middle of Rod Laver Arena, the venue where the Australian Open tennis takes place. Her name is Amy Caron, she just won the Gallaz Skate Jam, and she’s handed 2,000 dollars plus the keys to a Ford Ka. Minutes later, the car’s already dented. That scene ends up in AKA: Girl Skater, the 2003 film that a whole generation of female skaters ripped into on DVD. One question remains that no one asks anymore: where did the little girl from the car go?

Melbourne 2002: the backdrop of a tour that shouldn’t have existed

In the early 2000s, a fully sponsored pro female skater tour was almost unheard of. Gallaz, Globe’s women’s shoe brand based in Torrance, California, decided to foot the trip. Four riders headed to Australia: Amy Caron, Vanessa Torres, Lauren Perkins, and Monica Shaw, joined on site by others. The film was produced by Whyte House, directed by Mike Hill, and runs 26 minutes.

To frame the crew, there’s Dave Carnie, the Big Brother editor, playing the “host mother” role. The magazine even ran a 14‑page spread in June 2002, with photos by Jaya Bonderov. The film is there in full, uploaded by the Skate Oldies channel:

The set is laid out from the first minutes. The youngest two, Caron and Torres, earn a nickname on the tour: the “evil twins.” They talk on camera about doing their very first handrail in Australia during that trip. The lineage is embraced too. The film presents these girls as the legacy of Elissa Steamer, the first to have a real stake in Welcome to Hell.

Everyone's too cool to skate. The girls, they go for it. — Dave Carnie, about the Gallaz tour, 2002

The line‑up of the final, trick by trick: what we really hear

No way we're reciting a made‑up list. The Gallaz Skate Jam 4 final runs on February 16‑17, 2002, during the Globe World Cup Skateboarding. In the film, Amy’s decisive run is under the speaker’s voice in the arena. Those words are the line‑up.

She announces a backside 50‑50 along the ledge, then down the slope. Next a kickflip to hit the gap. And when there are 10 seconds left, she says “ Amy… hit the handrail ”: she takes the rail before the siren. That’s all the footage lets us confirm, and that’s already a lot for a 17‑year‑old rider in 2002.

The standings are archived on the World Cup Skateboarding site. Amy Caron wins, Lauren Perkins takes second (1 200 dollars), Vanessa Torres is third (800 dollars). Behind them, Spanish rider Ianire Elorriaga finishes fourth and Jaime Reyes fifth. The speaker stresses: it’s “the biggest prize in women’s skateboarding,” and the first time it’s seen in Australia.

Then comes the scene everyone remembers. She’s asked to hop into the car, start it, and honk in front of the stadium. In Australia, the steering wheel’s on the right. Amy says it herself in the film: “everything in Australia is backward.” The Ka rockets forward, brushes a cameraman, and bumps another prize‑winning car.

I didn’t crash it. I just touched the car in front. It was Dave Carnie who had it in the frame and had loosened the handbrake. — Amy Caron, interview at The Side Project, 2003

Two versions, then. In the film she says “I crashed it.” A year later, she accuses her “mom David,” laughing. For the record, the girl who hit a Ford Ka later got three Camaros: a 1985 red RS, a red IROC, and a 1995 green RS.

Rod Laver Arena and the Australian streets: the spots

The main spot is a tennis hall. Rod Laver Arena hosts the Australian Open every January, and in February 2002 they set up modules for the Globe World Cup. Ledge, gap, handrail: the whole run of the final is under that roof.

The rest of the film follows the tour outside: street sessions, demos, and even a demo where the city mayor shows up. Public credits don’t list spots one by one, and we’re not going to make up addresses. What matters is the contrast: a Grand Slam hall on one side, rails found on the way on the other.

Close your eyes for two seconds. The sound of wheels on plywood echoes under a roof built for yellow balls. The speaker counts the seconds, the crowd taps their feet, and a kid from Half Moon Bay pushes toward a handrail she hadn’t touched in a month.

The song: the speaker’s voice as soundtrack

Looking for the track? No reliable public credit gives it, and we’d rather tell you than guess. In the key sequence, the final, the real soundtrack is the speaker’s mic and the crowd’s screams.

In terms of taste, her profile at Meow Skateboards talks about hip‑hop radio, NPR, and the show Morning Becomes Eclectic. And the loop closes unexpectedly: today, she’s the one singing, we’ll get back to it later.

Lisa Whitaker behind the camera, Mike Hill on editing

The film is signed by Mike Hill. But most of the footage comes from Lisa Whitaker, with shots from Jean‑Jacques Briquet and Colleen Hughson. Whitaker then ran The Side Project, a site that would become Girls Skate Network, the online archive of women’s skate. It’s her channel that still holds Amy’s footage from that era:

The DVD adds bonuses that count: a segment with Georgina Matthews, trick tips from Lauren Mollica, and “AKA: Fearless”, a montage of falls. The magazine Slap ran the piece in March 2003, under the pen of Mark Whiteley.

Gallaz, Venture, Lucky : the 2002 gear

When the win came, the contest archive listed its sponsors: Gallaz for shoes, Venture for trucks, Lucky for wheels and bearings, Velvet for glasses. A year later, in the 2003 interview, the lineup had already shifted: Circa, Pig Wheels, Popwar Skateboards, Speed Metal and the shop 510 Boardshop. Today, she rides regular on an 8‑inch board from Meow, with Bones and Moxi.

What she’s changed, and what she’s become

AKA: Girl Skater showed a simple thing for its time: girls paid to tour, filmed like pros, with a real prize at the end. The debate on female skate, real progress or marketing starts somewhere around here.

And Amy ? She doesn’t stop at the Ford Ka. In the same year, 2002, she also wins the Slam City Jam in Vancouver. She grabs bronze at the X Games in 2003 in park, then another bronze in street in 2007 and 2008. In 2004, she appears in Getting Nowhere Faster, the cult film of the Villa Villa Cola crew. She later co‑founds Bigfoot Skateboard Magazine with Meghan McGuire.

The answer to the headline question is here, and it’s even cooler than expected. According to an interview released by Seea on December 4, 2025, Amy Caron has been living in a van since 2019, solar‑powered. She still skates, she surfs, and she travels with Max, her 15‑year‑old chihuahua. For about five years now, she’s been performing on stage, and her original tracks are on Spotify.

The kid who did her first handrail in Australia now cites Nora Vasconcellos, Bryce Wettstein, Poppy Starr and Alexis Sablone as her role models. The best advice she ever got came from Meghan McGuire: “Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Stop being so tough on yourself.

What remains in 2026: a 2002 slice we still watch for a 50‑50 and a rail taken 10 seconds before the end. A dented car turned into an eternal joke. And a rider who chose the path, the music, and freedom over a desk job. If you want to see where this lineage goes, check out Lizzie Armanto's loop, and for film details, the archive at Womxn Skate History is the most complete.

You had it on DVD, AKA: Girl Skater, or you’re discovering the Ford Ka today? And who, to you, is Amy Caron's heir in 2026? Drop it in the comments ↓