In South Africa, a group of youngsters from Soweto are looking to introduce the street culture of skateboarding. Skate Society Soweto has started building up a significant following with activities every weekend as it helps young people build up an identity outside of the crime and poverty in their areas. CGTN's Yolisa Njamela reports.

Soweto is a breeding ground for different forms of expression. This township always encourages and nurtures young minds who view the world through their own particular lens. In this particular community, these young men have carved their niche. And that is skateboarding.

SECHABA 'THE BAKERS MAN' SOWETO SKATE SOCIETY FOUNDER "We were just trying to help kids to skate in the hood like not just in Soweto but just kids from underprivileged areas."

And their skateboarding society has since expanded.

SECHABA 'THE BAKERS MAN' SOWETO SKATE SOCIETY FOUNDER "Skateboarding is pretty popular. Like every day, I see a new skateboarder that I've never met before unlike back in the day where you knew everybody who skated. Like 10 years ago but now every single day I meet a new one, it's pretty popular at the moment."

YOLISA NJAMELA, SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA "For many years, skateboarding has always been viewed as a preserve of young white men. But these Soweto young blokes say that has long changed."

And they're making sure that more young black men and women are involved.

SAM KHUMALO SKATER "When I started there weren't as many black skateboarders. I mean I have been skateboarding for 17 years now. Definitely now the demographic has changed from when it was predominantly known as a white sport in a sense to what it is now. Now there's more kids in the township that access skateboarding and stuff like that."

SECHABA 'THE BAKERS MAN' SOWETO SKATE SOCIETY FUNDER "When I started skating there were a lot of white kids skating but I never really saw it based on race but now there are lots of black kids. Like if you go anywhere where there's a skateboarding event, there's more black kids than white kids. That's pretty cool. But then again that's not a surprise cause in South Africa the majority of people are black people so it's not much of a great deal, you know what I mean."

We asked the young gentlemen what makes skateboarding more unique than other action sport.

SAM KHUMALO SKATER "There's a lot of things that make skateboarding a pleasurable sport for me, like it is an extreme sport and it gives you that adrenalin rush but then it teaches you lessons. Teaches you to fall and get up, it just teaches lessons that you always carry with you. That's why I'm always with skateboarding cause it's a sport that I can always express myself."

NGWATO MAGABOTJI SKATER "Skating as a whole is just a dope community, it's not just about skating, it also brings character in some way, also get to have fun. It's just awesome, who wouldn't wanna jump on this, everyone sees us all looking cool and stuff."

Soweto skate society accommodates all kinds of people from all ages.

NOLO THOM SKATER "I just started it when I was a small bit. I was like 10 cause I like it. As I was growing I got too attached to skateboarding and I liked it. I tried playing soccer but it doesn't get to be fun like skateboarding."

This crew is hoping to entice more youngsters to join them. Yolisa Njamela, CGTN, Soweto, South Africa.