Both Trxtr and I are from South Africa, inline here has seriously pushed extreme sports throughout the whole country. We started out with one big competition a year, then two, which skaters from all over the country would converge on. Those two events started running competitions at the same time for BMXers and skateboarders too, skateboarding pulled the fashionable kids to come watch, but inline drew the largest crowds and the most contestants.

Currently we’re in a bit of a funk, inline has gone from the catalyst that created these events (and ran them) to a bit of a sideline role thanks to the strange perspective of inline that’s coming from the US. It’s really not cool that RedBull SA no longer puts it’s mobile vert ramp up at competitions anymore, or that sponsors are starting to ignore the levels of participation and crowd support for inline and sponsoring the “cooler” sports more.

So we’re back to holding our own events, with twice the number of competitors we had a couple years ago, thanks to taking inline into townships and running skate-swap programs, etc. We know we’re creating the new wave of events as the current ones die out, we know it’s a natural cycle, it’s just being made harder by the altering of the “mainstream” perception that’s imported from overseas.

Locally we’re used to being isolated, it was always just us on our own down here on the tip of Africa. We’re still growing like crazy (and the new kids are sick, sick skaters) and us old fogeys aren’t going anywhere. Who knows, maybe we’re proof that the whole grassroots “rollin for the love” thing really does work ;)

Saying that skating never had a culture, so in the past 12 years of skating I have been following the lifestyles & tricks of countless numbers of reknown skaters, in media outlets such as magazines,videos & now websites which stem back to the birth of ‘aggressive skating’ in 1993. So in a period more than half my life, I have religiously followed and experienced a lifestyle then hear how someone who is an apparent authority figure for the ASA ( which is Joe Public’s most common view of the rollerblading) telling the world that rollerblading “doesn’t have a culture” and “its not a technical as skateboarding”.

Scott McDonald

Inline at the moment is very grass-roots, and the people that are involved in our sport are in it because they have a passion for it, not for huge prize money, endorsements, or notoriety. Events like AIL (Amateur Inline League) keep the sport alive, not just because of the competition aspect but also by providing a place for rollers to congregate & grow.

Events like the Hoedown, Winter Clash, IMYTA, Bitter Cold Showdown, and The Barn Burner provide an atmosphere condusive to the growth of our culture. I think this is helping to build a stronger foundation for inline and from here we can continue to grow and never worry about or sport disappearing.

As far as women in rollerblading go…the 3 girls who just turned pro at the ASA World Finals are very talented and are proof that the girls, as well as rollerblading in general, aren’t going to disappear anytime soon!

and anyways :) that number was given to me by google :)
ey, weekend, if all my muscles arnt screwed… thrashers :)

Trix, you sure you should be handing out numbers like that? ;)

Anyways, nothing to do with our sports technicallity.
People watch Tony Hawk because he’s famous.
People watch Takeshi because everything he does is huge.

Wow, this guy really knows what he’s talking about.
Maybe we should send him a award, like a 3 month old dead fish or something.