Where Did Pro Skating Go, Anyway ?
spotted on bluezeal.co.uk :
It’s a pretty doomladen indication of the state of inline skating these days, that the XGames return this summer with not one single skating event in the lineup.
While other sports have experienced dips and peaks in popularity and interest, inline skating has been falling and falling. 1998 saw the sport read it’s peak, with pro skaters popping up all over the place and making their money through sponsorship. Fabiola Da Silva was one figurehead for the sport, and now at 27 she is still pushing for inline skating, fighting a declining trend in the popularity and financial benefits. Da Silva is acutely aware of how much promoting counts, especially now that her sport is slowly disappearing off the edge of the media.
Many are predicting that this trough will be the last for skating, and that it will simply fade away, another unremarkable hobby for kids hidden away in concrete skateparks in the suburbs.
But it doesn’t make sense that it would simply disappear, especially with the current enthusiasm in the curriculum for inline skating classes at school. Perhaps we’re looking at a transformation, as the first wave of rebel inline skaters who invented the sport step down, and the new wave of traditionally taught skaters graduate and start looking for ways to make money from their skills.
Part of the reason events started to fold was an inability to find willing participants, so all skating really needs is the competitors. Once those numbers rise the sport will reappear, in whatever new form it takes.
July 4th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
Personally I think the introduction of a good, economical suspension frame will be the enabler for any future growth of the sport. What a lot of people entrenched in rolling have failed to realize is that the sport has moved away from ‘rollerblading’ and completely towards grinding and tricks. People don’t rollerblade anymore, per se; they go from spot to spot, often in a car. Why? The wheels are too hard, further exacerbated by the increasing prominence of freestyle and anti-rocker skating. While these have been necessary for the sports’ development, they have evolved into considerable barriers for any newcomers; it’s simply not enjoyable to ‘rollerblade’ anymore, which previously acted as both the catalyst for beginners and a bridge for recreational skaters. For people who are just starting out, even the simplest grinds can be difficult and they need the added incentive of simply being able to go for a skate - in today’s freestyle, 90A setups this simply isn’t an enjoyable option and renders the sport out of reach for anyone but the most committed. While we are seeing exciting developments in the industry in regards to flat skating (Epoch), softening the wheels isn’t an option and it’s therefore it is my belief that an economical suspension frame will be the enabler for any future growth of the sport.
July 4th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
I don’t see how a suspension frame will increase the number of skaters we have. Also, we have had two suspension frames out so far, one flopped and the other is still hanging in there. You know, come to think of it, none of what you said really has anything to do with the post (not trying to offend or start an arguement).
July 4th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Well the primary word there was ECONOMICAL and GOOD. Fiziks was neither - they were expensive as hell, and had two huge pins on the H-Block that would get exposed within days of skating.
My point here is that people who are just getting into skating don’t automatically start grinding and stuff - they just like to skate. They like to rollerblade. THAT is the catalyst.
What i’m trying to say is that with these wonky freestyle setups and hard as hell 90A wheels, it’s not enjoyable for them to ROLLERBLADE. It’s just not fun. It’s only fun for us because we DON’T rollerblade, we just go from spot to spot doing tricks on a few specific ledges and rails. But for those who just want to skate, current skates are terrible. They are rough as hell and it sounds like an earth quake everytime you take a stride.
Like I said, you’re looking at this from the perspective of someone who already skates. Imagine it from the perspective of someone who doesn’t - when you’re not doing grinds and tricks, you need to be able to just love rollerblading for the love of rollerblading.
July 4th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
the reason why they dropped inline from xgame was U.S wasnt winning. the x game is suppose to be U.S event. after all it is always hosted in california. in vert, the yasutokos, in street it was alfano. and barely any roller from U.S won inline, so thats why they dropped it…its a terrible reason.
takeshi yasutoko said this….
July 4th, 2006 at 6:05 pm
If by “ROLLERBLADE” you mean just skating around, you can do that in any pair of skates you buy. I’ve been skating for nine years now and the skates we have today are way better than the stuff we had a few years ago. The equipment does not make the skater what he/she is, the skater makes the equipment what it is. If someone wants to get into skating they will, if they enjoy it enough they will stick with it. Making skates that are more comfortable to “ROLLERBALDE” in won’t get more people into aggressive. Recreational skates are there for a reason. As for the X Games, they probably did rop us because Americans weren’t winning, just like in any other national event, once the Americans are out they stop showing it on the American channels.
July 4th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
I would kinda have to agree with ‘nick’ here. I’m 23 and started out ‘aggressive skating’ after watching Xgames and trying stuff out with my old ‘rec’ skates. It was something I could try with equipment I already owned. I would try jumps and gaps while rollerblading around the block or to a store; a time to experiment while doing something I already liked to do. But now, with the harder wheels and not-as-manuverable wheel setups, it does become more uncomfortable to skate to a spot. I mean, if a spot is several miles away, I’ll just bike over there with my skates in a backpack. It’s too much of a hassle to just rollerblade to the session spot. A flat setup would make this task easier however our sport tends to favor the anti-rocker/freestyle setups but, although beneficial for grinds, wears down wheels faster, which means replacing them more often & spending your hard-earned money on already expensive products. BUT, maybe in this rough time in our sport, we need to spend more to throw more money into the industry, as sad as that may seem. It is truly the roughest time in rolling, where the phonies will be weeded out.
July 4th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
There is a comments page like this on their website link.
July 5th, 2006 at 1:32 am
“as the first wave of rebel inline skaters who invented the sport step down, and the new wave of traditionally taught skaters graduate and start looking for ways to make money from their skills”
i dont get this comment. why are all skaters labeled as “rebels.” its not like we want the sport to be underground or die. while the sport is a business, it should always be for fun, not for money, and it shouldnt be led by people whose sole purpose is to make money from the sport.
July 5th, 2006 at 2:53 am
I’ve never thought about that, I agree with -ty- to some extent. I really DO hate rollerblading around, for transportation, as does just about everyone I know. I mean, mainly I suppose, it’s about the fact that wheels don’t last that long on what we ride. I don’t want to destroy a set just trying to get to the spot when I’d rather need them for the actual skating. When I was in Europe, where they walk/etc a lot more than we do here, I’d see a lot of people take off their main skates, and put on rec. rollerblades to go to a spot, then switch again. I really do hate the feeling and sound of hard urethane anti-rockers scratching at the ground or axels becoming loose, or cores warping and expanding and becoming too loose to hold the bearing snug and rattling. It’s all so annoying feeling like you’re rolling on wooden wheels, sometimes I hate just skating across the rough street to the skatepark. Still, we definitely wouldn’t want bigger wheels in regard to sticking on ledges. And we wouldn’t want softer wheels because they would just wear down that much more. It doesn’t seem like there is much of a solution.
.
July 5th, 2006 at 4:55 am
iicents, that’s exactly my point. We can’t go back to bigger or softer wheels, which is why I think a good, economical suspension frame will be one of the main solutions to growing the industry again.
July 5th, 2006 at 10:12 am
There’s a guy i know who skates around perth and has Roces Graals (although I think he rolls 06ones now…) - but to get to and from certain spots, he just switches his frame (with aggressive setup) to a UFS recreational frame (yes, they are available) with a recreational setup…
Easy, quick, doesn’t wear down aggressive wheels…
July 5th, 2006 at 10:22 am
To change the material can help, but it is not the most important point to develop our industry.
There is two point of view:
the people that think our sport must stay in the street and remain free, so that we just have fun and no constrain. But this mean that we will have no recognition for what we do, no skatepark, no real industry and no real pro skater that could make a living form there sport. Morover, most of the skating spot will be on day forbidden.
The other point of view is to try to develop skating to bulid an industry. This suppose to make effort to get interest from the public. We need to work on our image, to create competition to please the media. Working in this way we could get recognition, more skatepark more money and permit to people to be pro and make good money. To accomplish that aim we need to work hard to promote rollerblading and that mean that the sport is not going to be completly free anymore, it will be rule by the business.
For my part i respect those two point of view.
But you may realise that you can not want to remain free, make no effort and complain on the fact that there is no real industy.
I still believe that it is possible to make skating very popular and at the same time to keep the spirtit of skating. It must be the skater that need to gather to promote our sport. It is our responsability to create our indusrty, so that it will become want we want it to be!
frist of all we need a bit more tolerance to get maturity. We need to stop to spite on the other because they don’t skate like us, you are not better becase you skate drop rails, or because you are technical our because you skate only vert… I have got respect for anyone that enjoy agressive skating even if this person is 40 year old, with all the pads on and a no style.
Secondly we need to find a way to create an international circuit of competition, create by skater for skater, and finally to get interest from the media. I have many ideas, but I don’t exactly know how to do and it would be to long to explain. But what is sure is that every skater can promote his sport very simply, by stoping to skate only for himself : just go to the kids and help them, because they are the future of rollerblading, just try if you can to organise some small event everywhere… Those little things will help the sport.
July 5th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Cam, that’s not exactly the most convinent solution - especially for someone who is coming into the sport for the first time.
July 6th, 2006 at 2:28 am
COME ON ANOTHER FUCKIN ARTICLE ON WHY SKATIN IS NOT GOIN BIG! STOP TALKIN ABOUT THE SAME SHIT ALREADY! DO SOMETHIN ABOUT IT! SICK AND TIRED OF THE SAME ARTICLES SAYIN THE SAME SHIT OVER AND OVER! WE ALREADY KNOW SKATIN IS NOT IN THE X GAMES AND WE KNOW ITS NOT MAKIN MONEY AND WE ALSO KNOW THAT SKATEBOARDING IS BIGGER! TELL ME SOMETHIN KNEW! AT LEAST WRITE A ARTICLE ABOUT WAYS TO BETTER THE SPORT OR WHO IS TRYIN TO BETTER THE SPORT. FOR INSTANCE B UNIQUE IS TRYIN TO BETTER THE SPORT BY MAKIN THE MOVIE KNOW DIFFERENCE AND SHOWIN PEOPLE HOW ARE SPORT IS AND THEY ARE TRYIN TO GET INTO A RAP VIDEO TO MAKE IT BIG TO THE PUBLIC.
July 6th, 2006 at 2:30 am
FUCKIN PEOPLE KEEP WRITING ABOUT THE SAME SHIT! ALL THIS COMPLAINING AND NO ACTION TO MAKE IT BETTER.
EVERYBODY IS BUSY TALKIN SHIT AND NOT DOIN ANYTHING TO MAKE ARE SPORT GO BIG! DO SOMETHIN MAN AND SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!
July 6th, 2006 at 2:38 am
plus we don`t need no X GAMES. WE GOT ARE OWN COMPETITIONS. WHAT WE NEED IS TO STOP BITCHIN AND TRY TO FIND WAYS TO GET EXPOSED! LIKE PUT ARE SPORT MORE IN COMMERCIALS OR IN ADS OR GET SPONSORS LIKE SONY,MAC, OR BIG CLOTHIN COMPANIES LIKE ROCAWEAR OR MUSIC ARTIST TO PUT ARE SPORT ON MTV MORE! IF THAT KICK PUSH RAP VIDEO GUY CAN DO IT WHY CAN`T WE! THE PROBLEM IS THAT NO BODY IS TRYIN TO DO ANYTHING AND THE ONES THAT ARE AREN`T BEING HELPED BY THE MAJOR ROLLIN COMPANIES CAUSE MAYBE THEY ARE BUSY AFTER THE DOLLAR AND DON`T CARE ANYMORE!
July 6th, 2006 at 3:31 am
The person that wrote this was not one of us (rollerblader) complaining… I don’t think.
Actually we do need the X-Games… it is a an action sport event that would get our sport to more people. Like it or not we need their support to help us.
SO… go here
http://forums.espn.go.com/espn/expn/index
Sign up and give the INLINE FORUM SECTION A BIGGER BOOST SHOWING INTEREST IN OUR SPORT! ONLY WAY TO GET TO THE CORPORATE FUCKS
July 6th, 2006 at 8:19 am
ty, yes it is a little harder to skate from spot to spot with aggro skates vs recs, but it is nowhere as bad as you make it sound. this is not why rollin’ is on the decline, accually its not declineing anywhere but the usa. Americans all want to be #1, or at least they want their small circle of friends to think they are cool, so most would not do somthing that is not popular. Rollerblading is a new sport most people have never accually seen high level street skating and do not know what is possible, making them think either we just roll around a flat city park or wear as many pads as a american football player and go back and forth on a ramp…. boreing. ESPN is owned wholy by media giant The Walt Disnep co. who also ownes ABC. Rateings = $$$, they really dont care what is on the show just that you watch it and sit there through the ads. Unless a lot of poeple watch the show gets cancled, you do have to admit that you would rather watch a video than wait unitll some inconvent time and watch people skate park with pads on. BUT espn still has inline street and vert in the asian x games. As for “gorilla” street comps, gettin them on tv is next to impossible. There is way too may problems for huge corporations to get involved. The network that airs the comp can be sued, things like: the city can sue if there was no permit to film, the local union (in my city we have a camrea mans union) can sue if they did not use union help, if it was held on private prop the owner can sue, if a kid sees skaters on tv w/o helmets and gets hurt some states will allow the parent to sue, and many many many others.
and those suspention frmaes….. man i have been rollin for 14 years, and i HATE those bouncy frames. they just dont give you good response, like everything happens a micro second late esp. skating park. most people claim “my knees hurt” or somthin, the truth is if they hurt you probably need to hit the gym. I tore my acl a while ago, had a real good Dr do the surgery and i was worried about skating after espacally big drops. the Dr told me that as long as i keep my legs real strong i dont have to worry. Now I ride my bike everywhere i go, skate from spot to spot, and do some squats in the gym 3 days a week - my knees NEVER hurt anymore! Bottom line… the better shape you are in the better skater you will be, and no one ever said it is easy!
July 6th, 2006 at 5:39 pm
all that x games is gonna do is put vert skatin that`s it. and that shit is boreing that`s all they use to show alot anyway on tv instead of street. if they would to put inline back, they should put a course for inliners and not use the same little easy as course they use for skateboarders.
July 6th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
^^^^^^^??????? what ?????????^^^^^^^
no vert in the US xgames.
skateboarding usally has a “true street” corse.
you are rambleing.
July 7th, 2006 at 4:28 am
Vert skating is dope… esp yasutoko’s.
July 8th, 2006 at 7:38 am
if you want to motivate people world wide to go to competitions
first of all:
you got to have good dates, school vacations I think is the best
second:
very good prizes… because to move some body from other
July 8th, 2006 at 8:31 am
opss sorry for that i was not going to post. heheheh I don t know how to explain that… but i’m doing what i can to help my sport were I live…
making people see that the most important thing is to love the sport and make our local sceen grow, teatching young kids how to love and feel pleasure in what they do. skating is about feeling is not a competition thing.
but to love the feeling of droping rails or any thing and having fun is the most important.