Rollerskating Thread!

[Deebo]

Anyone else like rollerskating? Quad skates or in-lines? I have a pair of riedell darts with atom poison hybrid wheels, and I replaced the stops with plugs in the front for greater mobility.
I skate at the local rink a few times a month and especially enjoy Disco Nights. I want to skate outside more, and my hybrid wheels help, but skating on asphalt is a pain in the ass so I stick to concrete and smoother paved surfaces. I also want to get back into roller derby!!

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I used to be quite an accomplished skater, even taking mine to school to abuse the gym's flat surfaces before getting kicked out XD It's too bad that I outgrew my quads and can't afford to replace them now.

 

[NotReallyHere]

I haven't been rollerskating since the mid-90s, back when my local schools would host monthly skating parties at the neighborhood rink. It was a fun, safe hangout for the kids, and was walking distance from my house, so I made it a point to go as often as I could!

Killer arcade in that rink, too. It was nice to see the evolution in games between the 80s and 90s. Some games, I've only ever seen at that rink, like Konami's Aliens shoot-em-up and Atari's game based on the original 1989 Batman film. Around the time I stopped going, they had just gotten X-Men vs Street Fighter

I have a pretty strong memory of my last trip there, skating circles with a glowstick under the blacklights while The Immortals' Mortal Kombat movie theme played overhead. Damn, what a moment in time!

In later years, I "graduated" to skateboarding, but was only really good at busting my own ass. Several concussions and broken bones later, and I gave it up largely for good.

Also played hockey in my adult years! I miss it dearly. Always preferred ice skating to roller skating, though you are, of course, much more limited in your options for ice skating. I'd do almost anything to live near a rink again - fingers crossed they build one here in town at some point

 

[Deebo]

Also played hockey in my adult years! I miss it dearly. Always preferred ice skating to roller skating, though you are, of course, much more limited in your options for ice skating.

I had nearly forgotten how much I love ice skating too!! Ice skating makes me feel pretty lol. It’s hot where I live, so it’s not a super popular thing, but I get my chances to do it once in a blue moon still.
Does it hurt your feet more than quad skating or was that just my experience?

Post automatically merged: Today at 8:18 AM

I used to be quite an accomplished skater, even taking mine to school to abuse the gym's flat surfaces before getting kicked out XD It's too bad that I outgrew my quads and can't afford to replace them now.

Sorry to hear that waffles :-( Skates can be expensive. Have you looked on eBay? They have a ton of listings but the shipping will probably be more expensive than usual

 

[valosagutas]

My childhood was filled with rollerskating!!! However around kids rollerskating was socially banned for boys. I mean boys would be made fun of from everyone if they had used rollerskating so it was mostly a girl thing.

My generation perhaps suffered from nonsense stereotypes regarding the sex people have. It either made people rebel by being a boy, growing hairs and even showing interest in rollerskating without any care, or they became a person who did what is subjectively right to be a girl or boy.

I think rollerskating is cool but why I never did it is just because it was very dangerous for me. I never trusted myself to don't kill myself while using it lol. So as rest of the boys I was interested in skateboards yet naturally I was nowhere near the people who were really good at skating.

I remember there was a rather popular girl group locally who enjoyed rollerskating together. I think they were either 3 or 4 girls.They came up with the most insane tricks I can't think of and they performed it without even any sense of protection! I admired there sense of fun and bravery from lack of protection. They were rather way older people than me, clearly highschool girls so their fame didn't last long because after a year or so they just disappeared. There were other people who were inspired by their local legend but long after such outdoor interests were reduced due to arcade and home video game console craze lol.

This make me mention one of the greatest reason why video games were encouraged by parents in large scale: They saw the recent craze about rollerskating and skateboard as great danger to kids. I watch video game documentaries but as far as I know they only mention why video games got popular is because Pacman and whatnot, they never mention parents side of things.

Rollerskating and skating very dangerous so they forced their kids to stay in homes by using video games as a good excuse. In the content of this topic and how this is a place about what is retro and video games, I thought this is an interesting opinion to share. Perhaps I'm very biased about it because I remember my mother one day told me they couldn't save one of the kid we knew who were living around because of severe head injury because he was riding a skateboard. She said parents talked about it and determined video games would be a great way to keep kids save. I remember my mother asking if I had cared to play Atari at home (she meant Atari 2600) and I was like "hell yeah" lololol. My mother thought I wouldn't be interested in video game. Pah! Video games 4 live yo!!!

I know it's not an excuse because Tony Hawk still rocks but I don't skate anymore because I'm too old for this lol. The other day I was just walking and I had to sit down because some random pain around my hips. My body may getting older but my spirit gets younger!!!

 

[Deebo]

That’s an awesome perspective @valosagutas. It’s unfortunate you had to deal with skating being such a gendered activity though. Weird to think people used to care about stuff like that more.

And I guess I gotta agree, the emergence of video games probably saved a few lives for kids who would’ve otherwise been rolling around getting hurt. People are not careful enough in cars. I’m a victim of severe helicopter parenting, so think kids often aren’t given the autonomy and mobility they need, but I’m also NOT a parent myself, and I’m sure my tune would change if a child in my community died too soon from a skating accident.

It won’t make you invincible, but everyone remember to wear your pads and helmet, especially outside! Don’t ride on roads or paved surfaces unprotected. Honestly though…indoors I just wear wristguards. That’s just cuz I rink skate though, there’s not a lot of threats to safety there.

Wristgaurds are so underrated—when you fall, 9/10 times you’ll try to brace yourself with your hands, and wrists are easy to break that way. If you’re going to wear anything, other than a helmet, wear wristguards.

 

[valosagutas]

That’s an awesome perspective @valosagutas. It’s unfortunate you had to deal with skating being such a gendered activity though. Weird to think people used to care about stuff like that more.

Mhm. Everything was a part of gender role back then like even reading fictional books being an activity only girls were supposed to do, because boys were supposed to only read comics. However hobbies were even advertized in terms of gender roles when they were selling products too. But then reading comic was what nerds would do and it was the worst thing ever a kid would do so much parents would want to take their kids to a therapist lol. So things were not only about gender, belonging into a specific category of people. In their minds kids had to be an extrovert who does what the parents did when they were a kid, but then they also felt like they had to imprison their kids into their homes and force them to only study. It was a very ironic era for kids.

But then video games were advertised as a hobby without it being specific for any gender. You could see girls and boys alike playing video games. Despite this and despite there were tons of video games obviously developed for video games, boys thought video games are only a hobby boys would like.

And I guess I gotta agree, the emergence of video games probably saved a few lives for kids who would’ve otherwise been rolling around getting hurt. People are not careful enough in cars. I’m a victim of severe helicopter parenting, so think kids often aren’t given the autonomy and mobility they need, but I’m also NOT a parent myself, and I’m sure my tune would change if a child in my community died too soon from a skating accident.

It won’t make you invincible, but everyone remember to wear your pads and helmet, especially outside! Don’t ride on roads or paved surfaces unprotected. Honestly though…indoors I just wear wristguards. That’s just cuz I rink skate though, there’s not a lot of threats to safety there.

Wristgaurds are so underrated—when you fall, 9/10 times you’ll try to brace yourself with your hands, and wrists are easy to break that way. If you’re going to wear anything, other than a helmet, wear wristguards.

I think the same. The part of being a kid is self discovery and this is necessary because you need to learn life and yourself so you can deal with your adult life because adult life is when you will need whatever you know and you have to know yourself to deal with life changing situations that's every day possibility for you. When you make a mistake as a kid you can just say "oopsie doopsie" and be forgiven after they beat you lol, when you make a mistake as an adult often it can mean facing a jail time, losing your job and the family you trying to build.

In this context, I blame education system for lots of things but I don't think homeschooling is the best. School experience was very valuable to me despite how bad it was. Kids have to be let alone and allowed to make mistakes so they can learn. But it doesn't mean even when you know your kid clearly would kill himself while skating because they like the sense of speed, you should allow the kid to play with a skateboard. So the kid who died couldn't stop.

For example why my mother allowed me and trusted me with dangerous stuff is just because she knows I value my health way more than most people. Still in my old age I never smoked or drinked. But I'm no health freak. I just like to take care of my body so I won't have a weakness in the realm of realistic convictions. That's why she trusted me despite I'm the youngest male of the house and my brothers are way older than me because they are too reckless. My oldest brother almost killed himself by trying to see what's inside of old box TVs. He had no idea the power of electricity would make him slam to do wall lol. And this same brother somehow stabbed a screwdriver in his hand lol. Still to this day I cannot comprehend why he could never permanently damage his body other than not so serious scars despite all the crazy stuff he did beats me. My other brother was more careful but hyperactive jumping from everywhere to everywhere and always running making me feel tired just watching him. He would always fall from his bike, because of it I could never have a bike as why my mother allowed me to use a skateboard instead.

Observing the mistakes of my brothers gave me insight on what I can do and what I cannot do too, and I was so aware that my sense of balance is so bad I couldn't drive a bike and cannot get used to using rollerskating. It was something to fear for me, losing balance at high speed, and I would steal fear from it despite I'm wearing a full armor lol. However I also did crazy stuff that I analyzed I can do easily just like jumping out of the school's window to basketball hoop and getting down like a firefighter lol. It was crazy but logical act for me because it would take way too longer to get out of the building when thus I can enjoy playing faster lol.

The death of this kid wasn't the reason of my fear regarding rollerskating as I had the fear way before, I just avoid whatever can hurt my body. When my body is hurt and therefore there is clear sense of danger for my body I'm known to lose myself turning into a terminator lol.

 

[NotReallyHere]

Does it hurt your feet more than quad skating or was that just my experience?

Oh, not at all!

Hockey skates are kind of their own thing, though - different than figure, speed, or rental skates. In general, you get the snuggest pair you can find, lace them up as tight as you can - and as far up your ankle and shin as you can. Then tape 'em up a bit from there to completely immobilize your ankle.

The idea is that all of your power comes from your hips and thighs, with the skates being almost an extension of your skeleton. Roller skating provides MUCH more flexibility, in that regard! But it might help explain the aches and pains you felt, if you were treating ice skates more like traditional roller skates in regards to fit and overall comfort.

I also agree with your assessment on wrist guards, but I will go a step further - I believe a mouthguard is must for all skating. Ice, roller, skateboarding... heck, even skiing or snowboarding! It is way, way too easy to catch your face on something at high speed. As someone with a mouthful of chipped and busted teeth, it's something I wish I'd had gotten better guidance on at a young age

I love seeing kids at the skatepark all armored-up with their helmets and pads. But every time I see a mouthguard involved, I can't help but admire the good parenting on display

 

[valosagutas]

I believe a mouthguard is must for all skating

I feel like when it comes to rollerskating even knight armour is barely enough, but then wearing it and rollerskating would make me feel like a mech lol.

I was just an ordinary skateboarder and believe me we somehow grew up in ignorance of seeing people armored up for rollerskate but we didn't think we better do the same for skateboards as if it would be nonsense to be armored up for it. But we still had a sense of protection. Wearing a hat or beanie, and shorts that can cover your knees. For better sense of mobility and "protection" (lol) for your arms sleeves felt like a must. Removing unnecessary weight made the point of skateboarding felt better so we still tried to have a sense of protection by wearing less as possible. But now thinking about it how fool I was lol.