My 12-year-old son has been obsessed with hockey from the moment he was old enough to lace his own skates. We take him to Phoenix Coyotes games whenever possible and try to support his enthusiasm by paying for lessons and clinics whenever we can afford it. The only problem is that we live in Phoenix, Arizona – a wonderful town, but not exactly the ice hockey capital of the United States.
For obvious reasons, the only rinks in the area are indoors, and they all cost a pretty penny to use. I wanted to find an alternative that would allow him to practice his skating outdoors. Street roller skates turned out to be the sensible solution. Now instead of pestering me for money to go to the ice rink, he just skates to school and over to his friends’ houses. When high school hockey tryouts come around, I know that he’ll have an edge.
Back in the 1950s, ’60s and even into the ’70s, roller skating was a low-intensity, leisurely affair. Roller rinks weren’t athletic arenas so much as social gathering places. You might meet your sweetheart during a roller skating session, but you weren’t likely to find much in the way of spirited competition. In fact, my own parents met and bonded for the first time at their local VFW hall, which was transformed into a makeshift rink on the weekends.
More recently, quad roller skates have made way for inline skates. Aggressive skating is one of the most popular extreme sports, and it’s probably the easiest to pick up. In street-style aggressive skating, participants use whatever structures might be lying around to make an impromptu obstacle course. Rails, benches, walls, curbs and stairs are all fair game. Vert competitions are held on half-pipes where skaters try to get big air even as they bust out tricks.
If you’re a member of the Baby Boomer generation, it’s more than likely that you harbor a few special memories from the roller rink. That humming hub of social interaction has no modern-day equivalent. It was the place to be seen on the weekends, and if you weren’t there you were nobody. Who could forget the thrill of skating around and around with a cute boy or girl, then grabbing a milkshake before heading home.
Although it’s impossible to duplicate those treasured adolescent experiences at the roller rink, you can get in touch with your inner child by getting back in the skating habit. Adjustable roller skates give you all of the fitness benefits and freedom of movement provided by roller blades, and they aren’t nearly as bulky. It’s like being back in high school, minus the drama and pimples.