Get Yer Skates On

I don't know if you have noticed, but there has been a resurgence in roller skating over the last couple of years and due to the pandemic a shortage of stock (just like sewing machines).

You might call me mad or say I'm going through a midlife crisis - which may of course be true. However, I'm not the only one. I've recently realised that there are many people of a similar age to me, the world over, who are returning to, or starting skating for the very first time.

Instead of a midlife crisis, let's call it a midlife revival.

This was pretty much the skate set up I had as a teenager when I used to skate. I skated everywhere - to school and back; at the local lesiure centre for a roller disco; distance skating; street hockey; I even did some promotional work at parades and festivals. I even used my skates on stage as part of a dance routine with my dance class. But all that was 30 years ago and I haven't really skated since.

Fast forward to 2020 and I decided I'd give it another go. My daughter had a pair of very rarely used quad skates and I decided to head to the basketball court next to the local skatepark as it's fairly smooth. My son came with me as moral support. It was awful. I realised quickly that I had very little leg strength and while my brain had remembered how to do things, my body just didn't seem to be able to do them. Some of that was the skates - they were very solid and had little flex or movement in them. The slight change in pressure that usually results in a turn/ curve didn't happen in these and for the most part I thought it was me. My legs felt like jelly and I knew I'd need to get stronger to do this again. I didn't go out on her skates again - she annouynced that she wanted to use them, so that was the end of that.

But I'd started following some skaters on instagram and it had inspired me to have another go. I knew I'd need some new skates of my own and after trying my daughters I knew that going for just an entry level skate was a bad idea. As I hoped that I'd get better quickly and need something with more flexibility.

 

These are available from Double Threat Skates

I started to trawl the online skate sites and look at what was available. I started by looking at the Moxi skates. These are all fairly expensive apart from their entry level skate which has a cool rainbow on, comes in pink, black or yellow and costs £100. These are called Rainbow riders.

Chaya Melrose Elite - Still out of stock hopefully in soon at Slick Willies

 

However the more I looked into it, the more I thought I might have issues as lots of people said the boot was quite stiff and narrow and I have super wide feet!!! I started to look at other brands including the Rookie Artistic which come in black or white, Impala skates - lots of pretty colours but similar set up. They I came across Chaya skates. Intially I was taken with the Melrose style, which came in three levels. the basic skate (£89), the melrose deluxe (which came in a stunning royal blue! £109) and the Melrose Elite which had three colourways including a cool rainbow design (£144). I poured over the specifications and particularly the plate, truck and wheel set ups as I knew this would give me the flexibility to upgrade as I got better. I decided that the Elites would be the best option for me - but they were out of stock everywhere! I was still concerned about the width of these too. 

 

Chaya Jump 2 - from SkatePro

I started looking at Chaya's other skates and found the Jump 2 - which is a park skate, but has a similar truck/ plate/ wheel set up to the Elites. these have a more trainer style boot with a high top, but only come in one colour. These were in stock and £139. My hubby bought me them for Mother's day.

 

When I used to skate, I was pretty fearless. I rarely wore pads and my Bauer Turbo skates were actually 3 sizes too big and I used to slip them on and off quickly. However I loved those skates and knew that I wanted a similar plate, truck and wheel set up, which I feel I have in the Chaya skates. As I am much much older and maybe a little wiser, investing in some pads is important as I don't really want to be breaking any bones. I have wrist guards and knee pads. I ordered a small helmet, but it's still a little too big, so I beed to get some sizing liners to make it snug, I'll certainly need these if I plan to do any park skating. I was surprised how quickly some of the basics came back to me - still rather wobbly though.

Check out my video on Instagram

I have been very taken with the jam skating moves I've seen on insta and I'm hoping to learn how to do some of these cool moves. During the super windy and rather wintry weather earlier this week I decided to skate inside and practised some of these moves. I spent about an hour, even though my video clip is just a couple of minutes long. I've also found a couple of fairly local skate groups and there a couple of folks who are keen in my little town, so I'm hoping we can get together to skate a bit too.

 

 

My hubby has bought some cool laces for me and I'm going to make a skate leash to carry my skates to the skatepark -It's too rough on the pavement near my house. I can't wait until the roller discos can start again.

Have you every taken up or returned to a sport later in life? How did you find it? What did you enjoy and what scared you the most about it?