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OK, OK, OK. It is time for a new season of skating and time
for 007 to check in to let the skate world know the "wheel" deal
on the skate scene. We have bid farewell to the 2002
season with an outstanding time at the Adrenaline Awards (AA) in
Wilmington Delaware over President's Day [blizzard] weekend. I can't
lie, 007 was "skater hating" on the "AA" when I first heard about them
but I was never so wrong.
What I figured would be a weekend of jealousy and competition was
a weekend of brotherly and sisterly skate-love. Only the truest of
the skaters loaded up the sleds and gathered the dogs to make this trip.
The evening of the ceremony was elegant, the food was good and we even
skated in a pristine clean facility after the awards ceremony (free of
charge)!! Garry Corporal runs a tight ship at Elsmere, kudos to you.
Saturday night was just plain fun!! It sounds stupid but we
all know that to have so many styles under one roof, on one floor and not
have blood shed is an event in itself but when all in attendance have a
good time, that's a step in the right direction for our people. Hopefully
the Adrenaline Awards have set the tone for the skate parties coming up
this year.
It is time to be real - as the skate scene gets larger and more cities
and groups host these parties, we must keep the following in mind:
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You don't necessarily have to be at home to use your home training.
I have seen fellow skaters so wild and out of control that if I had a video
camera at the time, I could have made my own "Too Hot For TV" skate film.
People, when you are in the Holidome pool having a strip show
at 4:00 in the afternoon while a youth soccer team is getting ready to
depart for games, or when you are tossing members of the skate community
and the hotel staff in the pool (fully clothed), and when you don't reserve
a room but have slumber parties in the lobby at 5:00 in the morning, it
makes it hard for the coordinators to negotiate reasonable rates at decent
lodgings for those that travel. Please use your head!
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Discretion is the key. When I am not on assignment I attend these
functions to skate and experience new and different styles. However,
I have noticed at some of the larger parties that many people in attendance
are there strictly to pick up members of the opposite sex and then......(you
know). We are all adults (even though some of us do not behave as
such) and if you do what you do, be discreet. I saw more tiptoeing
from room to room last year than at a Broadway ballet. These trips should
be about skating, not Sex, Lies, and Videotape.
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Last but not least, remember the real reason we travel by plane, train,
or automobile is the passion we all have for skating, the
joy
we get when we strap on those 8 wheels and hit the hardwood (or cement
in some states) as we express ourselves to the music.
If you are not a true skater and you are going out of town just
to say, "I went to Atlanta or New York," maybe you should stay home.
You are just taking up room from someone that wants to skate with the best
and learn from the best. I have never known anyone to take Martial
Arts just because they wanted to see the Great Wall Of China.
The skate community has come a long way since the first J&J Skate
Productions' Skate-A-Thon in 1996. The skate season started in April
and ended in October and there were only about five hosting cities back
then. Now it is year round and even Mother Nature couldn't stop us
last month in Delaware.
Roller skating is alive and well so let's make sure that it keeps
growing and is just as strong or stronger for the next generation.
My next stop will be North Carolina - can the NSC Freestyle Rollers
beat the Sophomore jinx? I think it is all in the hands of the skaters.
See you on the floor!
007
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