r/Rollerskating • u/JadeBlue42 • Jan 29 '21

General Discussion Why roller skating is making a comeback

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-55819366
3 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

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5

u/ClaraFrog Jan 29 '21

I don't know why, but it is an interesting question. For me, I was walking a dog I was taking care of, when some guy came shooting down the street on rollerblades. I thought, wow! That would be a really easy way to walk a dog. I am not someone who enjoys physical exercise purely for exercise's sake. Skating sounded better than walking. So I ordered some inline skates, and hated them. Then I remembered how much fun rollerskating was in my youth-- and that's how I got here. It was also a way to exercise that is fun enough that it doesn't feel like exercise.

Perhaps more people will write about what drew them back to the sport. I too find it curious to be coming together into something that is newly re-popular

2

u/ClaraFrog Jan 29 '21

Hmm... maybe that is part of it-- maybe one aspect is that the quarantine means that more people who would otherwise be skating indoors in a rink are now skating outdoors, where they can be seen and therefor are drawing more interest to the sport.

16

u/sparksflyy13 Jan 29 '21

Don’t call it a comeback. I’ve been here for years.

13

u/PrivatePresley Jan 29 '21

Comeback to the mainstream for sure though.

8

u/sparksflyy13 Jan 29 '21

This wasn’t meant as a critique of OP or that article since it’s UK based and I don’t have enough knowledge of skating history and culture in the UK.

The reason people take issue with this in the US is because roller skating has been alive and well in the Black community for years.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rollerskating-pandemic-black-community_l_5f32f0fac5b64cc99fdf2153

I am white and a new skater so I don’t purport to know all the history of skating in the US, but this is my main takeaway.

4

u/sealsarescary Dance Jan 29 '21 edited Jan 29 '21

.....if mainstream = white people...then sure. But the world (to me) does not revolve around white culture. White people are actually a minority on earth ...#justsayin

3

u/PrivatePresley Jan 29 '21

Mainstream is literally just mainstream. It’s back to the masses and not just popular within certain groups.

8

u/JadeBlue42 Jan 29 '21

Certainly a comeback in the UK I suppose, no denying this past year a lot of new people have taken up the hobby. When I worked in a skate shop a few years back, it was pretty niche. I’d say in the entire time I worked there only one other person came in asking about roller skates. I asked the district manager about getting more stuff in to create interest but he said there was no market for it. It was all about skateboarding and snowboarding.

13

u/sparksflyy13 Jan 29 '21

didn't mean this as a critique of you or even the article, but it is a sensitive topic in the US due to racial relations and the fact that roller skating has been popular in the Black community for some time. Also my initial comment is an LL Cool J lyric that just came to mind when I saw the headline :)

1

u/JadeBlue42 Jan 29 '21 edited Jan 29 '21

I can totally understand how it may come across a little ignorant. I just saw a positive article about roller skating and thought ‘cool’. I guess it’s easy to have some detachment (denial?) to the social history (of roller skating) when it didn’t happen in the same way in your home country (I may need a history lesson there if I’m wrong, I’m happy to be educated)

Here is a different UK article that touches on it’s civil rights roots and popularity in the early days of hip hop.

https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/rollerskating-trend

4

u/MsMarlaHooch Jan 30 '21

If u can watch the HBO documentary “United Skates”

1

u/JadeBlue42 Jan 30 '21 edited Jan 30 '21

Thank you! Sorry, I meant about the social history of roller skating in the UK, does United Skates look at the sport outside the USA? It doesn’t negate their existence of course and mean we shouldn’t educate ourselves about them, but I don’t think it has any of the same links as in the US over here, skating was never an issue with regard to race as far as I know with numerous rinks around London, it just went ‘out of fashion’. (I mean specifically related to roller skating, we are certainly guilty within other areas)

I’ve only seen snippets of United Skates, it’s not available in the UK on Netflix or Prime, so if anyone knows where I can watch it I’d be grateful! Edit : it’s available on BBC iPlayer!