Passionate about rollerblading
Pix by Indika Handuwala
It’s a beautiful morning at the Viharamahadevi Park. While most of Colombo is enjoying afew extra snoozes on a public holiday, there’s a small group of people who have made use of the beautiful weather and have gathered at the walking paths near the park’s open air amphitheatre. A lot of laughter and wisecracks fill the air as they prep for a stunt. For the first stunt, a group of five are huddled together flat on the ground, pretending to read a book in a feigned display of nonchalance. Lasantha Indrajith rollerblades slightly away from the huddle, calculating the distance to make the perfect jump. If he is nervous, it doesn’t show.
It took 2 days to perfect the jump and he’s been rollerblading for six years now – after the initial months of bruises and falls, he now slips into a pair of rollerblades effortlessly. He gives a thumbs up to signal that he will be making the jump and rapidly glides towards the group, seamlessly leaping over the five people huddled on the ground.
The Sri Lanka Rollerblading Club is a small but enthusiastic group who gather regularly to practice rollerblading. There’s a mix of beginners and seasoned skatersin the mix and the atmosphere and camaraderie in the group is relaxed, friendly and conducive to learning. The club began with just two people two years ago and has now snowballed into a small community. Uliana Nikolaeva and Teeshawere both individual skating enthusiasts who met and discovered a shared love for skating. Uliana had been skating for years while Teesha rekindled her hobby (discarded because of a lack of space to practice), with the emergence of new walking tracks and parks around the city. They discovered a small group of inline skaters who were equally enthusiastic and merged with them.
The Sri Lanka Rollerblading Club has since grown and thrives through Facebook, word-of-mouth and monthly events. Realizing that there was an interest in rollerblading and keen to grow a community of skaters, both Uliana and Teesha pooled in personal finances to buy rollerblades to rent out to anyone interested in learning. Since the club currently operates on personal finances (they are on the hunt for potential sponsors who will help the club) and the skates need to be serviced and maintained, they have recently started charging a nominal fee of Rs. 300 to rent out rollerblades for anyone who doesn’t have a pair during practice sessions. Since the club has about 13 rollerblades in the sharing pool, often there’s a queue of people awaiting their turn when the club has a particularly large practice session or an event.
There are two rollerblading myths which both Uliana and Teesha immediately debunk during our conversation. The first is that age is a barrier and that it is a sport exclusively for the young. The second is that rollerblading is a hard sport to pick up. Rollerblading boils down purely to posture and movement, they explain. Beginners are given lessons on posture, stance and coasting style and with a little support during the initial weeks, can pick it up easily enough. All that is needed is basic health conditioning –athletes have been known to get the hang of rollerblading in under an hour.The fears about balance dissipate once you get the hang of it, avows Teesha.
And as for age being a barrier – while it is true that kids catch on faster (children use their bodies easily and when they fall, it isn’t so painful, explains Uliana), there’s no limit for learning, provided you’re in good health, they insist. The more seasoned members of the club who have experience in advanced skating methods and stunts, are in their late 20s and 30s while the club has played host to older adults, keen to try the sport.
Sri Lanka has perfect weather for outdoor activities and to stay sedentary would be a shame. Teesha notes that while activities such as going to the gym tend to be in isolation and within an artificial environment, outdoor recreation such as rollerblading makes use of natural, lateral movement and the kinetic chain of the body.
From learning wide jumps, manoeuvres such as slalom, powerslides, parallel slides and crossovers – Youtube has been a gift which keeps giving and is a veritable wellspring of tutorials, tips and learning. While for most of the members, rollerblading is a casual recreational sport, there’s a small group of seasoned skaters who have slowlypracticed stunts and specialized techniques over the years.Lasantha Indrajith
practices rollerblading stunts and jumps, Shoshan Wedage specializes in speed, endurance and cruising (he pauses to show us a fluid moonwalk he has perfected while wearing rollerblades) while Isuru Jayasuriyaand Athirayan Chandrakulasekara dabble in varied manoeuvres.
Perhaps what’s most appealing is the open door policy which is refreshing to see in the club, despite their logistical constraints. “Here it is a sense of community. It’s not just another sport where you’re sitting alone in a gym. There’s no one judging you and it’s a nice place to interact,” reflects Uliana. “For the past 2 years we’ve created a good circle. It’s positive and different and it’s something new. You get nice people, a good sport and you spend time in the park,” she smiles.
| For more details about the Sri Lanka Rollerblading Club, do look up their public group under the same name on Facebook or email slrollerblading@gmail.com. The group meets every Tuesday evening from 5 – 7pm at the Viharamahadevi Park, whenever weather permits. |
