Inline skating; the mention of it arouse the common perception of having fun, a way to keep fit, recreational or doing tricks and stuffs to impress people. It is one type of sports that presents many facades or disciplines, namely; recreational skating, fitness/speed skating, dance skating, figure skating, inline hockey, street/urban skating, aggressive skating and freestyle skating. In fact the list can continue and it is only limited by creativity.

To many people out there, the sports is usually known as just another sports to keep fit, a competitive sports or just another form of recreation. Well, as an actual fact, inline skating sports also helps in developing focus and concentration of the mind and body. Not only that, this sports has no end to what one can achieve, seemingly because there’s so many ways to play around with it. Even each skill itself has many different levels and variations to it, for example the toe- roll move; you can have the classic forward toe- roll, toe-roll with slalom, deep knee bend toe-roll, even backwards toe-roll and so forth! Moreover, the foundations of toe-roll can also help one to progress towards other related skills like one leg balance, heel-toe and toe-toe skills. That’s the whole beauty of the sports.

A lesser known perspective of the sports, just like other sports, is the valuable and succinct lessons on life that one can gather through the engagement of the sports whereby the values, ethics and principles may seem elusive to impart through classroom education. Below are a few lessons on life that we think can be gleaned from in-line skating. Again, we would like to emphasize that these analogies can be perceive in many different perspectives that are relevant to your own life experiences.

Inline skating- “One sport, multi-disciplines“

In life- One life; Many facets or opportunities. We are all living one life, however in this life itself, there are many opportunities and possibilities waiting to be discovered and nurture. A person may be weak in one skate discipline but maybe strong at the other disciplines, same goes in life. Being weak in one or a few areas doesn’t mean a total failure in life, one need to constantly explore, discover and nurture their strengths and potentials which can be realize in many other different areas. The choice is ours!

Inline skating- “Lateral drive (V-step and push) towards linear movement”

In life-Life is never a straight line, sometimes we need to move sideways or even step back in order to move forward. Inline skating requires lateral strides(left and right) in order to gain forward or backwards motion. In life, instead of being limited to linear approach, sometimes one needs to think laterally to discover new possibilities.

Inline skating- “Learning to go before learning to stop”

In life- Do not think about stopping when you are not even going yet, Life is more about moving ahead and not about stopping. One of the common questions from students in skating is to teach them how to stop before they even learn how to move! A lot in skating is about moving rather than stopping. In life, we can reflect upon ourselves what are the things that are stopping us from moving ahead? Do the blockages lie within us or are they external factors? How can we deal with these blockages and move on instead of letting them stop us at one point?

Inline skating- “Falling is part and parcel”

In life- Everybody falls, fall graciously instead of trying to fight a fall, there’s no need to be a sore loser, we fall so we learn how to pick ourselves up. Everybody will have their “story of falling” to share when comes to skating. This is also one of the greatest challenges in skating that arouse fear in people going into the sports or even cause some to give up the sports totally. Remember when we were young; we learned how to walk through overcoming numerous falls? Did you give up learning how to walk during the toddler stage despite going through the numerous falls? The same goes in our life, we learned to be stronger through setbacks. Spend some time to reflect on how we deal with setbacks or difficulties in our life. Is there something that we can learn from these experiences?

Inline skating- “Safety”

In life- Life is not without risk, but we can learn how to fall without breaking ourselves. In skating, wearing of protection is always encouraged. We can’t prevent ourselves from falling all the time, however we can minimize injuries with the help of safety gears. In life, we can choose to take precautions and be prepared for the worst, however if the worst really happens, we can take them as learning experiences instead of devastating ourselves.

Inline skating- “Practice, practice, practice”

In life- Nothing great is achieved without learning, practicing and using what we learned. This applies not just in skating, it also carries through to other sports as well as in whatever skills that we have learned. Those skaters that you have seen who skate in a way that looks impossible or amazing actually spent hours and hours polishing their skills. There’s no shortcut to it, just pure hard work and practice. Do not hope for any miracles if one lacks in practice in the first place.

Inline skating- “Think of what’s ahead”

In life- Look at life as the path ahead and not just what is in front of us. During skating, it is recommended to look ahead and plan your next course of action rather than always look down on your skates or looking down the road. Try feeling the difference between looking far ahead compare to looking down while skating. In life, are we looking far enough or just looking at our own limitations?

Inline skating- “Be aware of surroundings”

In life- Life is around us and not just about us! Besides looking far ahead, the joy of skating also comes from being aware of what’s going on around us, the view, the people and activities going on. We can only react to the surroundings and harmonize with it once we are aware of what’s going on around us. Spend a moment to think about ourselves… are we always putting ourselves first and being self-centered all the times? If it is the case, how do you feel? Is it time that we can start going beyond ourselves and extend to the world around us? Try volunteering yourself to others, the society and nature without expecting any rewards in return and see how it feels.

Inline skating- “Avoid instead of stop”

In life- Instead of allowing obstacles stop us, we can circumvent them and move on. Skating is more about movement than stopping all the times. What is your first reaction or thought when you came across an obstacle in front of you? Do you try to stop or find an alternative route or path, then work around the obstacle and carry on from there? Are we stopping habitually out of fear, the need for security or simply being attached to our comfort zone? The next time, when you happen to see an obstacle in front of you, try moving around it rather than stopping and see how it feels?

Inline skating- “Flow with it! Skating is like flying”

In life- Life is motion and momentum, and it is smoother when you flow with it than struggling needlessly against it! The beauty of skating is flow and momentum, the joy of moving around curves, up the slopes, down the hills, across bumpy or uneven surfaces and so forth. Try skating against the direction of wind compare to skating along with the direction of the wind and feel the difference! Reflect again on the times where we were being hard at ourselves. Are there better ways that we can “flow” with difficulties or obstacles in our life? What are the worries or self-impose burdens that are restricting us in “flying” in our life? How can we start letting go of some of these burdens or baggage’s and start “flying”?

Original version compiled by the courtesy of John Li Siwei based on the life lessons learned through skating with Sandy Snakenberg.

Article was later updated and elaborated by Alfred Chung & Skate Pro^TM Team

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