When I think of roller skating, I see warm summer nights and hear music. Whether you’re stuck to a tile hallway in your apartment or cruising down the street without a care in the world, roller skating is good fun and a great workout. Just make sure you wear your helmet!
I spent a huge amount of time as a child racing around my neighborhood on rollerblades. I loved going as fast as I could, and at one point, my stubborn self decided to try skating with my hands and my feet. After sliding down the driveway face first, I never tried that again, but it couldn’t dampen my love for gliding through the street. I considered myself to be somewhat of an expert at skating, but that was only on blades.
From the moment that I saw Roll Bounce, I wanted to groove on the quads too. After being cooped up from quarantining and seeing one too many TikToks about roller skating, I bought a pair and set out to teach myself how to use them, with the end goal of being able to skate backward as well as forward. Next mission was to find a crew to skate with, so when Celina asked if I wanted to join a socially distant skate sesh, I was ecstatic. —Ricky Barajas