articles : Rolled out.......
9 years ago, I was pestering my lil brother to accompany me skating around the neighbourhood. It was his skates, but I was using them then. I was a brat, he was too. Eventually, both of us walked up to the parking lot in front of our houses and saw a rail by the road divider. "Must be a skateboarders rail.", I thought. I put on the skates and tried jumping off a 4-feet gap (at that time, it was a big feat for me) where the rail was. Falling down wasn't an excuse for me, so I keep on trying and trying. Then my brother took his skates and tried the same. Fun, that was all in our minds. Having fun.
About an hour later, we saw a group of rollerbladers coming down the hill, laughing and heading towards us. We kept our cool and sat aside. There was 4 of them. I can still remember. They came down and stopped at the rail. By the time those guys arrived, my bro has already took off his skates and sat next to me. Watching them, I was amaze of what they did. "Those guys are sliding on the rail, with their rollerblades!", I told my bro. He was amazed too. Really amazed. From that moment, I wanted to do something with my bro's rollerblades. And these guys taught me my first grind.
Abang Hadi, Khairun, Hafiz and Iskandar. They were the ones I saw grinding on rollerblades for the first time in my life. They were the ones who brought in aggressive skating in Malaysia. They were the pioneers. Don't believe me, you guys can ask Kieren (ex-rollerblader turned pro skateboarder), he was one of the pioneers too. Nowadays, most rollerbladers don't know them. Most rollerbladers don't even know how aggressive skating came into Malaysia. Heck, not all of you has ever heard of Mr. John Biau.
I skated hard since then. Now, nearing a decade of rollerblading, I still roll. I still roll with the same passion, but not with the same agility. Injuries battled me, but I still roll. All these years, I've never forget the first reason why I started skating. PASSION.
But the agenda of rollerblading has changed since then. Some roll for hip-hophappening reasons, some because it was the IN thing to do. These reasons still exists in the minds of old and new rollerbladers. The reasons are pathetic, because I see these rollers come and go and never truly stayed.
Even now, some kept on rolling for the wrong reasons. "I want to like him, I want to be like that". "A better skate will make me a better rollerblader." Hey, inspiration is alright, but not at the expense of pushing aside the true reason why you started to roll. There are limits to one's capabilities, and it's true that without trying, you won't know what you're capable of. There are rollers that just roll for the sake of wanting to show others what you're "made" of. For the wrong reasons, you'll lose one thing about rolling. FUN.
My advice, I don't have any. I only know why I still roll, although not that often anymore, but I still remember why. I roll because I LOVE to roll. And you know what, I'm still here.
- Naz