I’ve been into skating for a long time, in some form or another. Roller skating kept my interest till the mid 90s, then inline skating. Yeah, we used to go to the rink like every weekend, sometimes twice a weekend. Now in 2006, it seems like another age has passed, and I’m ready for something new. I think we’re both ready for something new. I had taken a little time off from skating (got married among other things. I got married first though…) and I was wondering if I really wanted to get back into it for any other reason than to “not get fat.” I’ve always said I would get back into skating. But, there has never been any reason for me to so I just let it go.

Then I discovered what they call “freestyle slalom” skating. The basic idea is to skate along a line of evenly spaced cones, doing footwork, without hitting any. Sure I’d seen this before skating in Philly, or at Central Park, but this new variety I found focused significantly more on style, as opposed to just going down the line as fast as you can. This new focus on style is not so new to me. From when I was a kid skating in high school, I always watched my feet and legs making sure my movements were as fluid as I could get them. This new stylish slalom was appealing to me.

I was immediately hooked, and my best friend, that’s me, and I planned to practice this style of skating and get good at it. Yeah, really really good at it. That’s where this blog comes from. Here you’ll find entries along with videos detailing our experiences with freestyle slalom. I’m hoping that this site will inspire others to try slalom. It’s definitely something that all skaters should try at least once. We’ll try it over and over, uploading and posting all that we can to document our progress and our story.

Check out the videos page to see our first practice session.

Also, check out Universkate.com’s videos to get an idea of the stuff we want to learn.