Highly addictive, highly exciting, and a high adrenaline rush. Who said smoking or taking drugs was good in the first place anyway :P Replace it with skating, you'll still get the same feeling, cept that it's a much healthier activity.
I don't know whether the government GL or Singaporeans complain too much. Wherever we hang out and skate, there are all the 'no skating' signs erected. Welcome foreign talent..., why not breed local talent? I don't know what's the logic behind all this anyway. Sheesh! It doesn't make any sense at all. Sooner or later, we'll also be banned street skating if this continues. Want ban us from public property also build more skate rinks or something lah!~ The small rink at ECP has too small a capacity to hold the increasing number of skaters.
Taken from: http://www.todayonline.com/articles/136588.asp
| PLEASE TAKE US SERIOUSLY, SKATES AND ALL Wednesday � August 16, 2006 Li Jiexun isay I HAVE been skating for a fairly long time. I started when skating was looked upon as a "punk" sport and associated with ah bengs. It would seem that this stereotype has not changed with time. While the sport has evolved much, inline skaters today are still branded with this stigma. There are examples of this stereotyping everywhere. When I skate along Orchard Road past certain shopping centres, the security guards will yell out to me as if I were a vandal, even though I have no intention of entering the building. I am pretty sure the staff would have detained me or even called the police if I so much as strayed near the door. People are biased against us even when they acknowledge us. I am part of the official skating club in my school. And yet, we are not allowed to skate on school grounds save for an unused court and a small slip road. Recently, we have been told that the court might not be available to us after it is renovated. I have encountered police officers who were informed by the public that there were "troublemakers" in the vicinity, when I was simply practising skating with a group of friends. These three examples are but the tip of the iceberg. Is this sort of prejudice called for? It is difficult to be a skater, and even more difficult as an advanced skater. There are many disciplines of skating that people are unaware of. For example, figure skating � which is similar to ice figure skating; freestyle and speed slalom; speed skating; freestyle skating and aggressive skating. But there is a lack of locations where advanced skaters can practise the sport. There is only one skating rink at East Coast Park but when we try to practise there, we find that it has been marked out as a beginners' corner by the National Parks Board. This is also the case for many places where I have been. Every time skaters find a suitable location to practise, the authorities step in and clamp down on us, erecting "no skating" signs in the area. I have found the reason for this is that, due a lack of understanding on the part of the public and the authorities, all skaters are branded as aggressive skaters. We have seen the skaters at the Youth Park do grinds and jumps, and a lot of people therefore have the misconception that these dangerous stunts are all skaters ever do � and that we will damage private and public property. That is untrue. Responsible skaters � aggressive ones or otherwise � will never seek to damage property. There are also some who think that the skate wheels will damage the floor simply by skating over it. The wheels are made of polyurethane � a form of rubber. It doesn't take much to realise that it is impossible for rubber wheels to damage marble or granite floors. Yes, there are inline skaters who do not skate responsibly. They zip around dangerously, disregarding the safety of others and themselves. Such black sheep do exist, but the rest of the skating community shouldn't be punished for the mistakes of a few. Changes are happening but they are small and progress is slow. Skating is now part of the Safra Runway event held at Paya Lebar Air Base. Samsung has supported the sport by organising a skating challenge last year and this year at the Padang, and MediaCorp Radio 987FM has held a midnight skate successfully along Orchard Road. Cities such as Munich, London and Paris, however, have been holding such mass skating events almost on a weekly basis and the number of skaters such events attract can sometimes be in the thousands. Speed skating, slalom, figure and aggressive skating have international competitions not unlike the Olympics and the World Cyber Games. Given the chance and more places to practise, I am sure we have skaters in Singapore who can do our country proud at these international events. South Korea and China have managed to achieve great heights in many disciplines of skating in a relatively short time, and I am sure Singapore has no lack of talent. What I hope is that the public and the authorities can be more understanding and see the sport for what it really is, and not just what they believe it is. And I implore all skaters to be responsible in order to vindicate us, and show that inline skating is a sport that is neither destructive nor disruptive. This is contributed by a reader. | ||
| Copyright MediaCorp Press Ltd. All rights reserved. | ||
As the heading of the article states, "Please Take us Seriously, Skates and All". Indeed, please take us, skaters, seriously. I get quite annoyed at times and feel like printing a million copies of that article and paste it all over Singapore. If that still doesn't get into their head that skating is a good sport, i'm speechless. Heads down for being too dumb and narrow-minded to think.
Alright, another skate skate day. Lol. K, some of you guys are gonna yell and ask me to stop being obsessed with my skating. That's too bad for you guys :P Endure, hopefully someday you guys will understand when you try it out. The feeling and satisfaction is undescribable. ;)
Hanged around Esplanade Park, Cenotaph, as usual. Stupid no skating sign is up there. Some losers complain. Are Singaporeans that talented in complaining? My God! Spare me the torture man!
When it started getting dark, we headed for drinks. Refreshing! Then, started to drizzle. Lucky there's the underpass. Rain or shine, it's skatable. And yet again, we skaters are banned from skating there. -.-'''
Practising my basics and trying to master them really really well. Good luck to all dear skate enthusiasts. Keep the passion strong and burning, we'll prove it someday! =)
