Aggressive Skating

Planet news and information about aggressive skating, listed in reverse order or publication:

Aggressive Skaters Form New League
A new league is grinding to life with the goal of drawing more young people to aggressive skating. The Amateur Inline League plans four events this year, including a championship Nov. 4th. Events will be at Woodward West extreme sports camp in California. Organizers also plan a series of U.S. seminars. "We want to promote aggressive rollerblading in a positive manner," said skate pro Richie Velasquez. (Go to more info.) (March 16, 2006)

New Site Appears for Aggressive Skaters - Aggressive skaters have a lively new web site devoted to their sport: Rollernews. Its creator, David Durrenberger, describes the site as "a rollerblading online magazine." It's loaded with hardware news, videos, photos, gossip and more. It's updated daily and has a lively forum. If you skate aggressive, check it out! (Go to Rollernews.) (Jan. 18, 2006)

Rollerblade Drops Pro Aggressive Team; Adds National, Regional Teams - Rollerblade says it's not turning its back on aggressive skating — just changing its strategy. With few big aggressive events left these days, it is replacing its salaried TRS team with a 10-member national and 50-member regional team. (Go to Planet story.) (Dec. 20, 2005

10,000 Attend Opening of Shanghai Skate Park - A crowd of 10,000 gathered in Shanghai, China, yesterday for the opening of what the city says is the world's largest skate park. On hand to entertain the crowd were 40 extreme sports stars, including aggressive skaters Eito and Takeshi Yasutoko from Japan. The skate park is a 12,000-square-meter complex of bowls, banks and rails. It cost $12.35 million to build. The company licensed to manage it plans to use it to host international extreme sports competitions. (Go to brief story from the Shanghai Daily.) (Oct. 7, 2005)

Grinders Peel Off Protective Gear (and Then Some) for London Tabloid - The Sun has hit upon a unique strategy for getting young women to disrobe for its cameras: "Take off your knickers, and we'll publicize your event." ... Its latest photo story, titled "Get your skates on," features five top aggressive skaters, including Jenna Downing (above) and Fabiola da Silva, getting their clothes off. The feature serves as an advance for the LG Action Sports World Championships (Oct. 21-23) in London. (Go to the Sun. Caution: includes several semi-nude photos.) (Oct. 5, 2005)

New Extreme Sports League Prepares for Launch This Fall - Extreme skaters will have their own national championships next year under a plan announced today by the newly formed National Extreme Sports League (NXL). The Georgia-based league is organizing competitions for aggressive inline skaters, skateboarders and BMX bikers. It plans a 10-week series of events this fall and next spring, leading to an NXL Nationals. The league says it was inspired in part by interest expressed by the International Olympic Committee, although it does not elaborate. It is financed by the Gray Capital Partners private equity firm. (Here's the NXL press release.) (Aug. 4, 2005)

Rollerblade Stunt Skater Was Skating Downhill Backwards When Fatally Injured - Rich Taylor was playing a game of chicken with two friends last August when he was killed in his hometown in Wales, his friends said Wednesday at an inquest. The object of the game was to see who could roll the furthest down a steep hill skating backwards. Taylor, 23, was in the lead when he jumped aside to avoid a car. One of his skates clipped a curb and sent him flying into a concrete lamp post. Taylor, who was not wearing a helmet, fractured his skull and broke both of his legs. He died later in a hospital. Taylor was a champion stunt skater and a member of Rollerblade's aggressive team. (Here's icWales' inquest story.) (May 5, 2005)

Aggressive Skaters Form International Federation To Promote Their Sport - Aggressive skaters finally have an international organization to promote their sport. The new group is called the International Inline Stunt Federation. It was formed this weekend by skaters and promoters meeting in Tehachapi, Calif. (Here's the Planet story!) (March 6, 2005)

Inline Skating Is Reportedly Being Axed from the X Games - Inline skating has slowly been disappearing from ESPN's X Games. Back in the mid-1990s, the televised spectacle of extreme sports included four inline events. But the number was halved in 1999 and halved again last year, leaving only one inline event: inline vert, with the men and women (actually, there was only one woman) combined. ... Well, reportedly this year, for the first time ever, the X Games will have NO inline events. (Here's the Planet story!) (March 3, 2005)

Aggressive Tricks, Moves and Stunts ... The grind, spin, crosswalk, pornstar and many more aggressive skate moves are all explained here.