MANY Saudi young men are mad about roller skating and the number of skating enthusiasts in the Kingdom is increasing everyday. Saudi Gazette recently had the opportunity to interview a skating team called ‘In Line' which has participated in many international competitions outside the Kingdom. Razi Tambosi, a 23-year-old member of the team said that the first time he practiced roller skating was about six years ago at the Jeddah Corniche, when he met some other young men who were heavily involved in the sport. From then on, he started to practice it every day. “I don't realize how time passes when I play this game, especially when I am by the seaside. Sometimes I practice from 5 P.M. to 3 A.M,” said Razi. He explains that roller skating can be of two types: the first one called ‘fitness' consists of skating on four rollers, which has to be practiced for a long time to achieve perfection. The second kind is called ‘Aggressive', which is played on two rollers, and is more difficult than ‘fitness' because one has to practice it on pipes and places with sharp edges. According to Razi, he finds the ‘Aggressive' skating more interesting than ‘Fitness' because he can invent many movements and doesn't get bored of it even after a long time. “After practicing ‘Fitness' for a year and a half, I practiced the ‘Aggressive' skating method. After that our team, which comprises seven youngsters, participated in a big competition in Kuwait and Dubai and we achieved a good ranking in the Gulf region,” Razi said. There are a lot of talented young men in the Kingdom who are roller skating experts, especially in the Eastern province, which is considered the first region to develop a talented team. Then come the groups from Al-Madina region and finally, at the third level are the groups from Jeddah. The average age at which youngsters start roller skating is between 12 and 28 years. Most players consider skating a private sport initially, since people can play it alone -- not like football or basketball which require a team. “Roller skating ranks fourth among the top ten most dangerous games. It isn't like football or basketball where the team works together, in skating a lot depends on individual skills and practice,” said Razi. Talat Subbahi, a civil engineer and one of the senior practitioners of this sport in Jeddah said that this sport had started to enter the business world ten years ago, when some young men distributed brochures on the streets to promote the sport. “After working at the street-level, many companies which make products like Red Bull, Bison, Nokia and Close-Up made offers to us to help them advertise their products with the help of Aggressive skating which has achieved successful results,” said Subbahi. Subbahi works as an engineer and as a part-time trainer for skating enthusiasts. “We get original, strong skates from Canada which are light and flexible. The costs of these skates start from SR800 to SR1200, depending upon their specifications,” he says. Subbahi estimates that he knew 600 players around three years ago in Jeddah alone, and the numbers of players is growing by the day. About the injuries which players may get from skating, Ala`a Ghazali, an 18-year-old said that although he has received many injuries from skating, he can't stop playing even though his parents always ask him to stop. “When I used to distribute brochures at traffic signals earlier, I used to get into trouble with people and sometimes even the police, who misunderstood what I was doing. Nowadays, people are a lot more accepting of the sport when we play outdoors,” said Ghazali. Ghazali said his dream was to set up a special club for this sport as well as other sports where his team could play in a secure and comfortable place without any disturbances from policemen and passers-by. “We have sent many letters to officials in charge of youth affairs for over three years, explaining how much we need to build a private club for skating to play freely, like other sports clubs, but they don't understand the importance of this sport for us,” said Ghazali. “After getting many prizes in competitions outside the Kingdom, I think we should have a skating park designed by engineer Talat Subbahi, which will host International competitions and let other teams from outside the Kingdom come to Saudi Arabia,” said Ghazali. Khalid Al-Hussein, the media department director of general presidency for youth care welcomes the idea and says, “We will accept if the Saudi players bring a proposal for the project and build them such a hall inside Al-Ahli Club and Al-Ettihad Club. However, they have to bring us the name of the person who will be selected as being responsible for this sport. They should also give us a study about the sport, including the number of players in Jeddah region, the space where they will practice it and the infrastructure they need,” said Al-Hussein.
