2-year-olds thrill crowd with skating skills in Kaduna

Roller skating is the traveling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a form of recreational activity as well as a sport and can also be a form of transportation. In America, this hobby was most popular first between 1935 and the early 1960s. In Kaduna however, roller skating as a recreational activity started in […]

Roller skating is the traveling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a form of recreational activity as well as a sport and can also be a form of transportation. In America, this hobby was most popular first between 1935 and the early 1960s.

In Kaduna however, roller skating as a recreational activity started in 2008 after a group of young men observed children skating on the streets in most cities. Impressed by what they saw, these youngsters decided to form an association where skaters, especially the youth, enhance their skills in skating.

They also felt it was a way of promoting peaceful coexistence by diverting the attention of youth from drug abuse and other forms of criminality.

Today, the four skaters associations which include Kaduna Sky Skaters, United Kaduna Skaters, Zazzau Skaters, Zaria and Golden Skaters have well over 200 members, 50 of whom are children, and have won quite a number of medals from National and International competitions.

Our correspondent who visited the famous Murtala Mohammed square where various sporting activities take place was amazed to see children as young as 2 years old, gliding on skates while on-looker cheered them on.

Some of the children like Raiyan (5), Sadiq (6) and Hajara (7) amongst others have various skills, including speed skating, marathon, track event, slalom, speed slalom, battle slalom, high jump, long jump, ram jump and rack case that they have perfected in skating.

Vice President, Kaduna Association De Roller Sports popularly called KADROLLS, Mohammed Abubakar Ladan aka Mr. Mali, said, “A research conducted by the association discovered that the sport develops Cardiovascular and physical fitness; it also promotes balance and coordination because when practicing roller sports, you enhance a lot of things like brain track record and you skate on the wheel to fell more alive.

Asked at what age one can start roller skating, he said, “Roller skating has no age range, one can start skating at the age of two, and you can practice it even up to the age of 80. I remember in 2015 when the governor of the state, Malam Nasir El-rufai, celebrated the first independence day as the governor, we demonstrated and we had a skater called Raiyan, he was two-years-old. He glided perfectly on the wheel and captivated the attention of so many people.

“After that, many children joined the association and as I speak to you, we have over 50 children practicing. They use adjustable skates because all skates come with adjustable wheels so you can adjust it to their various sizes.”

On how they get the wheels for skating, he said, “Wheels for skating is one of the major challenges roller sports is facing in Kaduna and Nigerian at large. We do not have the company manufacturing the wheels in Nigeria, so we either have to buy substandard quality which are most of the ones we can find around or we wait for the used skates popularly called ‘Belgium used’.

“Roller sport has been given an international image. We’ve formalised it to be recognized by an international regulatory body which is the Federation International De Roller Sports (FIRS) and the Local Olympic Committee (LOC). A few of our members have been able to purchase the skate from online markets abroad, but they are quite expensive and not many members can afford them because the price range is from N20, 000 upwards for a single pair and if one is to buy the full gear including the helmet, the protective guard and so on, a skater will need about N35, 000 and this is what makes it impossible for the less privileged children, who form a major part of our association, to afford.”

On how long the skates lasts, he said the wheel is a permanent wheel because what you are practicing is a permanent skill, the wheel itself does not spoil, the boat too is well manufactured; the only thing that could depreciate are the tyres because of the gravity a skater generates when negotiating between himself and the floor and would require servicing from time to time.”

He explained that the wheel is safe for the children, saying if their sizes exceed the normal size of the wheel maybe from size 25 to size 27, they would have to change them because it will no longer be safe for them. On the motivation behind roller skating, he said, “Roller sports is quite motivational because it is a game of skills, you start by taking steps ascending, and the more you skate, the more you fall in love with the sport and that is why I said it develops cardiovascular health.

“One would start as a beginner with matching steps and some tactics and when you integrate, you will see other skate mates performing better and you become enthusiastic to see that you meet up with the level of their performances and because of that, the moment a skater learns something new, it becomes so thrilling and he would be willing to do more and the more you skate, the more one feels alive.”

Commenting on the good skills of a skater, he said, we created something called power box; the first thing is falling down and getting up which is part of any sport. The first training we put you through is safety and speed, because anything on wheel is about speed.

“We apply something called aerodynamic, which is for a skater to negotiate himself and the wing, from there we train a skater on how to arrive at his power box; a power box is a cycle around the two legs. When a skater is in motion, the first thing that comes to mind is when I push by the side with a leg, that leg that moves is called employ leg, while the other leg that is within the cycle around you is called power box and also called free leg, a skater keeps alternating the legs side by side, which we call scissors movement.

“We also have forward roll which is used when a skater arrives a valley and skating position is always on the toes not the heel, the only position for a skater to arrive on his heels is by squatting between your knees and your thighs and a skater will feel the balance in his power box.”

On how to apply the brakes when skating, he said, “We have different types of breaks which includ terrific stand, parallel, fake parallel, magic, full stop, and stop and power stop. We have 15 different types of brakes and whichever one is chosen depends on the type of danger that the skater is approaching. A skater can also use mohawk or spread eagle style to dodge approaching danger at any given time and within seconds, the skater can dodge anything that comes his way by spreading his legs.

He decried how Nigeria is lagging behind in international competitions due to lack of adequate skates and called on the government and well-meaning individuals to import the skates so that they can be affordable.

He added, “Kaduna skaters have been to two international competitions and six national competitions including the first West African Roller Skates championship in Togo in 2017. During that championship, Nigeria won five medals which include two gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal. Unfortunately, in that event, we registered junior athletes, the athlete that went for the competition had 110mm shoes as against the 125mm shoes used for the competition.”

“Even though we have international recognition, Nigeria is yet to recognize roller sports. We even had demonstrations to enlighten the government on the challenges the sport is facing and we thank God that Kaduna has recognized roller skating but is yet to facilitate the activities of the game.

“We don’t require money, all we need is the assistance in importing the skate so that we can buy them at affordable prices and keep the spirit of the game alive especially as the National Sports Festival in Abuja slated for November 2018 is around the corner.

At the Abuja Discovery 2016, which was sponsored by AIT, Kaduna won all the seven consolidation medals and all the gold medals. That was when Kaduna was named home of champions.”