Tampa Tribune News Article

"It's kind of hard to hand out our cards to people as we're skating by," he said.
To accommodate the wide range of skill levels, the groups organize several different weekly skates. One hosted by Bill Jackson's Shop for Adventure in Pinellas Park caters to beginners. The class is free and provides participants with skates and protective gear. The Road Rollers organize nighttime skates on Fridays and Saturdays, as well as large group skates at various sites on Tuesday evenings.
"We don't let anybody get too far behind us," Martin said. "We set a pace, so we're not going too fast. As long as you can skate and stop and hold the pace, you'r OK."

Fitting right in with the off-the-wall image of the sport are several themed skates.
"We're famous for our Boxer Rebellion, where everybody has to wear boxers," said 24-year-old Melissa Damel, a Bill Jackson employee and avid skater. "We also have a PJ night, where it's not unusual to see guys wearing next to nothing skating next to girls in lingerie."
It's also not unusual for skaters to have nicknames in their respective skating groups. After all, vocabulary is big part of the inline world. After a few skates, you pick up some of the basics. Traditional roller skates are called "quads," for the four wheels placed side-by-side. Using the term "rollerblading" is a no-no -- unless you're referring only to skating while wearing a pair of Rollerblade-brand skates.

     On a more technical level, daring skaters probably have "vert" skating -- high-flying tricks on a vertical ramp -- in their background.
     Besides nicknames, the Road Rollers boast some of their own lingo, too. "Perdiddle," for example, inexplicably refers to a vehicle with one headlight. During night skates, participants yell the word to caution other skaters in the group.
      Such safety precautions are a necessity for inline skaters, especially beginners. Helmets aren't required by law, but intermediate skaters strongly recommend them -- as well as wrist pads. And Tampa city ordinance requires each skaters to wear a light at night.
     All of which has helped to separate skaters from the image that follows other X-Games sports, such as skateboarding. Compared to the railsliding, property-destroying tricks of some skateboarders, inline skating seems tame.
     "We don't advocate the destroying of property, which is what skateboarders do," the Breeze said. "that is part of their sport -- grinding down property, sliding down rails, things like that."
    I love the sport of skateboarding, but it's totally different from inline skating.
     Local public officials agree.

     "What I see more of a problem with is the skateboarders," said Una Garvey, facilities manager for the city of Tampa. "They break up bricks and damage artwork. As far as the inline skaters, I don't hear any complaints about them."
     Perhaps the best evidence of that public acceptance came last month. Several local skating groups organized a campaign that effectively helped tweak the Clearwater city ordinance to allow inline skaters to skate along the sidewalk at Clearwater Beach.
     Since then, it has been smooth skating. The Breeze also partially credits that push for the future development of the Highway 60 Bridge from downtown Clearwater to Clearwater Beach into an extension of the Pinellas Trail, so inliners can skate across water.
     "We feel we had an impact on that," he said. "If we hadn't done the campaign, it makes us wonder if they would have done that. ... We figure we're right behind California [in development of inline skating], since this is a sport you can do year 'round.

Blane Bachelor covers
local sports for The Tampa Tribune