Do People Still Rollerblade? [Past and Present of Inline Skating]

Rollerblading, the fastest growing and most popular sport in the ’90s is an enjoyable game that is full of fun and energy. It helps to boost up your stamina and helps you amazingly with your fitness. 

But at present, the young generation of the US are busy with their phones and laptops. They are browsing the internet for fun and not giving enough importance to their fitness. So, the sport lost its past glory and became less popular before the pandemic situation. But now when the whole world is locked down inside home, inline skating is again becoming popular among the youngsters!

So, if you are thinking about “ do people still rollerblade or not?”, let us help you to get the answer.

Birth of Rollerblading

Rollerblading or inline skating has a long long history. It has rise and fall in its journey in the world of sports. Let’s see some important events in the history of rollerblading:

• Most probably inline skating originated in Scandinavia or Northern Europe.  They used to call themselvesSteelers’. During the winter they skated on frozen canals.
• The first-ever stage performance with rollerblades was in 1743. But many details are not known about this event
• The first-ever evidence of official inline skates is found from 1760’s London. Merlin designed the first-ever roller skates but these skates lacked wheels.
• Roller skates made their appearance on the ballet stage for the first time in Berlin in 1818
• Throughout the 19th century, inventors continued to improve the design of rollerblades 
• Finally, Scott and Olson formed the company Rollerblade and their skates became so popular that the sport itself started to be known as rollerblading instead of inline skating 

When did Rollerblading Become popular?

When the Rollerblades by Scott and Olson were in the market for the first time, hockey players were searching for a way to practice the game in summer. The company started to produce hockey boots with polyurethane wheels and it became very popular among hockey lovers.

Most importantly the company started to apply beautiful marketing strategies, such as selling skates with a 5-day money-back guarantee, selling different category of skates for women and kids, marketing campaigns with multi-colored skates, etc. With these strategies, soon inline skates started to be seen on the roads of the US. 

The popularity of rollerblading seemed unstoppable at that time. Almost every family used rollerblades. It was more like an everyday duty than a sport. During the 90s, rollerblading was at its peak. 

When Did Rollerblading Stop Being popular?

Rollerblading remained the most popular game in the US and other nearby countries for a long time during the 80s and 90s. But by the starting of the new century, it started to fall and lost its popularity rapidly. It became almost impossible to imagine for the kids born after 2000 that once this game was played by more than 20 million Americans every day.

So when and why did actually rollerblading stop being cool? Why did the coolest everyday sport for many die out? There are some possible reasons behind this-

• The difficulty of inline skating may be one of the biggest reasons. It’s easy to dream that you are skating, easy to tie up rollerblades. But standing up and moving on with a pair of skates is not that easy
• The potential risk in inline skating makes it scary for some newbies. Moreover, moms don’t wanna let their kids go out with skates and get injured.
• Nowadays kids are more interested in social media and gaming. And so they are not that much interested in real-life sports. And when the sport is rollerblading, a comparatively tougher one, the rate of interest goes down gradually.

Is Rollerblading Becoming Popular Again?

Actually, a sport can not just die out completely within a decade. Rollerblading was just becoming less popular day by day. But the interesting fact for you here is that the sport is making its come back in a really cool way during this pandemic!

 Again, it’s thanks to social media. Many people who have started roller skating in this pandemic situation have said that they were inspired by videos on social media. You know, Roller skating videos are really fun and cool!

The continuous lockdown in the US, made everyone bored, so people started searching for new fun activities. And what can be more fun than rollerblading?

Not only in the US but also many other countries have found rollerblading newly in this lockdown. Let me tell you a fun fact, in Karachi, Pakistan, there is a 20 members police unit where all the members can skate. They learn shooting and catching bad guys with a pair of skates. Pretty cool right?

Again, the comeback of rollerblading is happening, and it’s clearly visible in many parts of the world. For example, in the forest park, the Steinberg skating rink is open this summer. Some people are referring to this come back as the renaissance of rollerblading!

Why Should You Take Up Rollerlading Now?

If you are looking for some motivations to take up rollerblading, then let us convince you and let us inform you of the most important benefits of rollerblading.

• The one simple reason can be that Rollerblading has made its comeback and now it will look cool for you to skate! After all the years, people are still rollerblading, so there is nothing to lose for you!
• If you are trying to find a solid reason, what can be more convincing for you than the health benefits of rollerblading? It’s one of those games that helps you to tone up your body.
• Rollerblading can help you to burn 300 calories in an hour! (Source: https://www.realsimple.com/health/fitness-exercise/workouts/benefits-of-rollerblading)
• Exercising is pretty boring, but rollerblading is fun!
• In this lockdown, rollerblading can help you to make new friends and new circles. 
• I have mentioned before that rollerblading is not that easy, but let me tell you its not that tough too. You can learn rollerblading very fast if you try to learn dedicatedly.
• Rollerblades are not as expensive as the bikes are!
• Rollerblading can help you to improve your muscles and posture. It can also help you to be balanced.
• The amazing fact about rollerblading is that this game can really help you to relieve your stress and fight depression. It’s great for mental health.

Want to learn about more skating benefits? here is another article.

Reasons to Start Inline Skating

How To start Rollerblading as a Newbie?

So if you are convinced enough, now you need to know what should be your steps to start rollerblading. Here is what we suggest-

• At first watch some videos of rollerblading and get some preliminary ideas
• Read some blogs, articles to know more about rollerblading and rollerblades
• Get the idea about the cost of inline skates.
• Talk with someone who knows rollerblading 
• Buy a pair of branded skates.
• Learn about the safety issues.
• Start skating with someone skilled.

Last Words

This amazing sport, rollerblading does not deserve to die out. So, you should start skating as soon as possible and enjoy the game.

Hope that we have quenched your thirst to know the answer to the question “Do people still rollerblade?” 

Yes, they do. And the number of skate lovers is increasing every day. So don’t be late.

Best of luck in your rollerblading journey!