Interview with Slalom Steve

Q: When did you first start skating?

A: Like a lot of people I was a quad skater originally. Of course, back then they were called roller skates and were a metal frame that you attached to your shoes. My first pair of inlines were purchased in 1996 but I didn't get into skating properly until a year or so later and only became a serious skater in 2000 after getting hooked on the BettyBlade streetskate (the original name of the London Skate).

Q: What made you start slaloming, and since then what do you feel has turned you into such a dedicated conehead?

A: Kensington Gardens used to be my favourite place to skate because it was generally a lot quieter than Hyde Park and you had much more space to practice. At that time there was a lot of slalom on the Broad Walk and the skill of those guys really impressed me. For a long time I had a secret desire to give the cones a try but never felt my skating ability was up to it. It wasn't until the early summer of 2001 while taking a break from hockey at the Albert Memorial that I put a few cups in a line and had a go. I was instantly hooked.

Slalom is almost like a drug and is one of the few skating disciplines where you get an instant reward for your efforts. There is no other branch of skating where you can quantify you ability quite so easily. You might start off managing to clear two cups doing backwards snake and by the end of the day be clearing the whole lot - instant feedback.

Another good reason to do slalom is because it's so popular with the tourists. Everyone who gets seriously into slalom is a bit of an exhibitionist and hearing someone in the crowd say "wow" is definitely part of the appeal. I'd certainly recommend everyone serious about their skating spends a bit of time on the cones. It definitely gives you much greater edge confidence as the cups force you to do things slightly beyond your ability which is the only way to improve your skating.

Q: Which are your favourite skates, and why?

A: I absolutely love my Mission hockey skates. They are in fact the only skates I've had any kind of affection for. All the others have bugged me in some way, either because the colour was wrong or they didn't feel particularly comfortable. They were purchased when my interest in hockey was growing and they were bought for that reason alone.

It was my intention to continue using my rec skates for the street but the Missions felt so good to ride in that they became the skate of choice for every activity. They are ideal for slalom and freestyle because of the short wheelbase and are now extremely comfortable and with very little ankle restriction. On the street they are also pretty quick so no problem there either. My next pair of skates will definitely be Missions, but not until my current skates become so worn they are unusable.

Q: How many pairs of skates do you currently own, and what skates have you owned in the past that stand out in your memory?

A: I think the count is eight pairs at the moment. Let's go through them:

1. Plastic aggressives. Got me started but were completely unsuitable.
2. K2 Carbons. Plastic chassis and restrictive cuff so were soon discarded.
3. Salomon TR10. Awful colour and also had annoying problem where the tongue would get "sucked" to one side inside the boot after a few strides.
4. Mission Proto V. Best skates I have used. Love them.
5. Bauer ice skates. Still use these but not particularly comfortable.
6. Salomon Crossmax. Got these purely for teaching but they are not comfortable and the most restrictive skates I have used.
7. Mission Proto V - Bought these cheap second hand as a backup for my main skates or for when it's raining.
8. Mission Amp 3 - These have since become my primary ice skates and are much more comfortable then my Bauers.

The only ones that stand out fondly in my memory are the Missions. All the others I could quite happily burn for one reason or another.

Q: What's your stand on helmets and protective gear?

A: Wearing full protection is by far the sensible option especially in an unpredictable environment like the street. All skaters fall over from time to time and you have to expect the worst. As an instructor I have to advocate the use of protection and urge people to wear it at all times while skating.

I'm also a believer in individual choice and personal accountability. Skating is supposed to be a fun activity and to a lot of people that means feeling free and unrestricted. I much prefer skating without protection and at the moment always choose to do so. Occasionally when there is a nasty accident I feel an urge to wear some of it (usually knee pads) but once the memory of the incident fades my false sense of invulnerability returns and the protective gear once again becomes resigned to a dusty corner of my wardrobe.

Although I'm often rather blasé about the use of protection, deep down I know it's a potentially dangerous attitude. There is a chance that one day I'll regret not wearing protective gear and the consequences could be very serious and even life-altering. There will be no need for people to say "I told you so" because I will have already said "I told myself so" before anyone gets the chance. People should be made aware of the dangers of skating but ultimately be left to make their own choice.

Q: When slaloming, which would you choose, and why? Trick or speed?

A: The first set of "slalom dots" to appear on Serpentine Road were designed for a speed course. For about a year this was what I was most interested in. Recently I've become more interested in a course with tighter cone spacing. You can still get the same challenge of the speed course but without the need to go quite so fast. With the shorter spacing you can also do freestyle slalom. I'm not particularly interested in learning a hundred or so grapevine variations but it's good to have a go at some of the slower fancy footwork. At the moment I'm concentrating on improving things like backwards snake and backwards one foot over short spaced cones. It's probably classified as speed slalom but due to the space between the cones you can't go like an express train.

Q: How many hours a week do you generally skate, and where?

A: It really depends on the time of year. In the winter I usually spend about six hours skating on both Saturday and Sunday. Add to this the odd bit of street skating and evening "tarting" at Trafalgar square and the odd bit of ice skating and it amounts to around 15 to 20 hours. In the summer it's possible to skate for a couple of hours each evening at Hyde Park and the conditions are usually much better at weekends so the average would increase to around 30 hours. The most I've ever skated in one week has been 45 hours some time back in the middle of July.

Q: For the majority of our readers who are not from the UK, what exactly is "tarting"?

A: This is a term that has come into existence fairly recently. Amongst our community it means generally ambling around on your own practicing tricks and trying out new moves. It began life as a slightly derogatory remark, usually aimed at the people who stayed in the park rather than going on the street skate. Now it's become a "legitimate" past time.

Q: You give quite a lot back to skating, especially through the free lessons at the London Skate as part of skatefresh. That's very generous! What influenced you to do this?

(skatefresh is one of the bigger and more successful skate schools in London.  Their instructors are well known and liked in Hyde Park, and are an active part of the skate community here).

A: Thanks. Doing the free lessons on Wednesdays has been as much benefit for me as those who took park. It was where I got a lot of my experience especially handling large classes. All the members of skatefresh have a great attitude towards the community as a whole. This is going to sound like a bit of a plug for the skate school but we are all far more interested in getting people into the sport and enjoying themselves than into making money. Of course the financial rewards are good but no more so than seeing someone progress and have fun.

In fairness, all skaters benefit from each other and the community at Hyde Park is one of the most friendly and welcoming I have ever known. Almost everyone who regularly visits Hyde Park is more than happy to give up their time and help someone improve their technique or learn a new trick. The amount I have given back to the community is probably no more than what a lot of other people have done. Skate Patrol is a good example of how willing everyone is to give up their time for the sport they love.

Q: How did you come to join skatefresh skate school?

A: The day after completing my ICP level one course I received a phone call from Jonathan (skatefresh co-director) asking if I'd be interested in joining the team. Naomi and I had planned to set up something between us but the offer of joining an established school such as skatefresh was too good to turn down. Not only did they have a very good reputation but it was also a good opportunity to benefit from the wealth of experience both Asha and Jonathan had acquired over the three years they had been operating. They were both very generous and I'll always be grateful for giving me the opportunity to work with them.

Q: What's your daytime job, and why do so many skaters seem to be PC heads?

A: My full time job is in IT and currently working on designing and implementing user interfaces. Sitting on my backside in front of the computer screen is not the healthiest of activities and doesn't allow me much interaction with the three-dimensional world. The last thing I want to do after work is sit in front of a TV; doing something less sedentary has to be a benefit. There is also a great social life to be had in Hyde Park and a perfect place for us geeky hermits to meet people. Although that last sentence was not meant to be 100% serious, it's probably not that far of the truth for a lot of people.

Q: What do you enjoy most about teaching?

A: As I mentioned above, my full time job is in the IT industry and provides me with more than enough financial support. My teaching is done primarily for the enjoyment I get from it and the monetary rewards come second place. Giving a lesson to an absolute beginner is by far the most enjoyable. Seeing them go from complete Gumbie - to use a technical term - to someone who can get around and avoid obstacles gives you a nice feeling. By far the greatest pleasure comes from giving the free lessons on the London Skate. Because it's so informal and nobody is paying for anything you can have a lot more fun. It can get a bit chaotic when the classes get really large and so you have to teach things in a far less structures and more informal manner.

Q: You're the infamous webmaster of SerpentineRoad.com, the site known for its humorous abuse of fellow skaters on the Serpentine Road in Hyde Park. How and why did you start this site?

A: I'm not sure where the idea came from. It was partly designed to keep Mykel (ex Skate Patrol director) up to date on what was happening in Hyde Park while she was in Costa Rica. The skating community did have a kind of soap opera feel so doing a bit of an East Enders spoof (with the opening credits of the revolving map of the central London and the Thames replaces by Hyde Park and the Serpentine) felt right. Since then it has evolved a little into the newspaper look but is about to go through a redesign.

It's so good that nobody took offence at the web site and saw that there was no malicious intent. We can all poke fun at each other and so nobody takes it personally. The web site was also a way of formally identifying the rather unique little community we have and hopefully giving outsiders an accurate insight into the goings on within the group. It also gives skaters something to aspire to. Let's be honest, if you haven't appeared on SerpentineRoad.com then you haven't really made it in the London skating world.