West Skate day, organized by the Rotaract Club of Colombo West happened on the 8^th of August 2017 from 4.30 PM onwards at Viharamahadevi Park, Colombo. It was a really fun evening being with friends and also it was my first time inline skating experience.

I’ve always wanted to try inline skating out, so I gave it a try even though I had practically no skating experience at all.  We had our knee-pads and skating shoes being fitted for us. With the shoes strapped on, I could not even flex my feet. Putting on the shoes was daunting enough. Trying to move around was another thing itself! I could get up fine enough, but up to that point, I did not know how to move forward! I’ve never skated before, so naturally my balance was awful and I had basically no idea what I was doing. There were lots of other newbies there so I suppose it wasn’t too bad.

Fellow Rotaractors helped each other to keep the balance and instructors patiently coached us the basics of skating. At first, when you skate, you will just concentrate on not dying. You won’t be able to relax on skates until you have convinced your brain that you have enough skill to keep it alive. As a complete beginner, you are going to feel like you are falling, and you will fall all the time. And remember the first rule of falling: Never, ever grab onto another skater :p

It was fun and exciting. We; SLIIT Rotaractors had a really good time and thank you for giving us the best experience in learning the art of rollerblading.

Written by-

Rtr. Dilini De Silva

Co-Editor 2017-18