Young Wrexham

Roller Sports

Roller sports may include artistic skating, speed skating, roller and inline hockey, roller derby, recreational roller skating including roller disco skating, skateboarding and roller soccer.

Skateboarding

• Skateboarding in the road can be extremely dangerous and is often against the law
• Make sure you wear protection - especially on your head - when skating, and not only when you're a beginner - the better you become at skateboarding, the worse the falls get!
• Skateboarding is a fun activity which is both a hobby and a competitive sport
• Skateboarding is rolling on or interacting with a skateboard
• Someone who skateboards is called a 'skater'
• Skateboarding is both an extreme sport and an art form, because of its creative aspects - skaters learn to do 'tricks' on their skateboards
• The vast majority of skateboarders in the world are under 18 - it is generally a sport for young people
• Skateboarding has grown rapidly in popularity in Wales, particularly in South Wales
• A good skateboard, trucks, wheels and bearings cost around £120. The deck usually needs to be replaced every six weeks - depending on how often you skate - wheels and bearings every two to three months and trucks every year
• Skate trainers may cost between £40 and £90 - using the wrong trainers can damage your feet. Skate shoes need to be replaced if you skate regularly
• As it is quite expensive, if you are just trying skate boarding out, it is advisable to buy a cheaper or second-hand board and shoes from a local skate shop in case you don't like it

Roller skating

• Roller skating (or roller blading) is moving on smooth surfaces on roller skates - it is done for recreation or as a sport
• It can also be done as a form of transportation
• There are two types of skates: quad skates and inline skates
• Quad skates have four wheels - these may be used, for example, for recreational roller skating ie, in the park and roller disco's, or for competitive roller skating such as artistic skating, quad hockey, roller derby or speed skating
• Inline skates have three, four or five wheels arranged in a single line and can also be used for recreational roller skating or for competitive roller skating such as artistic and figure skating, inline hockey, with both puck and ball and speed skating

Speed skating

• Inline speed skating is a fast, popular and competitive kind of roller skating
• It may take place on an indoor rink or on roads
• There are different events in competitive speed skating, including distance speed skating (the marathon for example), sprints and individual and team time trials

Artistic roller skating

• Artistic roller skating is a series of roller skating events in which participants make figures, dance or free skate as part of a skating performance in front of judges, either in teams or solo
• Skaters use either quad or inline skates, but these two types of skaters usually compete in different events

Roller derby

• Roller derby is a full-contact women’s sport played on quad roller skates, by players skating around an oval-shaped track. The game consists of a series of two-minute countdown jams
• Roller derby is administered in the United Kingdom by the UK Roller Derby Association
• The Tiger Bay Brawlers (TBB) are a roller derby league based in Cardiff, Wales. They have established a junior roller derby league (The Tiger Cubs) which trains for one hour a week on a Wednesday in Cardiff