Inline skates are an evolution of roller skates, which resulted in the wheels shifting into a single line formation of 3-5 wheels on each boot.

Like skateboarding, inline skating is a form of extreme sports with skaters referring to their sport as aggressive inline skating, which has seen the addition of tricks and flips into a skaters repertoire.

Aggressive inline skating can involve a number of different locations such as vertical skating in half pipes, skating in specially designed skate parks and street skating. With each different environment comes a different set of skills from the skaters and technical requirements from the inline skates themselves.

Street skaters use their surrounding environment and the features of buildings, parks and street furniture to perform their tricks, and can involve a lot of grinding along railings. Skaters who visit specifically designed skate parks can find all the features that a street skater would look for in one place as well as half pipes and quarter pipes, which have been designed with the demands of their sport in mind and without the risk of hitting pedestrians. Vert skaters focuses on skating within a half pipe and demands the ability to perform complex aerial manoeuvres to become successful within this branch of the extreme sport.

Aggressive inline skating once featured in the X Games but since 2005 it has not been a part of this competition, but the popularity of the sport continues to grow as does the technical abilities and skills of the skaters.

The skates themselves are comprised from a cuff, a shell with an inner liner, a soul plate, which has the frame attached to it. The frame acts as the chassis for the wheels of the skate. Like with the skateboard as the popularity of the sport has increased the skate itself has developed technically, with materials being manufactured which are lightweight but strong enough to support and protect the skater’s feet and ankles. Likewise wheels have developed to result in wheel sets which are optimised for hardness, durability and size.

Inline skating continues to be a popular extreme sport, and as the wheels are fixed to the boot the skater has the ability to perform some tricks which traditional skateboarders struggle to achieve such as some of the more technically demanding aerial tricks.

So strap on a pair of inline skates and take to the streets.

Post by Kuba

Aloha! My name is Kuba (17) from Poland. I love adventures and extreme sports. My passion is aviation, and at the moment I'm doing gliding. Travel and blogging fill the rest of my time. I decided to launch Extreemblog to share my passion with you, guys!

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