It is with great sadness that Skatefresh has to say goodbye to Maya who is leaving London on the 13th October to start her new life in Austria with her man Mathias. 
Maya joined Skatefresh a few years ago after completing her ICP instructor course. (more…)
London 10th-12th September 2010 Congratulations to Nicolas Church (from London) and Johnny Grootaert (from Belgium) who both passed their ICP Level 2 Certification this weekend in London! The ICP Level 2 exam is designed for existing instructors who want to progress to a higher level of theoretical understanding and learn to teach intermediate skaters. The skating level necessary for Level 2 is a significant step above ICP Level 1 and both candidates worked hard at improving their skill base and making sure their demonstrations were accurate and consistent. (more…)
After my work with BBC’s Skate Nation last year, I seem to be the BBC’s contact for all things skate related. My latest project was on the set on CBBC’s ‘Sadie J’, a Hannah Montana-esque teenage show with a bit more real life thrown in. Sadie J’s character is played by Georgia, who on top of learning lines, rehearsing and having to study on set with tutors, now had to learn how to skate.
This summer Skatefresh are involved in an Arts Council funded project called Sound Currents in Walthamstow. This is the second year running Skatefresh has been contracted for this particular project. Children from 6-12 years from the borough have enrolled on the week long programs, learning and exploring a variety of different arts skills including inline skating, drumming, drama, singing, lyric writing, music technology and dance. Skatefresh is delivering a SkateDance project where the children learn to skate and then by the end of the week develop and perform a short skate dance routine.
31st July 2010 Brighton Beach: The morning’s weather didn’t look promising: wet ground, grey clouds and windy. But I had a positive feeling it would improve (aided by the BBC weather team having the same idea). And so it was. Glorious sunshine (again) for Skatefresh’s Birthday Brighton Beach Skate Day. 
The chance for Skatefresh to take a weekend off (all of us) and celebrate the love of skating we have and share this with all our friends and students (past and present). It was also fantastic to see Skatefresh instructor Louise (and James) on skates again after 16 months off since baby Alex arrived.
Goodwood Roller Marathon is a charity race around the historic Goodwood Motor Circuit. Organised by the Camberley Skaters, it is now the largest roller marathon in the UK. Which ever race you choose to enter you do not have to complete all the laps so why not set yourself a challenge, you may do more than you think! All skaters are welcome no matter what the level or style. It is a great day out and a perfect start if you are new to marathons. There is microchip timing of the laps as well as a medal for you to take home and keep. (more…)
So there you go then, first a trip to Les Mans, then a revitalisation of personal skating interest, then street skating AND THEN: Marshalling !!!!! Hell yeah!!!!! For many years I’ve wanted to give marshalling on the weekly Street Skates a go; post Les Mans I felt inspired to give it a try. So Wednesday 7th July saw me heading out in a yellow vest for the first time. I was told to shadow Ed and do as suggested by him and try not to lag behind (he’s quite fast). There were loads of us and the route, for a change, was heading north from the park which meant my baptism of fire was to be part of keeping the unruly masses in one lane as we progressed up Park Lane to Marble Arch and then up Edgeware Road. Really quickly I felt the limits of my ability: I couldn’t look behind me over my left shoulder only my right. I instantly had Asha’s voice in my ears: “Work on both sides, do more on your bad side.” Street skating shows up flaws really quickly and forces improvements in skating ability where just rolling around the park just doesn’t.
After a very intense and windy Saturday teaching in Brighton I headed to Eastbourne in the evening to join the skate events at Eastbourne’s Extreme festival, featuring multiple different skating disciplines, competitions, demonstrations, classes and fun. I had missed the slalom competitions on Saturday but came in time for the evening roller disco at the Redout fortress on Eastbourne seafront. I have no photos of that as I was so busy skating non-stop for the duration that it didn’t even enter my mind.
Friday: Day 1 At 5am on Friday morning, I hauled myself out of bed and directly to the shower and then to my rucksack, my snail style home for the next 4-5days…
You may have noticed the cyclical nature of many events in my life (Brazil in the winter, Amsterdam in April, Madrid in September….) and July is no exception. Every year in July I go to a large private party of some friends and enjoy a weekend of camping, doing shiatsu, dancing under sunshine and stars, connecting with old friends and making lots of new ones.
