The Aging Blader: by Casey Geraghty

As found at ONE Rollerblading Magazine I’m 27 years old. For blading, that’s a dinosaur. Part of the reason we don’t see very many old bladers is due to the fact that our sport is so young. There are only a hand-full of bladers who still shred into their 30s. Hopefully that’s a trend that will end as the current era of pros gets older. I’d like to not only see people blading into their 30s, but blading better than ever. There’s no reason we can’t continue to progress as we age. I just recently got some new blades (Valo black and wines). As we all know, seeing that UPS box at your door when you get home is one of the most boner-inducing moments. I was super pumped to go shred, but when I started skating I was disappointed. It wasn’t because I wasn’t used to the skates. It was because I sucked. Sure, I was able to do some of my go-to tricks, but I lacked that comfort and confidence that I was used to. I wrapped up that session feeling an overall malaise. It sucked. I sucked. For about a week after, I was convinced I was over the hill. “I’m just too old,” I thought. “I better buckle down and buy some khakis, cuz that’s it for me.” The truth is, I just hadn’t skated all winter. I didn’t suck because I was too old. I sucked because I sucked. It had been a long winter and I hadn’t gotten my sea legs back. I continued to blade every day, mostly at a local concrete park. One day it just clicked, not only did I have that comfort and confidence back, but now I was actually learning new things again. If we as aging bladers continue to do what we love, we’ll be able to do it for as long as we want. Of course grown-up shit like work and relationships will enter into the equation, but that doesn’t mean we need to neglect doing what we love to do. I know I’m going to keep trying to learn new tricks, film new clips and hold off buying those khakis for as long as possible.