The starting signal
Hi, I’m Wladi, born in 1996. Sports have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.
As a SkaMiDan team rider, I’d like to share some insights into my athletic journey in the world of skating.
My first steps were on ice skates, back in Russia, where I grew up. During that time, I briefly joined an ice hockey club.
2005 – The move to Germany
In 2005, my parents moved with me to Germany. We had little savings and not much money, but luck was on our side.
On a curbside pickup, my parents found a pair of inline skates, which I immediately tried out. That was the moment I stood on wheels for the very first time in my life.
However, the area we lived in was very hilly, with hardly any flat surfaces for inline skating. Despite this, I had so much fun skating that I dove straight into downhill skating. This sparked my love for skating – a passion that has only grown stronger over time.
A few years later, an ice skating freestyle group took me under their wing. Over many winters, we learned our first tricks together, kept practicing, and steadily improved.
During the summers, I was mostly on my own, but by then, I had my first new pair of inline skates. They were from Lidl, a discount store, and weren’t exactly high quality. But I didn’t know any different, and it brought me immense joy.
The enthusiasm for Aggressive Inline Skating
In 2010, I finally went to the skatepark for the first time with a few friends.
There, I found a second family and discovered my passion for aggressive inline skating.
However, I quickly felt the same as many others did with this hobby – I felt like a unicorn. Why a unicorn? Well, because I felt like I was the last of my kind, the last person still pursuing the beautiful hobby of aggressive inline skating.
The time when I really started skating, unfortunately, coincided with the time when most people were giving it up.
Forced to its knees
In 2014, the hype around the trend sport "scooter" – stunt scooters – really took off.
The scooter craze in my area became so intense that skateparks were practically overrun with scooter riders and kids on scooters.
This, along with some other circumstances, brought me to my knees, and by 2020, I had barely been inline skating at all.
Light on the Horizon – The Rebirth
Through Daniel's own skate event, the ,,SkaMiDan Skate Together“, I was once again captivated by the world of skating, and I took my inline skates off the hook.
Daniel’s crew and infectious joy inspired me immediately, and today I proudly stand as a member of my own skating crew—the SkaMiDan Skating Team.
Since that moment, I’ve been excited to share this message together with SkaMiDan: "YOU NEVER RIDE ALONE!"
