UNITED STATES
Blu Pride
Ambassotor
Name: Blu Pride
Date of birth: 12/24/77
Current Location: Oakland, CA
Skating Since: 1988 -1990; 2020 - current
Current Skate Setup: Revv BOA 125 (110 wheels)
Explain the feeling you had the first time you put on skates.
I received my first pair of rollerblades for Christmas when I was 10 or 11. I was so excited that I put them on immediately and skated around the house. More than anything, I recall feeling determined to master the art or rollerblading. I must’ve worn them for hours, and recall rushing outside once the sun was up to skate around my neighborhood
What is your inspiration to keep skating?
Skating is a blissful experience for me, so feeling good is my motivation! I’ve always wanted to fly like superman, and skating gives me wings! Plus, it is always great to skate with my pals.
Teaching others also renews my passions for skating. Watching hundreds of children and tens of adults learn how to skate gives me nostalgia and I fall in love again like a senior couple renewing wedding vows.
We truly believe skating makes a better world. How do you think skating makes the world a better place?
Skating is a major endorphin release! Once you find your balance, the world becomes a joyful playground, and your problems tend to diminish as you skate time away. I’ve battled depression of the darkest nature and turned to skating as my medicine. Skating has and continues to provide a surge of positive energy which allows me to manage my complicated life with joy! If the world skated, we all realize much better physical and mental health. You can’t hate while you skate!
How do you keep progressing and reinventing yourself?
If you’re not growing, you’re dying! I seek to live! Setting personal goals, staying active, and loving hard is my way of giving thanks to the wonderful forces of nature that created and bonds us all. Finding new ways to complete routine tasks is a joy to me. Lately, I’ve been enjoying skating to local coffee shops to get work on tasks and or projects.
Keeping an open mind allows me to meet and experience new people and realities – with that, I am a lifetime learner seeking to obtain as much wisdom as possible for the benefit of my family and community.
What’s the most helpful tip you want to share with any skater?
Be sure to tighten your ankle and 45-degree angle strap so that your ankle and foot receive the support needed for you to learn proper balance. Push past the muscle fatigue you may feel initially…you will quickly build new leg strength without noticing!
Wearing protective gear, practice falling forward on our wrist and knee pads to overcome the fear of falling if it plagues you. Fear will only slow your learning process.
Listen to music while you skate…find your rhythm in skating…Music and skating will uplift your spirit! Find a community to skate with and synergize the good vibrations that skating naturally produces! Have fun!!
Imagine a world filled with animals who can skate. If you could be any of those animals what would you be and why?
I would likely be a skating spider-monkey. They are smaller in stature, fast, and extremely agile. I would love to jump weightlessly through the air on skates and perform cool tricks like those in the aggressive skate community, and land effortlessly on any surface. Yeah…spider monkey!
Instagram: blupride1