Published: Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Fun and fast times on roller skates
-
Dan Bates / The Herald
Nick Dominski, 14, left, Tim Groves, 19, and Benton Redford of the Everett Express speed skating team, leap from their starting positions Wednesday while practicing for races at the Everett Skate Deck.
-
Dan Bates / The Herald
Everett Express Inline Speed Team members, Matt Pratt, foreground, and Colby Groves speed around the Skate Deck course Wednesday. Photo taken 020509
-
Dan Bates / The Herald
Chuck Hendrick coaches the Everett Express in-line speedskating club Sunday at the Everett Skate Deck.
EVERETT -- The training is rigorous, the physical toll is demanding, and there is always the chance of a painful and perhaps injurious fall.
But if going fast is your thing, you might want to think about trying in-line speedskating.
Male or female, young or old, well-trained athlete or middle-aged sluggard, it doesn't matter. The only requirement is the desire to lace on a pair of skates and get around an oval track at breakneck speeds.
Bumps and bruises are part of the deal, but so is an invigorating good time.
"(Speedskating) is such good exercise, but it's really not like you're going to work out," said Jammie Shull, a 25-year-old hairdresser from Arlington and a member of the Everett Express speedskating club. "You're going to get good exercise, but you're also going to have a lot of fun."
Even so, she said, friends sometimes misunderstand.
"It's like they think we're just going out to roller blade, but it's so much more than that," Shull said. "They really have to come watch it. And the friends I take to a (racing) meet, they're just blown away."
"I'm not completely sure what my friends think," added Nick Dominski, a 14-year-old freshman at Arlington's Lakewood High School, "but from the way they talk about it … I can tell they have no idea how competitive it really is. They think it's just like one of those recreational sports. But it's way more than that."
Although speedskating is often associated with ice skating, the in-line version of the sport is growing in popularity. There are 13 in-line speedskating clubs in the Puget Sound area, with two in Snohomish County -- Everett and Lynnwood.
The Everett Express had 12 members a year ago, and this year is up to 33 under first-year head coach Chuck Hendrick. By next year, Hendrick is aiming for 60 team members.
And speedskating is not just for the young. The Everett Express has a handful of skaters between 40 and 54, Hendrick said, and one skater who is 73. Some compete, but others just enjoy being on skates.
The 31-year-old Hendrick is not only the team's coach, he's also a top competitor. He started skating when he was 15 and has been to nationals 14 times in the past 16 years, winning twice. At one time he held national records for his age group at 500 and 1,000 meters.
Along the way he crossed paths with another Puget Sound-area in-line skater named Apolo Anton Ohno, who would later switch to ice skating and go on to win five Olympic short-track speedskating medals, including two golds.
Ohno, Hendrick said, "is one of my good buddies."
In his years at Cascade High School (class of 1995), Hendrick competed in cross country, wrestling and track, although his first love has always been speedskating. And the great thing about the sport, he said, is that anyone can compete and almost anyone can excel.
"Body type doesn't matter," he said. "We have some big boys and some big girls who go fast. Because if you want to go fast, then you'll go fast.
"You get some people and you'd think they'd never be a speedskater, and then they win nationals the next year. So you have to see a person train and to see how much they want it to know how they'll do. Because anybody who wants to try will do well."
The key, he went on, is commitment. The Everett Express trains four days and almost eight hours a week, and serious skaters might work out another 12 hours a week on their own. For those who want to win at the national level, 30 hours of training per week is a good goal, he said. And maybe 40 hours a week to compete at a high international level.
"If you train hard and do it right and listen to your coach, you can go anywhere," said Hendrick said, who has competed in France, Switzerland, Germany and Portugal. "You can be a champion."
But for everyone, whether it's the first-time novice or the skater with world-class dreams, "the biggest thing is that you have to have fun," he said.
But if going fast is your thing, you might want to think about trying in-line speedskating.
Male or female, young or old, well-trained athlete or middle-aged sluggard, it doesn't matter. The only requirement is the desire to lace on a pair of skates and get around an oval track at breakneck speeds.
Bumps and bruises are part of the deal, but so is an invigorating good time.
"(Speedskating) is such good exercise, but it's really not like you're going to work out," said Jammie Shull, a 25-year-old hairdresser from Arlington and a member of the Everett Express speedskating club. "You're going to get good exercise, but you're also going to have a lot of fun."
Even so, she said, friends sometimes misunderstand.
"It's like they think we're just going out to roller blade, but it's so much more than that," Shull said. "They really have to come watch it. And the friends I take to a (racing) meet, they're just blown away."
"I'm not completely sure what my friends think," added Nick Dominski, a 14-year-old freshman at Arlington's Lakewood High School, "but from the way they talk about it … I can tell they have no idea how competitive it really is. They think it's just like one of those recreational sports. But it's way more than that."
Although speedskating is often associated with ice skating, the in-line version of the sport is growing in popularity. There are 13 in-line speedskating clubs in the Puget Sound area, with two in Snohomish County -- Everett and Lynnwood.
The Everett Express had 12 members a year ago, and this year is up to 33 under first-year head coach Chuck Hendrick. By next year, Hendrick is aiming for 60 team members.
And speedskating is not just for the young. The Everett Express has a handful of skaters between 40 and 54, Hendrick said, and one skater who is 73. Some compete, but others just enjoy being on skates.
The 31-year-old Hendrick is not only the team's coach, he's also a top competitor. He started skating when he was 15 and has been to nationals 14 times in the past 16 years, winning twice. At one time he held national records for his age group at 500 and 1,000 meters.
Along the way he crossed paths with another Puget Sound-area in-line skater named Apolo Anton Ohno, who would later switch to ice skating and go on to win five Olympic short-track speedskating medals, including two golds.
Ohno, Hendrick said, "is one of my good buddies."
In his years at Cascade High School (class of 1995), Hendrick competed in cross country, wrestling and track, although his first love has always been speedskating. And the great thing about the sport, he said, is that anyone can compete and almost anyone can excel.
"Body type doesn't matter," he said. "We have some big boys and some big girls who go fast. Because if you want to go fast, then you'll go fast.
"You get some people and you'd think they'd never be a speedskater, and then they win nationals the next year. So you have to see a person train and to see how much they want it to know how they'll do. Because anybody who wants to try will do well."
The key, he went on, is commitment. The Everett Express trains four days and almost eight hours a week, and serious skaters might work out another 12 hours a week on their own. For those who want to win at the national level, 30 hours of training per week is a good goal, he said. And maybe 40 hours a week to compete at a high international level.
"If you train hard and do it right and listen to your coach, you can go anywhere," said Hendrick said, who has competed in France, Switzerland, Germany and Portugal. "You can be a champion."
But for everyone, whether it's the first-time novice or the skater with world-class dreams, "the biggest thing is that you have to have fun," he said.
Comments
(