Oli Benet: Hi Chris, please tell us a bit about yourself!
Hey Oli, thanks for doing this interview with me. My name is Chris van der Merwe a very common South African surname, haha. My first language is Afrikaans. I live in a really beautiful town called Stellenbosch close to the South West coast line. I’m 26, I rollerblade, build ramps, film, edit, skimboard, play guitar, live all out for Jesus.
OB: How long have you been skating and how has your skating evolved over the years?
Been skating for 15 years. I skateboarded for two years in-between the rolling just because of a lack of spots in the small country side town I grew up in. I also played lots of other sports growing up that also kept me from skating lots. I started out when rollerblading was the new thing on the block. After seeing what can be done on skates I just stuck to it and never looked back. I started taking my rollerblading serious when I quit playing rugby at the age of 21. I mean, there wasn’t a skate park even close to the town I grew up in and no proper spots, so I grew up on little rails and boxes we built ourselves. After high school I started winning street comps and best trick comps at skate parks. Only after high school my park skating progressed lots and I started winning park comps also. I’ve qualified pro at AIL in 2008 and competed in Asian X Games the past two years. I skate for Conference – on the Xsjado Ambassador team. Locally I skate for Son Skate and Roll One.
Read the whole interview in the Conference Blog.
