Write-up by Enrico Grigoletti
Photography by Pietro Firrincieli
Let’s say that I didn’t quit rollerblading for no reason. Everybody has reasons and mine were basically my job and my body. My third – off the record – reason was that one day I realized that being part of niche of a niche of a subculture is hard and it gets harder and frustrating when you just realize that nobody will pursue that struggle in the near future. We, as Italians, have no younger generations ready to gather our heritage and to develop it their own way. This is what I thought till last week.
So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a lot of young, clumsy and gawky kids hanging around the park and, finally, I realized where all my hopes went: a bunch of youngsters that should learn how to ride fakie before trying to land a 360something. At least they should since I’ve never learnt.
The friendly jam session quickly turned into a hammer catwalk with youngsters showing off their technique in front of the Pro contingent, Nicola Fiorenza, Jason Adriani and Agostino Polpetta. It ended up with a regular amateur competition, with regular judges, regular speaker and regular runs. I’m not sure about the winner and, honestly, I don’t care. I was totally overwhelmed by a group of people authentically loving what they were doing. Icing on the cake was the Pro contingent signing autographs and posing for pictures.Business time called me back before the end of the day but our talks on the way back home were focused on a group of clumsy youngsters holding the future of niche of a niche of a subculture. I guess it’s time for me to put my skates back on again.
I deliberately decided not to talk about Nicola Fiorenza’s huge fake 540s or Jason’s flawlessness or Agostino Polpetta’s impressive stamina.
-Enrico Grigoletti
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