If you don't have a skating coach or an inline instructor to make a recommendation for you, your first choice for skate building should be the pro shop at an inline and roller skating center, skating rink or roller hockey center. They deal with many brands of inline equipment and are expert at assembly and repairs. They will also have any additional mounting hardware needed to do the job right.

If you can't get to a roller center, try an ice rink pro shop. Both sports require that frames, plates or blades are centered under the foot properly for balance while skating. The boots are similar and sometimes the same for ice and roller sports, and many of the mounting techniques are the same, too.

Remember that mounting skate boots to frames is a balancing act as much as a mechanical assembly. Make sure to get someone with skating knowledge and the proper center line marking or skate balancing capabilities. A skate frame that is assembled but not aligned properly under your foot can cause a lot of unnecessary problems.

In 1996, two enthusiastic and professional in-line skaters, Carles Bial and Toni Pla, founded the Escola Oficial de Patinatge Inline in the North Sports Station (Polideportivo de la Estación del Norte) in Barcelona, Spain. Their goal was to minimize the potential risks posed by street skating. Today thousands of skaters of all ages have learned to skate safely in Escola Oficial de Patinatge skating programs.

Spain is not the only place with good skating schools. There is training for anyone from new recreational inline skaters to competitive athletes available in North America and around the world.

Image © Escola Oficial de Patinatge

Song Xingyu, a Chinese speed skater, has been banned from national competition for one year, because he couldn't resist giving a one-fingered salute to a group of equally rude spectators after he crossed the finish line of the 10,000m event at the National Games in northeast China. The whole story is available at theage.com.au.

Competitive athletes are often the recipients of verbal and visual abuse from spectators who have unreasonably high expectations or hope for exceptionally weak performances – depending on whose team they are cheering for at an event. It is times like these when the athlete has to be the better person and ignore rants and raves. The ability to perform above the level of others includes a lot of mental and moral strength, too.

It’s a new year, and ONE Magazine is already working to help grow the sport. Get Someone to Blade Day is their plan to encourage new people to try inline skating. ONE knows that getting a new person on blades is about more than just making a new rollerblader, it’s a chance to share blade culture with new people and to pass the fun into another person's life.

• Loan your old blades to a friend.
• Drag your non-skating friends in with you to the rink, park, trail or skate shop.
• Share your skating videos.
• Take people who don't skate to a skating events in your area.

Designer Chris Piascik donated this and other preliminary designs to ONE Magazine for the Get Someone to Blade Day campaign. His designs are free to use to promote inline skating. Use them as you see fit, as long as you credit Chris for the design.

Now let's all stop being greedy - share your inline skating activities everyday!