Trip Down Aggressive Inline Skating Memorabilia 1993–… (With Photos)
The short story of my skating experiences
![RET2082 [Roy Tertman]](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:88:88/1*Y0V1Db4dvpRtJDhr3lUJ9A.png){kind=small}
I decided to dedicate a post to what Aggressive Inline Skating is for me and how it shaped my life personally, professionally, culturally and how it made me see life.
The Beginning
I started skating when i was 13 years old. My best friend Yogev Yaros brought a pair of Rollerblade Aeroblade from the US — with an actual Reebok pump like system!
Anyways, i used to go to his house after school and when he was busy with homework i would take the skates and just go down and learn how to ride. Eventually as these things usually go, i convinced my parents to get me a pair of them for my birthday and it was ON.
Back in those days, there wasn’t really an Aggressive inline style, or at least it wasn’t called like that back in 1993.
Then in 1995, the original aggressive skater in israel emerged and i saw it bigger abd better fie the first time, at least he was the first skater to do a rail (frontside) — Sifu.
A Daily Habit
It soon became a daily habit and we were using the very early days of the internet to wait 15 minutes for a JPEG of a famous skater to load, after we put in a random Geocities web address 😅, all that to learn and see new tricks they were pulling out in Venice. my first aggressive inline skate was a converse Bauer skates with aluminum frames, after that i already upgraded to one of the first unofficial aggressive skates— the famous Roces Roma.
When it died
Eventually as we got closer to ages of 17–18 some of us became interested in other things. Some were experimenting with identities that clashed hard with the lifestyle of skaters and today i admire those who kept it real all the way (most if not all are skateboarders).
So the sessions became less and less until it just died out and we didn’t even notice. Looking back to it i understand why and how important the group effort was to skating, the countless times my boy Eli stayed with me, illegally trespassing to do a rail, until I nailed it.
Friends & Friendships
Here is my crew: Yogev, Eli, Roy Z. Shay B., Gal, Leon, Avishay, Yuval, Momi, Momo, Shay, Chino.
Yogev is my best friend and brother for life since age 8, and our friendship and what we experienced during our skating days really cemented our bond and we live less than half a mile from each other today in Tel Aviv. Eli is my oldest friend in the world, and always had my back when it came to pushing harder and harder and always trying new tricks. Roy Z. was my skating mentor, he took me on and we became inseparable for 2 years or so, he always had access to stuff from the US and had the best music taste ever back then! 80% of the skating music i know and still listen to today is from him, he also lives 2 blocks from me. Avishay is one of my friends and one of the people who know me best in this world and yes, he also lives 5 blocks from me. Shay .B. Who is the craziest skater I know and is a killer surfer today.
Funny how we all ended up in TLV (Shay included).
The point is that the friends i made while skating are the best friends a person can have because they’ve been with you when you were exposed. By exposed i mean you were facing your fears and discovering yourself on a daily basis, always improving, always pushing forward. That exposure i believe is our true character and the people who were there with you almost certainly helped shaped what you became. It’s awesome.
Oldest skater in Israel today
I am happy to say that today i am 37, and the oldest Aggressive skater still into the sports, following the brands, the pros and whatnot. The 2 cool things about being a grown up skater are: 1. You have the money to spend :) and 2. You really understand the impact it has on your life and you appreaicte every little thing you do and get super excited when you see the gromets (young kids) learning or beginning to skate.
I ride Valo’s AB.1s with the zebra print:
What makes me proud about them:
- They are based on my old time favorite skate — the Roces Majestic 12's
- They look absolutely beautiful!
- They never leave the rail/curb :)
- I have 2 sets of my boy Avichai Wechsler, an Israeli pro skater who, this is the place to say — has a big part in pushing me to get back in 2011 and get a new pair of current skates and start shredding. Thanks Avichai, super proud to skate in your wheels 💪🏼
Old T-shirts! Trip Down Memory Lane…
Senate. If you’re a past aggressive inline skater, or as it is referred to today Blader (which i kind of get) Senate should mean only one thing do you — the birth, inception and definition of the aggressive inline street style.
This new extreme sport emerged in ~1993 but took form and identity due to Senate and other great companies in the space.
As i was browsing through my parents old closet space, i stumbled upon these. I always knew they were there and i always knew why i saved them. Actually, when i asked my old time skating crew (50% are still some of my closest friends) none of them saved almost nothing, bummer, but i was able to find more than just t-shirts…
Enjoy old timers, new timers, and everyone who does any kind of extreme sports, relish in the nostalgia and realize that if you skated hardcore for some time in your life — you probably made some great friends and became a better person.
Senete shirt. ~1997.
featuring the second or third generation of the logo, the “saint” i think it was called.
i remember seeing this logo first in VG6 or 7.
if you look closely on the lower right sleeve, you can see a tear where my neighbour’s god bit me :)
also, love the color!
976 Launderings ~1995
And I still wear it today.
Still wear it today.
Saved the best for last…
This was printed in ~1995 i remember it was part of a national “scandal” that Senate had to deal with the media and “concerned” parents.
It was all because of a label and someone with very keen eyes.
It was a gag Arlo made about the spirit of the time and how skaters were outsiders and had other meaning in life that society simply dont get, or better yet, of you dont skate — you wont get it.
Read about it here
And now for some STICKERS!!!
Some old photos:
Thank you’s
I’d like to take this opportunity and thank the skaters who inspired me through the years and still:
- Arlo Eisenberg — just know that what you’ve done affected my and my friends life deeply and we kept the tradition of the early days and created our own version in Israel. Thank you
- B “Love” Hardin, Rawlinson Rivera, Ryan Jacklone, Dave Kollasch, Brian Smith, Tj Weber, John Starr, Brian Bell
- JJ — you are the spirit of aggressive inline skating, you had the toughest job — survive after the hype of the 90’s and shape and cement the sport in our culture forever. As an entrepreneur i truly admire your entrepreneurship spirit and you actually did what you love for a living, it’s rare…
- Alex Broskow — your style made me buy your skates which made me get back into inline, then it made me want to find my own style. I almost tried to reach you ‘cause i wanted to do a project with you in Israel :)
- Brian Aragon, Erik Bailey, Brandon Smith, Jeff Stockwell, Chris Haffey, Chris Farmer, Soichiro Kanashima, Frankey Morales
- Omri Baum, Bobi Spassov, Daniel Dietch, and the entire XCCV crew — you guys are the sh!t — keep at it and i want to support you in anyway i can, call me…
- Vas (my favorite style in Israel), Yair Viner, Anton Bassergain
This was a fun video we made last year after Joe McCormack sold his company :)
If anyone is up for session — gimme a shout 😎
Cheers,
RT
![RET2082 [Roy Tertman]](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:144:144/1*Y0V1Db4dvpRtJDhr3lUJ9A.png)