Skate and Skate Societies in Bulgaria
It`s hard to believe that anybody would draw any attention to
that board with little wheels, called skate. The skating isn`t a
sport or hobby or entertainment. It`s a way of life. It`s not
obligatory to walk with 200 dollars in your pocket, to visit the
most expensive shops for sneakers and to order boards from USA.
The most important thing is the support between skaters.
Everyone, I`ve spoken to has telling me about the skating with
such a passion and the most important thing - how every morning
he wakes up with the bright thought for skating. For the real
skater this is the thing which may bring him the best
satisfaction especially when he`s just made the brilliant flip
or 360. The skating for skater is like the nutrition or drinking
water - the daily round is impossible without them. The favorite
season, no doubt, is the summer. They gather together, drinking
beer and watching the only one, who doesn`t feel lazy to make
the best tricks ever. Winter is the biggest holiday for skaters,
and holiday compares to the real HELL for them. At least you can
sit down, drink beer and watch the dudes from TV Extreme.
There`s no other society more united as the skate society. They
all know each other , there`s no disagreements(except about
music of course - there`s too many music styles that I have
never heard before ), there`s no envy , everyone admires their
rival`s work . The only thing they hate more than bladers, I
think, is the people that not only don`t skate, but spit at
skater`s maxim of living - skate or death. The craziest people,
I know, are skaters or have been skaters, but they had to stop
because of not-wanted circumstance.
There isn`t a skater without breakage - foot, hand, or head.
They are just so bent on skating that they don?t care about
themselves, they do what they want no matter what.
There`s no such a friendship like the friendship between
skaters. They put the board on first place and they will never
make a stupid dispute. If anyone needs help they will always
help him with whatever it takes - they give away, give up or
exchange stuff. No matter of their look or the way they talk,
they are may be the coolest guys on the world and you can have
fun anytime when you are with them.
In Bulgaria there is a skate society, not well developed though.
The best skaters, who have been skating for 3-4 years, go in
parks with special loading platforms and pyramids. I have walked
by these parks and watched 40 skaters collected all together and
wedded to their favorite occupation. They gather up in parks,
monuments, museums, banks, where the surface is with marble and
it`s suitable for skating. If there are no pyramids, then steps
can work too, as they`re in good shape, of course. Each skater
can find a place for skating. Anything needs desire and they are
the biggest dreamers - they wish a lot. Sometimes you can happen
to meet them, moving just next to the bus you travel by, or on
the street, flashing past you. But this is just in the capital -
Sofia.
Unfortunately, skating isn`t developed in all cities in
Bulgaria, even in Sofia isn`t as well-built as in Plovdiv (where
by the way are the greatest loading platforms), in Sliven, Varna
and Burgas too. Smaller, but also good is Gabrovo. It`s clean,
people are friendly and they are always ready to help and this
is very important when you`re a stranger. Although isn`t like in
the movies like Grindin and Ken Park, with the "skate pools" -
dream for each skater, the stage in Gabrovo is the best. I might
say that Asenovgrad is also well developed for the skate
culture. And yet, small cities don`t have any competition and
everyone can show his skills.
For a small country like Bulgaria the skate societies in
separate cities aren`t bad and the skaters are really good and
they deserve better stages and support. Despite that we aren`t
as good as in other countries. We can judge from all the movies
we watch every day, even from one of the most familiar TV serial
- the O.C. where Seth Cohen is skating on the street, coming
back from school. When will this happen here?
Skate and skate societies