DEREK PARRA ABOUT ROLLER LEISURE

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you! Thank you so much for this important opportunity!

As you heard Mr. Aracu, our Federation President mention, my name is Derek Parra and I am a 3 times Winter Olympian - and a Gold and silver medallist in the sport of ice speed skating, but I once was - and always will be - a roller skater.

I am so honoured to be here. I must tell you that I feel an incredible amount of pride to be able to stand in front of you, as an ambassador for the sport that I love.

Roller skating has had such a positive influence in my life. Everything that I am today, all that I have learned about life - sacrifice and perseverance, triumph and tragedy, integrity and fair play, - has come from my journey through life on skates!

Now what you saw on the screen was just a taste of our world: The world of roller skating.

Everything that you saw in the video, I have experienced, at one time or another in my life, perhaps you have too, but I can tell you that is not where the love of our sport comes from.

There is a social element to roller skating that attracts over 50 million people to the sport around the world.

It is here, that the passion for skating is developed. It is here that a skater is born!

Roller skating is a fun, inexpensive and easy sport to learn that has steadily increased in popularity over the years and is loved by both young and old alike. Where people once walked to years ago, now they skate to. The roller skate has become an evolution of the shoe.

Today, rollers skaters meet and skate through towns and in cities. Families plan afternoons and weekends together and skate in parks and on trails.
Roller skating is both economical and ecological: You can go almost anywhere on roller skates. It is an efficient means of transportation in a world overwhelmed with automobiles.

Roller Skating is a cool and hip way to express and identify yourself.

Roller skating IS the vehicle that allows you to see your world in a new and exciting way.

I invite you now - to have a look - at the other side of our world.