Phil is one of the countries top slalomers. He regularly competes internationally and has earned commercial sponsorship. Phil ’spins, toe-rolls and vaultes’ this well because he practices hour after hour after hour…

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I can usually be found spinning round conical shaped bits of plastic along Serpentine Road in hyde park. Slalom or cone dodging as it is affectionately known seems to have taken over the pedestrianised road that runs through Hyde Park. There seems to be more lines of plastic cones appearing every day and it’s quite often that I see new people laying out cones and getting started with the basic tricks, it never seems to take them long before they’re doing all of the impressive tricks etither.

I’m sure that if you’ve ever been there then you’ll have seen people skating in and out of the cones in Hyde Park, what you probably don’t realise is that there are two main disciplines of slalom and there is an interntional circuit of competitions. Slalom may not be the biggest sport in the world but it’s growing and it’s practised all over the world. Speed slalom, which as I’m sure you’ll have guessed by now is all about travelling through the cones as fast as you can, in competitions you usually race an opponent to the finish line. Then there is Freestyle slalom, which is all about doing tricks whilst travelling across a line of cones and in competitions there is usually only one skater on the cones at a time demonstrating their best tricks. Both forms of slalom are highly addictive as I’m sure you’ll find that once your instructor starts making you skate around cones then you’ll be just like the rest of us, putting them back in place after you’ve knocked them over for hours on end, but the thrill of getting through the cones succesfully at the end of the day really is worth it.

I had been skating for a very long time before I discovered slalom (hint: if you ever see me in Hyde Park on quads don’t act surprised I’ve been using them for over 13 years) but when I first saw it I was amazed and I knew that I had to try it out for myself. What first got me hooked on slalom was Sebastien Leffargue’s video SSS, it’s still one of my favourite videos almost 3 years after I frist saw it and I’m sure you’ll be as amazed as I was. At the time though I was living in Wales and I had nobody to learn from, so with the internet to the rescue I was downloading videos, studying the moves and then practising them whenever I could. Only a few months later I saw Sebastien and other well known slalomers skating at Eastbourne 2003 and I entered my first slalom competition. Although I can’t really remember any judges being there or any real rules I just remember attempting to do the few tricks that I’d learnt in front of a large crowd, I think I probably came last but I can’t remember any real ranking.

Fast Forward a few years though to 2006 and I’m not only a judge for the International Freestyle Skaters Association but I’m sponsored by Universkate, a company run by Sebastien Laffargue whose video had first gotten me addicted to slalom and in 2006 alone I’ve visited Russia, France, Germany, Shanghai and made many good friends all thanks to Slalom. I’ve also made the move to London where I now slalom regularly with lots of great skaters and we all like trading tricks or rather showing off new tricks that we’ve been practising. Theres nothing better than when someone you skate with regularly is amazed by some new trick that you can do, apart from then teaching them that trick and watching them struggle, even though you know they’ll have some new trick next week that you’ll be struggling with. Meeting people to slalom with in London though is now getting even easier, as this year has seen the launch of the LondonSkaters Freestyle Club and if you’ve been on a street skate this year or to the Thames Festival then you’ve probably seen some of us demonstrating slalom, slides, jumps and other tricks.

In the end though the greatest thing about slalom is that it’s cheap, you only need a few cups and some skates to get started and it doesn’t require acres of space. I know lots of people that have told me they practise in secret with just 2 or 3 cones on the lovely smooth floor in their kitchen and it doesn’t take long to pick up the basics, then you’ll be joining the rest of us in amazing the crowds of people that walk through Hyde Park at the weekend.

Author: Phil Downer

Top cone dodger!