In a message dated 6/30/01 4:31:52 PM, suecampbell@... writes:
<< Are today's American kids just too fat and lazy to take up a sport
requiring
skill, discipline, and dedication? Are parents just too busy, lazy,
univolved, or cheap (pick your adjective) to drive them to practice? What
the heck happened?
I wouldn't say the above are reasons for what's happened. I'm a
skater, but my kids aren't. I think it's partly that there are so many more
choices for kids these days, and like you said, there's no roller rink in
Boulder and the two rinks you used to teach in closed up--well, you have to
drive quite a distance to find a rink around here, too, and the kids just
interest themselves in other things. I do see a lot of kids involved in
recreational "roller blading" and skate boarding.

>>Why has ice skating grown, while roller skating has died?
There are definitely more ice rinks around. I think this is because
of television coverage. Do/have you ever seen roller skating on TV except
for some obscure channel? Also, kids hear about how some of the top ice
skaters USED to be roller skaters.