It’s 6:30 a.m. on Saturday and outside the roller-skating rink it’s dark, save for a few lights strangling the remnants of the early morning. Inside, skaters of all ages, young and old, are gearing up for their practice, tossing around “that’s what she said” jokes and talking about their Farmville accounts on Facebook. They are lacing up their inline speed skates – skates that look like cartoonish rollerblades.
Some are just there for the exercise. Others? To rise to the rank of national champion. And then there is Ashley Hinton. Already an artistic roller skating world champion at the age of 21, Hinton has switched focus to compete for the title of world champion speed skater on wheels.
“I grew up in a skating rink. After my grandparents decided to leave the rink business, my parents decided to take it up. They owned the rink, so we lived there, literally lived there, and I grew up there so it was all I knew,” Hinton said. “I basically came out of the womb with skates on. My mom put them on me at nine months.”
…
See the rest of the story here.
Photos of Ashley at the skating rink in Tampa that she works at, United Skates. The rink holds themed nights and sometimes combines them with fundraisers. The paricular one was an 80s-themed night to raise money for children in Panama.