by Brian Twomey
Senior Maddie Grasso prepares herself to compete in the national roller skating league, USA Roller Sports. Her team, Team New England, was ranked first nationwide last year and nearly qualified to compete in the worldwide event broadcasted on television.
Grasso was introduced to roller skating when she was in the third grade by her aunt who worked at Roller Kingdom. She instantly fell in love and never looked back. She was recruited by her coach to join the team.
Grasso practices several times a week to perfect her form. “I have private lessons. My dance lessons are on Sunday. On Monday nights I have my figure practices, then show practice. Once it gets closer to regionals and nationals, I go to Taunton. The arena is bigger and more like national arenas. Those usually happen on Tuesday and Thursday nights,” said Grasso.
Grasso’s taste of near victory last year was enough to make her want to train harder to help her team reach their goal of representing Team USA Roller Skating.
Since roller skating is not a well known sport, a lot of travelling is required. Grasso travels across the country for her competitions. She has been to New Mexico, Maryland, and this year she will be traveling to Nebraska.
Her team consists of teammates from Hudson, Berlin, and Northborough. They practice at Roller Kingdom as well as in Tyngsboro, Connecticut, and Cape Cod.
“It depends [where we travel]. Roller skating used to be really big; now it’s small. The only competitions around here are in Cape Cod. It’s awkward because we are in huge arenas for competitions, and then there is a small crowd. It gets really quiet, and then after a while it starts to get a little loud,” said Grasso.
Last season Grasso’s show-team was ranked first nationwide, and some girls on the team competed in Worlds. “It was really good. We beat a team [from Ohio] that we hadn’t beaten before, and that felt great,” said Grasso.
For now Grasso is preparing for a solo competition in Maryland in March. She continues to work toward competing in the national competitions this next year.
