Mejahed Al Jabri is a budding name in the roller skating world.

Remember Avril Lavigne’s Skater Boy song back in the day? Well, we have got you a real skater boy, Mejahed Al Jabri, who has won local and international championships and is trying to accredit the sport right here in Saudi.

Known as Jude Skate, Al Jabri has been skating for 13 years. If you ever get the chance to meet him, you will actually see the light illuminating from his eyes as he speaks of his sport.

He decided to pursue the sport after he attended a skating event in Jeddah years ago and was in awe with the talent he saw. So he immediately started practicing, watching skating videos and tutorials on YouTube and even contacting skating experts for advice.

That all paid off as Al Jabri went on to become a skating champ in local as well as international tournaments. “I took part in local championships like the Kingdom’s Championship for Skating in 2011 where I won 1^st place. In 2012, I was invited to a championship in Korea; it was my first international one. I won 6^th place in ‘Korea’s Slides’ and 7^th place in ‘Korea’s Battle.’ I then went to Taiwan in 2013 to represent Saudi in the World’s Skating Championship over there, where I won 10^th place.”

Al Jabri even has his own custom made skates after he asked a company to manufacture them according to taste.

Roller-skating is divided into two categories each with its own set of rules, aggressive skate and slalom skate that Al Jabri performs.

1. Aggressive Skate: The style of inline skating in which skaters perform jumps, spins and other stunts.
2. Slalom Skate: A highly technical field of skating that involves performing tricks around a straight line of equally spaced cones. It is further divided into four divisions.

• Classic: Accompanied by a show using music and dance moves
• Battle: Involves tricks
• Slide: Mainly assesses the way skaters come to a stop
• Speed: Focuses on timing and rapidness

Al Jabri is also part of a large group of skaters who have been trying to contact someone in order to build a skating park right here in the city. The group managed to get in touch with Abdul Lateef Jameel Co., who agreed to start working on the project.