Rana Haze

My Mom, who skated back in the days of when there were skate steps known as the “flea hop”, introduced me to skating in elementary school when she got asked to be a chaperone for a school skating party because she knew how to skate.  I fell in love with skating, even though I couldn’t even figure out how to lift my left foot up in the air when I was skating and I looked like I was on a skateboard.

I didn’t stop skating in high school when everyone else stopped because it wasn’t cool, because no one told me.  And I don’t think it would have swayed me anyway.

I worked hard at skating despite having knee problems that surfaced at the end of 6th grade, and was out to prove the doctors wrong.  I continued to skate hard and I was always into speed skating and could never slow down, and most skate guards hated when I was on the floor.  I also became one of the faster backward skaters, it became somewhat of my trademark.

I also inline skate, and ice skate.  I have been skating in Florida since I moved here in 1979.  I have been blessed with a network of skating friends over the years and would prefer to be with my skating friends more than anyone else.  I was a referee for part of a season for the Tampa Bay Derby Darlins, I was known as Judgement Dame.  Then I finally got to have my knee replacements so that I could keep skating which is my first true love.

I skate mostly at United Skates of America in Tampa, FL currently.  You can catch me there typically on one of their adult nights.