Introduction by Jonas Poltl
Interview by Daniel Prell
Video Edit by Dario Soller
Photography by Dagmar Koss & Gloria Grunwald
Hello Mr. Hennis. Let’s assume the good people reading this article don’t know anything about you. Fill us in with some essentials like who you are and what you do.
Alright, my name is Konstantin Hennis, I am 20 years old and I come from Munich, Germany. I’ve been on the blades for six and a half years and since summer 2010 I’ve been sponsored by Infernal.
Tell us about a normal day in your life – what is your routine?
Well, if you had asked me that a few months ago, I would have said: I work from 8 am to 4 pm and after that I go to the local skatepark or check up some spots with my buddies… But as I just moved to Erlangen a few weeks ago to study pharmacy, I’m quite busy with going to university. My subject is a real time killer, so I often spend 10+ hours a day at uni and after that I still have to learn for tests and so on.
From the present to the past. If I asked you how you got into rollerblading, would the answer be worth reading?
There is no special story behind that, I guess… But to give a short overview, I got to know it in its popular days in the 90’s, tried it out, stopped it for some reason and then started again 7 years later!
So you’ve been skating for 6 and a half years with a 7 year break. What makes rollerblading addictive for you?
I like every aspect of rollerblading! You can do it everywhere, whenever you want to and just hang out with your friends and have a good time. I also love the feeling that comes over you, when you learn a new trick or get the clip you wanted to. And it’s awesome that you always meet new people, everyone is friendly and open minded and there is so much to talk about, because you share the same interests. I really regret that I stopped skating back then and took such a long break from it.
The kick from landing the trick. Exactly! Talking about filming, you just had a section in Dario Sollers “Slick & Unprepared” (you can check it out here) do you have any new projects coming up? –
Yes, my section in “Slick & Unprepared” and filming for this “Up & Comers” edit were kind of my latest projects. But the sunny weather is over and winter is about to ban us from the streets into the far too few indoor skateparks, so for now I have nothing planned.
Good old German winters… So if you can’t skate as much as you want, how much time do you spend watching videos/edits – and who are your favorite people to watch?
Of course I check up all the online magazines daily and try not to miss too many of those edits and video sections. And also the WRS Uploaded Competition just started again, so I guess that I spend around 30 to 60 minutes a day watching videos (and –very funny thing – reading the related comments on RN). In Germany my favorite skater to watch is Alex Rudolf aka the incredible hulk. Internationally there are Broskow, Eisler, Bolino, Hyden and a lot more – just too many to name all of them.
Talking about the WRS – who do you think will take home the glory?
Oh, that’s a tough one. There are so many outstanding skaters taking part and I voted for your edit, but unfortunately it seems that you are pretty much out of the game already… I was really impressed by Nils Jansons’ edit last year and I think he won the fan voting legitimately, so I’m excited to see what he’s got for us this time.
Highly appreciated bro! I can see you’re trying to wiggle out of it but I’d really like a prediction.
Ok, so if you want me to decide now I’d say that Jansons is going to win this year.
I guess you can`t go wrong with Nils but I’ve heard they already have lots of snow over there so I will go with Montre. Anyway, some people go crazy about wheel sizes, flat vs. antirocker etc. What is your setup and why?
I had a lot of different skates in the past and figured out that Valos are just the most comfortable skates for me, so right now I have my third pair of them: black Valo TV 3 with GC Featherlite II frames and some Grindhouse/Rolltogether wheels. And I’ve always been riding antirocker setups, because they give me the best feeling and most control on rails.
It looks like I`m running out of questions here. Thanks for taking the time for this interview Konsti. Now let`s finish this off with some nice shout outs.
First of all I want to thank you for doing this interview and Dario Soller for filming and editing the clip. Thanks to Be-Mag for giving me the opportunity to do this and to Infernal and Jonas (Pöltl) for supporting me and my skating. And thanks to all Munich skaters for the awesome sessions and good times.
