The infamous BE-MAG /Rollerblading magazine

Never Winter Jam Report - 09/03/23

After visiting the first Never Winter Jam in 2008 I had to make sure to be back this year. The unique atmosphere at Polish competitions is worth the travel. Even if it’s a 14 hour journey back home.

Together with fellow photographer Felix Strosetzki we made the plan to cover the event and for sure also compete. After 5 hours of sitting in a train followed by 6 hours of driving a car packed with 5 people and too many bags we arrived in Wroclaw Friday evening. After a little session we checked the hostel which was more like a big apartment with rooms for everybody and a big meeting room. We shared our room with Adrian Wallace and some friend of him, which made the whole weekend even more interesting. Following the conversations of these two guys was a challenge for everybody, who isn’t really into their UK slang. Another example that traveling sometimes teaches you more than any teacher is able to teach you.

Adrian Wallace

Since we did not travel all the way to Poland to stay in bed on Friday night we went out to find a place to dance. Usually calling a taxi is the best way in foreign cities and so we did. After waiting for more than 20 minutes in the cold, the taxi arrived, picked us up, did a u turn, drove 30 meters and stopped. Here we are. 30 meters walking distance to our hostel and we waited for the taxi… Call it German skills! For sure the taxi driver showed us the wrong direction to the club which resulted in a 30 minute walk to finally find the club. A perfect start into a long night on the dance floor. At around 5 o’clock in the morning the local skaters started to get kind of nervous. “Go home guys, you need to sleep, there’s a competition…”. That’s what they told us. We tried to find another party, but we were out of luck, so it was time to go to bed. First night: A huge success!!

As always, Saturday was action day. We arrived right in time for a little warm-up and then watched the junior competition. The most impressive person on the course was without any doubt a guy called Przemek Górczyk. This guy was skating without any breaks. He used the jam session format to just skate a run. I don’t know many people who are able to skate that long with such power. In the qualification as well as in the finales he proved that he will definitely be the one to look out for this year. Good technical tricks, combined with stunts here and there. All packed with flow. Congrats for taking the first place Przemek!!

Anthony Aymard

The senior competition started and it was clear that that it was worth the effort to install the new rainbow rail. Everybody killed the rail in the qualification. One guy sticking out the most was Jirka from Czech Republic. Pure style and high level tricks back to back. I definitely enjoyed watching his show. Razors Europe rider Piotrek Combrzynski showed why he is one of the best European park skaters, Dave Benski did his thing and showed people what it means to enjoy skating and BHC´s newest addition, Nils Jansons, proved once again that he is one the few faces leading our sport into the future. All of them made it to the finals. That meant that they had to skate two 90 seconds runs each. Horrible for everybody who smokes and probably everybody else either. Except for one person on the course: Dominik Wagner. He arrived late, had 30 minutes warm-up and then started his show. Every time I see Dominik skate a park I just feel great. This is what skating is about and he is what I call a true professional. There was no doubt that he would take the win and getting second was like getting first, since Dominik is another level. He makes me proud to be part of Rollerblading. Thanks for that Dominik.

After the winner announcement which was a great party once again, we all headed to the official aftershow party which was in a big club in the centre. Again the Polish scene proved that they are good in partying and again we had a great time.

Dave Benski - Fs Torque

Dave Benski - Torque

I want to thank everybody who made this possible. Pawel and the Green association, the sponsors and Be-Mag for bringing us there. Events in Poland make me feel comfortable, since the Polish scene is down to party and t celebrate good tricks. Everybody is supportive and it’s all about having a great time. Not about who is the coolest, like it is at so many events today.

Thanks Poland. We will be back next year, that’s for sure!

- Jojo Jacobi

Photos: Felix Strosetzki