Where dreams are born: 56 boys and girls make speed skating their hope in rural Colombia

ODYTA Summary

A project called the "Rural Skate Team" Rural Sports Skating School is bringing speed skating to children in the Colombian municipality of Paratebueno. Led by Rivera Xtreme under coach Zully Liliana Urrea Méndez, the initiative works weekly to introduce the sport to boys and girls in rural areas. The school currently has 56 athletes across three villages: 28 children in Vereda Maya, 10 in Vereda Japón and 18 in Vereda Santa Cecilia. Beyond technical learning, the project is described as fostering values such as effort, discipline, camaraderie and personal improvement. The text notes that speed skating has produced world champions for Colombia and frames such grassroots initiatives as important to the sport's future. It also calls for the sports community to support and share the project, and credits Rivera Xtreme and Urrea Méndez for bringing skating to places where each pair of skates represents new hope.