From Skates to Roller Skis: My First Steps Toward Cross-Country

2025 June 23rd

So there I was, officially signed up with the Philippines Ski and Snowboard Federation and proudly sporting my shiny new FIS number. If you don’t know what that is, don’t worry—I didn’t either at first. But basically, it meant I was officially a cross-country skier on the path to competing internationally. Cue the reality check it was June and cross-country skiing in the summer doesn’t happen on snow—it happens on roller skis.

Enter my crash course in “what the heck is a roller ski?” Thanks to YouTube University, I quickly learned the basics: these things are like skis on wheels, and yes, you can fall spectacularly on them. While scrolling through videos, I stumbled upon Brian Halligan, an American biathlete, who advertised coaching on his channel. I figured, why not? After a phone coaching session with him, he walked me through exactly what gear I needed to get started—advice that ultimately led me to Finnsisu.com. These guys were amazing—they hooked me up with everything I needed to compete at a high level and made me feel like I had a personal coach in a box.

Next step: training. I teamed up with Selina, my long-term girlfriend and personal cheerleader/gear hauler extraordinaire, and we scouted out paths we could use to practice. That day, we ended up in Irvine, and lucky for me, the park there had perfect paths for beginner roller skiers.

YouTube University had not prepared me for one little detail: hard concrete. Ouch. But, being a natural on skates (thank you, hockey), I picked it up surprisingly fast. A few wobbles, a couple of falls, and some very questionable moves later, I was rolling. Literally.

And that’s when it hit me: learning is one thing, but the next step… the real challenge… is competing with other athletes. How do you go from practicing solo in a park to racing against people who have been at this for years?

Well… that’s where the real story begins.

To be continued.