Getting up to speed – After four years off skates, Oswego East's Kayla Duque makes Team USA in inline skating
Junior competes at World Roller Games in Barcelona
Kayla Duque has done ice skating, and even tried her hand at volleyball.
Neither compared to inline skating.
Duque, who will be a junior at Oswego East this fall, first tried inline skating when she was 8 years old. After four years off, she's back doing it – and better than ever.
"I like the feeling that it gives me while I'm racing," Duque said. "The people, I have a great training group, it makes it even better. The feeling, the atmosphere, it's exciting for me to participate and watch."
Duque is now nearing the pinnacle of her specialty sport.
She recently returned from Barcelona, Spain, where she competed for Team USA in the World Roller Games. Because inline skating is not an Olympic event, this is the highest level of competition for the sport.
Duque, one of five girls competing for Team USA in the junior division, and in her first World Roller Games, took 16th in the world in the 100-meter drag race.
She also competed in the 200-meter pursuit, 500 meters, the 1-lap circuit and the marathon while in Barcelona from June 28 to July 16.
"Since it was my first time I thought I did pretty good," Duque said. "Overall pretty good for my first international race."
Duque was playing soccer at age 8 when she decided she needed to try something different. Her mom, Jennifer, had done the traditional quad roller skating when she was younger, and Kayla decided she wanted to do inline.
She trains six days a week. The seventh day is a recovery day, although even on that day Duque does some sort of spinning or stretching. Her coach, Jorge Botero, is a three-time world champion from Colombia who sends her weekly programs – skating outside, going in the gym or plyometrics.
Duque skates outside in places where there aren't many cars, or parking lots in good conditions, and sometimes indoors at the Aurora Skate Center.
"Sometimes, he has me do sprint work, other times long skates, 16 miles – it just depends on the time of the year," Duque said.
Occasionally in training, Duque does motor pacing, where she finds a road not populated and holds onto the back of the car as her mom gets up to high speed.
"I get up to 50 miles an hour," Duque said.
Duque did inline skating until 12 or 13, when she decided she wanted to try new things. She transitioned to long track ice skating for two years, and tried volleyball but found she wasn't very good at it.
She found that inline skating was an itch she needed to scratch again while attending skating competitions with her parents, who own a T-shirt company and have booths at the events.
"I would see the atmosphere and the racing and I missed it, more than I actually realized," Duque said. "I knew coming back it wasn't going to be easy, I knew if I wanted to do it, I had to do it all the way. I knew it would be hard competing but that I could do it."
After being off her wheels for four years, Duque crisscrossed the country this year skating for Team Illinois based out of Danville, and Team Florida. In May, she made Team USA after competing in the U.S. Road and Banked Track Team Trials in Colorado.
"I knew that I would have a good chance to make it, but that it would be really hard, as it always is. There's a lot of good competition," said Duque, who competed at outdoor nationals when she was younger and again last year. "I was trying to stay positive and believe that I could make it. "
An honor roll student at Oswego East, Duque next has her sights set on qualifying for the 2020 World Championships for inline skating in Colombia.
"Then I have to move up to the senior division, which is a lot harder but it is doable," Duque said. "It would be awesome to go with the team.
"I hope to stay doing this as long as I can. Even if I can't compete I want to be involved."