Rollerball – Back in the Days in Australia - Roller Skating’s New Playground: Grow with Us

Paul “Rollerball” Jessep was one of Sydney’s first vert roller skaters. Having no videos or a roller skate scene around it was skateboarders who pushed his buttons.

Paul Jessep, who everyone calls Rollerball, started skateboarding in the 1970s in Sydney. Back then there were no skateparks around. As soon as a roller rink opened nearby in the late 70s/early 80s he put on a pair of quads. From there on he would go to the rink a few times a week. But it wasn’t until he started speed skating and met fellow quad skater Matt Rosier that ramp skating became a thing.

“Once I turned 18 years and got a car I was able to travel to skateparks. I had always wanted to ride my skateboard at a park. Now that I had skates and was pretty good on them I thought why not give ramps a go on skates. The first ramp I started to skate almost daily was a quarter ramp at Olds Park. It was probably eight or nine feet high with a touch of vert. We had zero videos or anyone to learn from so we just went for it and learned as we went along. But my skateboarding friends really pushed me to learn new tricks.”

Around six months after starting at Olds Park they skated their first halfpipe. It was a tight privately-run indoor ramp in the Wollongong area, he recalls. They got the hang of riding a halfpipe and began to travel around Sydney to find places to skate. Paul remembers that there were just two other guys roller skating on vert.

“I met Mark Cicala at Manly halfpipe in Sydney. He had been roller skating for a few years on ramps before me. I learned a bit watching him ripping it up. There was one other guy that used to skate at Manly as well. We were all in our late teens or early twenties. Talking with skateboarders it seemed as though there was maybe five or six serious vert roller skaters in Australia at that time. A couple in Melbourne.”

Pre-internet era and living in Australia, a bit off the beaten track, they did not know other roller skaters – neither from different parts of the country nor from overseas.

“My friend John Findlay did a trip to Europe and took some video footage in Münster maybe around 1988 or 1990 of the vert roller skate comp. I had heard about it and seen the odd photos in skateboard magazines.”

John is also responsible for his nickname.

“John, a fantastic skateboarder, and myself formed a very close friendship. All the skateboarders pushed my limits with skating. Suggesting tricks for me to try. During some of my runs John used to call out ‘Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan!’ Like in the movie “Rollerball”. The rest was history.”

Paul says his best memories are Sunday afternoon sessions at Mona Vale ramp, half an hour north of Sydney, back in the 90s. And, of course, landing his first 540.

“I was also very lucky to have skated at many festivals such as the Warp tour or the Big Day Out where I got to skate with Brian Wainwright for two sessions. He is the vert roller skating master. Over the years I got to skate quite a few times with Tony Hawk. I have a photo of me and Tony side by side doing an invert together. There are probably not many photos of Tony Hawk doing a double run with a roller skater.”

The many years of intense skating take a toll on the body. Asked whether he still skates at the age of 55 he says he lately felt it would be about time to hang the vert skates up.

“I can still get a few airs in and grinds on vert. But my right knee doesn’t like to knee slide anymore. I miss it but unfortunately, I think my skating will be mostly on a rink now. But it has been an absolutely amazing time skating vert over the years. And I made lifelong friendships from it.”