Skate the World partners with Sto. Niño Mactan Montessori for breakthrough inline skating project in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines — After travelling to different cities and countries around the world, Austrian former pro speed skater Matthias Stelzmüller has finally found a place to pilot an inline skating project via Skate the World and it’s no other than Cebu.

In an exclusive interview with The Freeman, Stelzmuller admitted that there wasn’t so much expectations when he came to Cebu recently after a local skater, Ian Arnoco, reached out to him through social media after seeing him going to Manila and Palawan last March.

“Without Ian, Cebu wouldn’t be on my map at first. When we came here, we actually didn’t know what to expect exactly!” Stelzmuller said.

For a start, they conducted a short skills training in inline skating and organized a small competition among the existing local inline skaters in Lapu-Lapu while planning out the rest of the week to visit different tourists spots in Cebu.

“The purpose is to promote inline skating and especially help kids who maybe can’t afford to try skating that they can start to skate. So we did like a pilot project, we brought a lot of inline skates here so that they can try it and we leave them here. And we also did a competition,” Stelzmuller continued.

Then came the golden opportunity for Stelzmüller to cross paths with the founders of Sto. Niño Mactan Montessori School, Inc. (SNMMS), Charles and Sunshine Lim. From there blossomed a meaningful partnership.

“She’s a fantastic person (Sunshine Lim) and she’s helping the project and I think this is a huge game changer for us as well,” Stelzmuller said.

The plan to go to several schools was cut down into two following the overwhelming interest shown by a public school in Barangay Pajo and the SNMMS not only by students but also by the teachers.

From being an avenue for Stelzmuller to share his learnings and experiences from diverse cultures, cities and countries through inline skating, STW shifts to a higher gear with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with SNMMS for the establishment of the STW-Philippines.

“Now we see that there’s so much potential to do something big here,” he added.

Not to be confused, Skate the World is not affiliated with World Skate, the governing body of skating.

STW-Philippines draws support from TravelCare, while the inline skates donated by the Stelzmuller will be taken care of by SNMMS, which is expected to reach out to the Department of Education and other schools in the province and in the neighboring Bohol Island to scout for potential skaters.

Knowing that not all can afford to buy inline skates, Stelzmuller hopes to get more help from sponsors for him to be able to bring in proper gears and more inline skates in his return to Cebu next year. He wants more individuals to enjoy the beauty of inline skating while exploring more places and people.

For the time being, STW-Philippines is inviting interested individuals to register and attend an orientation on December 14 at Sto. Niño Mactan Montessori School’s Chill Cafe. One may register online via https://forms.gle/LobqyV3aoTRhoHnp9

STW-Philippines aspires to give more students in and out of SNMMS the opportunity to hopefully represent the country abroad for inline skating completion or even in ice skating in the future or simply explore the world away from too much screen time and worse, depression. — (FREEMAN)