Speed skating family sticks together with in-line wheels

Kirsta Lopes and her four children learn teamwork, discipline on Puyallup skating team
Roxanne Cooke / of the Herald
Published: August 29th, 2007 12:34 PM
For one Puyallup family, in-line speed skating is both a good workout and a family bonding experience.

The family – a mother and her four children – have been members of Tiffany’s Speed Team in Puyallup for about two and a half years.

“I like that we can do it together,” said Kirsta Lopes, mother of the family.

Being on a team together fosters teamwork and discipline, said Lopes, 39. Those skills will carry over into their adult life, she added.

It also keeps her involved in her children’s lives – they spend a lot of time together at practices, meets and other competitions.

“Anything that can keep you close during this time is a good thing,” Lopes said of the teenager years.

Her two daughters, Nikol and Kaila, are 14 and 12; her sons, Dominick and Mitch, are 8 and 9.

Lopes roller skated when she was a teenager in Florida, but stopped when her family moved to California. She didn’t pick it up again until Nikol, who was 12 at the time, started in-line skating at Tiffany’s Skate Inn in Puyallup.

When Nikol was fast enough, she was invited to join Tiffany’s Speed Team. At that point, Lopes thought it might be fun to join her daughter. Considering that the team’s coach was close to her age, it didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary, she said.€

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