East Idaho scooter athlete does his magic to earn a spot at the World Skate Games

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BLACKFOOT — A 16-year-old professional scooter rider from eastern Idaho has set his sights on traveling to Paraguay to compete at a global level, against riders from 100 different countries.

Blackfoot’s Jacob Roll started riding at the age of 6. Now 16, he’s qualified for the World Skate Games happening in Paraguay, October 5-10.

Performing in the junior scooter division — for participants under the age of 18 — Jacob competed in state and national competitions to earn enough points and be considered for the U.S. Scooter Team.

“I’m pretty confident,” Jacob said. “I was pretty nervous for nationals … but it is mostly excitement.”

World Skate organizes the competition that seeks to increase respect for wheel-based sports across the globe. From skateboarding to inline hockey to roller freestyling and more, over 100 countries compete each year to win world titles, international recognition and cash prizes.

Although Jacob will not be competing for a cash prize, as part of the junior division, he has the chance to earn a title and get his name out there for future competitions in the adult division or for potential sponsors.

Proving his place among other professional scootering athletes, Roll scored well in the state competition, earning 45 out of 50 points for his trick alone.

“Nobody even scored close to that,” said Linda Roll, Jacob’s mother. “We didn’t realize how good he really was until he went in and took first (place).”

In scooter competitions, riders complete two timed rounds, during which they perform back-to-back tricks as they scoot around a course. The judges give each round a score between 1 and 100, then the athlete takes the higher of the two scores. The competition ends with riders performing a major trick that is scored from 1 to 50.

“He has spent so much of his time getting proficient at this sport, and he’s good. I think he will do great at the World Skate,” Linda said.

It isn’t only Jacob’s parents who believe in him; Kai Martin, a two-time winner at U.S. Street competitions and a one-time World Skate champion, called Jacob to see if he would be at the nationals and to share his excitement to ride with him as a fellow competitor.

“He wanted to see where I could go with scooting,” Jacob said.

The journey has not been without its challenges.

Before scootering, Jacob dabbled in several sports and was noted as a strong athlete. His mom says a trampoline coach even wanted him to join a team that prepares for the Olympics.

According to Linda, the coach said Jacob has strong proprioception — the body’s ability to sense its own position and movement without relying on vision.

“We rented him some (skis)m and within a week he was doing a backflip,” Linda said.

This talent made Jacob a prime athlete for sports like basketball and soccer. When he told his parents he wanted to go into scootering, they initially put up some resistance.

“We just saw scootering as more of a hobby,” Linda said. “I do not think we were necessarily thrilled when he first said he wanted to get into (scootering), because sometimes the skate park doesn’t have the best reputation.”

But once Jacob demonstrated his dedication, even going as far as building his own practice skate park and spending hours traveling between Blackfoot, Pocatello, and Idaho Falls to practice with friends for hours, Jacob’s parents came around.

“We decided we just gotta get behind him on this,” Linda said. “It makes me really proud of him.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up for Jacob, and his scooting content can be found on Instagram and TikTok.