I AM a skater but also a citizen of York. I consider myself to be a good citizen at that; I am law abiding, polite and respectful and attained seven A-grades in my GCSEs. I have done voluntary work at an after-school club and I assist people in the street if they need directions. Despite this, I come up against verbal abuse, discrimination and violence.

Why? Because I play with wheels on my feet. The ignorance my friends and myself encounter is astounding.

Despite our efforts to be polite, in the past year I have been called a criminal more times than I care to remember. I have been punched twice and pushed down two flights of stairs. I have had my hat thrown on a roof and have been threatened with a knife.

All this has been perpetrated by "ordinary" members of the public and security guards who assume all skaters are aggressive, immature and unreasonable.

While some members of the skating community might show these traits, I ask you, are all drivers road rage- crazed psychopaths? Are all football fans mindless hooligans? Exactly.

Skaters are skaters. They may dress in a certain way, they may listen to a certain type of music and they may all like skating, but skaters are also people and some people are aggressive, immature and unreasonable. It's a fact of life.

Most skaters are active, enthusiastic and trying to do what they love without being hassled. So I want to stand up for a misunderstood culture.

I am a rollerblader. I am not a skateboarder. While the two may share elements, they are different. However, I know skateboarders experience similar problems.

Street skating is the root of my sport. Rollerbladers started out in the street and skate parks will never offer a true alternative.

Councils are eager to discourage street skating. It makes the place look untidy. Skaters don't fit with pedestrian schemes and tourism policies; but councils will not control street-skating while they build small, badly designed and understaffed skate parks.

It's time for the council to stop assuming that building a "designated skateboard facility" (what about rollerbladers and BMX riders?) the size of a large bedroom will stop people street skating.

They assume we street skate because there's nowhere else, never stopping to think that we might want to be there.

Another misconception is that jumping on to a stone wall in my plastic rollerblades, rolling along it and jumping off will cause irreparable damage. Or that jumping down a flight of steps at the Minster is disrespectful. Or, to put it another way, more disrespectful than the Minster police, who have been known to walk over and say: "Right lads, f*** off or I'll have you arrested."

Or the thousands of tourists who flock to this magnificent building every day, take pictures, drop litter and cross it off on their list.

Skating has made me appreciate the astonishing beauty of the city I was lucky enough to be born in. I never saw the Minster in the way that visitors do until I started skating in its shadow.

Skating has taught me to love York more than ever. It hurts me when a passer-by calls me disrespectful as I believe that celebrating the life and good health God has given me by skating is a perfectly good way to show my respect and gratitude.

Surely by living life to the full and doing what I love more than anything, I am giving thanks. More so than slouching in front of the television.

Another argument against street skating is that it causes "thousands of pounds worth of damage to public and private property".

These claims are exaggerated. I appreciate that grinding (sliding along a wall on a part of the bike/board without the wheels touching the stone) can cause stone to be chipped. But rollerblades have no metal parts and a plastic that is able to chip granite has not to my knowledge been invented yet.

Society tries to both embrace and shun skate culture. Advertising executives include skating in commercials and brand products as "Xtreme" - while employing security guards to keep skaters away from their pristine marble office blocks.

My main wish is to let people make up their own minds. I do not have much capacity for hatred. I have, however, met many people who have expressed hatred towards me because of what I do.

Thank you for listening to a skater's point of view.

Updated: 08:09 Saturday, October 19, 2002