Skating Through Life Photo by Ralph Demilio
For Joey Mantia, a lifetime on skates has been ‘magical’ BY BRAD ROGERS
J
oey Mantia was 7 when he first started hanging out at the Skate-AWay South skating rink off Silver Springs Boulevard in Ocala. He had tried baseball, gymnastics and karate, none of which worked out. So, he turned to roller skating. It was fun and allowed the youngster to play in air conditioning, out of the Florida heat. As he skated around the roller rink day after day, he got faster and faster. That speed quickly caught the eye of rink owner and renowned inline skating coach Renee Hildebrand. Within a year, Mantia was skating on Hildebrand’s competitive inline skating team and winning medals, including a national championship in his first year. Yes, at
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| APR 2022 | OCALAMAGAZINE.COM
age 8. He would evolve into a self-described “rink rat” and over the next dozen years go on to win an astounding 28 world championships and set six world records. It was a remarkable career that made Mantia one of the greatest, if not the greatest, inline skater ever. How great? He won the American Speed Skater of the Year award three years in a row, in 2005, 2006 and 2007. And in his last year as a Junior, Mantia competed in 12 events at the World Championships, winning 10 gold medals and two silvers. But he wanted more. IN SEARCH OF GOLD So, the world’s premier inline skater decided he wanted to try what other top inline skat-
ers had -- switch to ice. For one reason: the chance to win an Olympic medal. He packed up and left Ocala for Salt Lake City, Utah, where the national speedskating team trains. After 12 years of training with the national team and taking part in three Olympic Games (2014, 2018 and this year) Mantia finally won his Olympic medal, a bronze in the team pursuit at the Beijing Games two months ago. It was what may be the beginning of the end of a long and certainly unexpected journey for the 36-year-old. And what a journey it’s been. “I had no idea in high school that this was going to be my life and where it was going to take me,” the Vanguard High School
