He’s known to RollerJam fans as "The Most Dangerous Man on Skates." But Mark D’Amato, Captain of the New York Enforcers, trades his quad skates (he claims inlines are for sissies!) for skis every so often and hits the slopes for a day of skiing.
    D’Amato has been skating professionally since his teens. How did he get started?
    "I got hooked on Roller Derby at a very young age. My father used to take me to the games and we would watch them together on TV. I was fascinated by the athletism and the theatrics of the whole thing. At age 15 I joined the Roller Derby training center here in Los Angeles and shortly after that I was placed on a team. I lied and told them I was 18.
    "I played Roller Derby for the next 15 years and was lucky enough to do a lot of traveling. In 1985 I decided it was time to 'grow up' and I left the game for a more down to earth life."
    That didn’t last for long, however, as D’Amato returned to the game only a few years later.

    "At 43-years-old I was leary about skating again. I knew I was in good shape and after the urging from some family, some old time skaters, and the new rookie skaters I said yes. I have had the time of my life doing the show."     D’Amato said he learned the joys of skiing while tending bar in Killington, Vermont.
    "I live in Los Angeles and I ski locally mostly. Besides skating, I have been in the bar business most of my adult life. I was a bartender for years and I spent a winter in Killington, Vermont working at

a lodge called the Wobbley. I skied all day and tended bar all night. That is really where I learned the joy of skiing. I now take a trip to Mammoth once a year and I will occasionally haul the family to Colorado (Steamboat Springs is their favorite)."
    As a professional skater, D’Amato says that skiing and skating have some similar characteristics, but skating doesn’t necessarily improve his skiing style.
    "Skiing and skating both take balance. I have been blessed with a good sense of balance. I'm not sure that skiing has helped my skating. I think that skating has hurt my skiing, however.
    For those of you that watch RollerJam, you can see that I skate keeping my body straight up and down (not bending very much at all). I tend to ski the same way. I've spent so much time on skates that it's a hard habit to break."
    The bottom line? D’Amato says, "I was once told by a mother who was clutching her children close to her that I was a menace to the slopes. She probably was making a good point."