A warm breeze is building over South America, a gathering Storm that the World is watching closely. But It’s not just the Waters off the Pacific Coast, but the gathering of the world’s greatest athletes on Wheels, all defending into the heart of the continent for the sporting event of the year. The World Skate Games arrive in Paraguay, bringing the very best of international Inline Hockey to a country where the sport is still at the beginning of its journey, and offering a fascinating opportunity to see how a new generation of players can be inspired by the highest levels of competition.

For World Skate, bringing an event of this scale and calibre to developing markets is an important part of the wider growth of the skate sports. For Inline Hockey in particular, South America has become an increasingly important part of that story. Colombia, Argentina and Brazil have already established themselves on the international stage, while Uruguay and others continue to develop their own place within the worldwide hockey family.

Now Paraguay gets its chance.

The World Skate Games run from October 2 to 18, with more than 10,000 participants from over 100 countries competing across 12 sports and 23 disciplines, in venues spread across Asunción, San Bernardino and Altos.

Inline Hockey will be based at the Comité Olímpico Paraguayo park in Asunción, using two very different but equally interesting venues. The Polideportivo, also known as the COP Arena, will host Rink 1, while Rink 2 will be located inside the Velódromo Olímpico Nacional. Both are multipurpose facilities, with the velodrome being repurposed for the competition, creating two relatively tight and intimate venues for the hockey.

That could make for something rather special. Paraguay is already familiar with high-level sporting competition in the Olympic Park, and if the local spectators come to experience Inline Hockey, these intimate venues have the potential to produce the kind of enthusiasm and energy that South American sport is famous for. For a sport seeking to establish itself in a new territory, there can surely be few better introductions than seeing the world's finest players competing at close quarters.

The first action begins this Friday with free practice for the Junior Men and Senior Women, before the opening rounds begin on the road towards the first finals on October 9.

The Junior Men arrive with 18 teams divided into four groups, although India have unfortunately withdrawn at the last moment. Slovakia, Spain, USA, France, Chinese Taipei, Namibia and Italy will all be among the teams to watch.

The Junior Women feature eight teams across two groups, with Spain, USA and Italy among the leading names. The Senior Women bring ten teams divided into two groups, with Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Argentina adding a particularly strong South American presence. France arrive as convincing champions from 2021, while Spain will be looking to go one step further after narrowly losing to USA in 2024.

Then comes the Senior Men, with 19 teams across four groups. Among them will be Paraguay themselves, making their first official international appearance as an Inline Hockey team. There may be no expectation of immediate success, but the opportunity to experience competition at this level could be enormously valuable, giving players the chance to see, feel and understand what international hockey can offer, and perhaps inspiring a whole new generation to pick up a stick.

One notable absence from the Senior Men's competition is Canada. The hockey giant has brought only a Junior Men's squad to Paraguay, a surprising decision given Canada's longstanding place in international hockey. The Canadian organisation has cited “fiscal and operational responsibility” as the reason for its reduced participation this year, leaving its Junior Men to carry the maple leaf into the competition. At the very top of the Senior Men's field, meanwhile, the familiar rivalry returns. Czechia and USA have been locked together at the highest level of the sport for years, with USA taking the honours in the most recent competitions. The battle for Gold will be one of the major stories of the Games. But there is another story beginning on these rinks which may ultimately prove just as significant.

The 2026 competition introduces a new World Skate rulebook, bringing significant changes to the way Inline Hockey will be played. A delay-of-game call will apply when teams hold the puck behind their own net, VAR is being introduced, match timing and duration have changed, and a revised offside rule will prevent a team in possession from retreating back across the centre line once it has been crossed. The intention is clear: to make an already fast and dynamic sport even faster, create more scoring opportunities and reduce the ability of teams to freeze a result and manage the game.

Andrea Fonzari believes the changes should have precisely that effect, while acknowledging that there will inevitably be an adjustment period as players, coaches and officials become accustomed to the new interpretation. “The new rules should make the game faster and create many more scoring opportunities,” Fonzari says. “They should also reduce the possibility of teams ‘freezing’ a result and managing the game.” The officials are equally aware that a significant change in the rules brings its own challenges.

Chief Referee Nils Pfeffer believes the refereeing team is prepared, but expects that some time will be required for everyone to adapt. “I think the new rules from a referees perspective will bring some challenges. But our hope is to make the game cleaner and more consistent,” Pfeffer says. Daily meetings and constructive feedback will be an important part of that process, allowing the officials to compare experiences and work towards a consistent interpretation throughout the competition.

Eddy Rojas, Inline Hockey Technical Commissioner, is placing the technical meetings high on the agenda as the final preparations for the opening matches begin. “The technical meetings will be important to ensure all teams understand the new rules and their implementation,” Rojas says.

There is already some evidence that the transition can work smoothly. Ramin Atchegichi, an IHTC member and referee at the recent Asian Club Cup Championships, has already officiated under the new rules.

“I applied the new rules at this competition, and everything went smoothly, with positive feedback. Teams and referees adapted well, and we had no issues,” he says. That is a positive endorsement, but it will be fascinating to see how universally that experience is repeated. While some national organisations have already begun implementing the new formats, others have had considerably less opportunity to do so, meaning that Paraguay could provide the first major international test of how consistently the new rules are understood and applied across the worldwide game. From a technical perspective, that makes these Games particularly interesting. The impact may be seen not only in the speed and scoring of individual matches, but in the way different hockey cultures adapt to a common set of rules.

For Inline Hockey, however, these Games represent something larger than simply the introduction of a new rulebook. Around the world, different leagues and competitions have developed their own interpretations and traditions, sometimes producing significant differences in how the game is played. Many countries have only recently begun implementing the 2026 rules, and for some this will be the first major competition in which they are used.

South American hockey has had more opportunity to adapt to the new rules locally, but elsewhere the changes are still very new. This makes Paraguay a fascinating testing ground — not just for the athletes competing here, but for the future development of the sport itself.

As Fonzari puts it, “The World Skate Games are the Olympics of our federation.” They have already travelled through China, Spain, Argentina and Italy, and now arrive in Paraguay, taking Inline Hockey to places where the sport might otherwise never have reached.

The challenge will be to fill these new venues and inspire local spectators to become passionate about the game. The opportunity is to show a new audience exactly what Inline Hockey can be, and show the world Inline Hockey Family that the sport remains a thriving centre point of these games.

With new teams, new rules, new venues in new countries, and a rapidly developing South American hockey community, the stage is set for a mighty tempest of competition. The world's Inline Hockey family has arrived in Paraguay, the temperatures are running hot! The world is watching. Now the games begin!