Rising Stars: Meet Kaaren Burke

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kaaren Burke.  

Hi Kaaren, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
My name is KB, and I started skating in 2018. At this time in my life, I was struggling and needed an outlet. I didn’t have many friends as I’m not from Columbus and had only lived here a couple years at that point. I kept to myself and felt completely controlled by the hustle culture of working overtime at jobs that had incredibly high standards and less than adequate pay. Essentially no time to myself. 

I started going to the roller rink a couple times a month for Thursday public adult night in the earlier hours of the session, as it was milder less populated, scooting around in rentals. After some time, I gave it thought and purchased my first pair of roller skates. They were a pair of impala roller skates in Teal blue. Not the best brand of skates I’d suggest to someone who wanted to take rollerskating serious, but they got me rolling for 3 years. At the time though, I hadn’t the faintest clue how important skating was going to be to me. Not just the usual background history of every adult like myself ever reminiscent of the “I used to skate back when I was a kid” nostalgia, even though that was my own background knowledge up to this point. 

When the roller skates arrived, I was so excited put them on and went to the roller rink that night. On rentals, I had gathered some confidence, but like I said before, I just went, skated, and kept to myself. I didn’t go often or long enough each night to really get to know anybody. So that also meant I was learning everything on my own. 

I was an avid user of YouTube university for this topic. My very first channel I followed was Dirty School of Skate by Dirty Deborah Harry. To try out my new skates, I wanted to finally turn around to skate backwards the way I watched in Dirty Deborah’s tutorial. 

When I arrived for the skate night, I stretched, laced up my skates, and took a couple warm-up laps. I was there maybe 30 minutes; by this point in the night, as I arrived just after the session began the floor was beginning to populate. I ran through the video by memory to prepare to execute a move I thought had to be easy enough. 

It all happened so fast, and I twisted one wrong way, and I felt a wild pain shoot through my leg. I was already hitting the ground by the time I realized I had dislocated my knee and on impact felt it realign. 

The music stopped as people kinda fell over me before I was able to get help. The skate guards came to my aid with ice and a wheelchair got my skates off offered an ambulance, but I knew I was lucky my knee relocated as fast as it dislocated otherwise, I would have had to taken the ambulance, and that was unideal due to the circumstances of my life at that time so I was able to drive myself home. 

I, unfortunately, had work the next day called off the night before, and went to the doctor’s the following day. By the time of my exam my knee was the size of a grapefruit. The Doctor drained the fluid from my knee put a band-aid on it said rest up for about a month then I could go back to work and do physical therapy 2x a week for 2 months following but wouldn’t clear me for skating for about 9 months. 

So, it seemed the brand new roller-skates I just purchased will have to wait till I recover before I return back to spending time in them. It was then things in my life became quite harder than expected. It wasn’t before long that the news about covid began to change the world. 

As soon as it seemed I returned to work in late 2019 the world said #stayhome2020, which at the time was the hardest place to be for me. But I had recently completed my physical therapy and had a pair of skates to keep me busy. That whole spring and summer I skated what felt like 7 days a week inadvertently getting better by participating in a trend that emerged around that time #365daysofskate. 

All leisure equipment and activities practically flew off the shelves of department stores and websites for delivery. Kayaks: out of stock; Bikes: out of stock; crochet needles: out of stock; books: out of stock, let alone toilet paper. 

I was happy to have gotten my roller skates when I did because they, too, were out of stock. The resurgence of skating came back as we all in the community collectively stayed home social distanced and took up hobbies that clearly work had been inhibiting up till this point. 

As closed off and suffocated, I felt at home to get outside and roller-skate at a local parking lot since they were practically ghost towns, or often my spot was the outdoor stage at the Bicentennial Park off the Scioto River and just had nowhere but there to be from dawn to dusk getting more sun than I ever had as a kid. Learning and overcoming a setback physically and what I was suffering from mentally. It was my refuge, my peace, my happiness, my solitude. 

By the time the world started opening up again, with the exception of masks, I returned to the roller rink. My confidence surpassing even from where I left off. I started trying to do more. Researching more YouTubers like BFunkphenomenon or Kim Manning getting more instruction. 

I was staying later and realized the more advanced skaters dominated the later hours of the public session. They skated harder, they took harder falls, and squared up to others displaying their skills. Bobbing weaving the crowd, cutting by people so fast. By the time they arrived most rentals skaters had already packed up and left. 

These people with a richer background of skate culture than myself. A history that they started in skates as young as 2 years old and hadn’t taken them off ever since. A background very different from the new skating enthusiasts springing from the covid quarantine. I began to watch and pick up things faster. I asked questions on occasion, but most of the advanced skaters were busy working routines and bonding with their teammates at a level beyond me although I was working on my second year of skating, and it was beginning to show. 

I was skating and holding my own in the thick of it; the dense culture and population wasn’t affected by covid protocols as you would have thought. Risking the rink to shut down multiple times before things began to stay open. The advanced skaters began approaching me and asking when I started. I knew most of them by face or their skates even though we all wore masks now. These people I’ve been watching for the last 2 years only just now noticing me. Becoming new fast friends. 

I was drawn into a culture of people who were dedicated if not having created some of the origins of the sport and the community. I made friends started skating at private parties out of town that often were raising funds for causes like food drives, clothing drives, and donations for foundations. I was asked to join a couple groups that I politely declined. It was because I watched how it seemed 2 very different generations of skaters had an unspoken conflict. 

As many advanced skaters that approached an equal if not more number of newbies approached me asking question on how I did tricks moves or anything. All I could remember was how when I was at that place asking my peers questions similar to where these newbies are at in their skate journey, I was left much to my own devices. Learning from watching and not much instruction that I didn’t get from YouTube. 

I was getting approached by this new surge of newbies that just wanted to skate and didn’t understand the culture that laid dormant in tandem with the current rising trends that had been alive and well at the rink since the last time the trend peaked during the 70s still evolving in the comfort of a small collective. 

So, from where I stood, my perspective, I saw newbies who wanted to learn to skate who didn’t really match any style of skate, which are represented by many different regions nationally recognized within that demographic of culture, struggling to fit in. Many newbies finding it hard to enjoy learning to skate while advanced skaters jumped leaped and spun around them leaving them feeling like they were obstacles. When really the rink floor just hadn’t been this populated on regular public nights in the recent past. 

When the newbie night was introduced, it was thought to solve the problem. For some time the regulars at the public adult night Thursdays and Sundays didn’t know it existed, but not enough newbies were confident in going so for a while it wasn’t busy at all. Then more people of all levels found out about it, and it quickly became the same issue as the Thursday and Sunday nights. Advanced skaters began to attend because it wasn’t as buddy, so they used it as practice. Which drove a lot of newbies to yet again feel crowded out. 

Most nights I came to the public adult skate, I was always teaching someone something. Not that I was against teaching, but I paid to come here to skate to my heart’s content. Maybe practicing something specific or just taking it leisurely but giving direction to others to hang back and watch them and give advice meant I didn’t get around to how I wanted to skate for the night. I realized then that had to of been how these advanced skaters who have skated their whole lives had to of felt when the surge of newbies popped up out of nowhere with no knowledge of the rich history and background and varying degrees of styles of skate when in past times the rink had the same old faces often family for decades when it wasn’t the trend it is today. As for the new faces that did show up in the past, the interest then wasn’t inflated by a trending topic as it had now become, reaching other demographics of people. 

I began to see it clearly that this wasn’t a “there’s not enough room for the both of us” or even that it was necessarily a gate keeping thing; it was the resurgence of how many people began to take up skating at such a rapid pace all at once. That could easily be solved by a change of environment- a classroom environment. Taught by someone of at least competent knowledge and passion for roller skating. To help ease the transition from beginner to intermediate to advanced roller-skating in public adult skate nights domains. 

It’s no new idea I’ve come up with although here in Columbus hosting structured and organized extensive weekly skate workshops have yet to have been done before 8WheelzDown started at the Barnett Recreational Center the fall of 2022. I’m inspired by many other factions that have done what I’m attempting to do in other states that have proven to work since the pandemic and help this new wave of skaters have a better appreciation for the historical introduction to roller-skating in safe more controlled environment. 

I mean classes like Skaterobics or Inspired By Favor, Rolling Rhythm, RollerFit, Flo-sthetic, Skatesastic, and many more all over the country being taught by people ranging from all kinds of backgrounds but making skating more accessible to people omitting the intimidation and overwhelming “lights Camera action” exciting chaos of the adult skate nights to learn the basics and eventually learn how to navigate those waters and enjoy it for what it is- deep culture, community, and activism- rather than be thrown in the deep end and end up discouraged. Learning etiquette and fundamentals to keep people safe, confident, and knowledgeable to have creative and intuitive fun in environments suited for the level of skill set of the participants. 

Essentially, I saw a need within my local community and like others before me, filled it. I’ve had many people come and go as I really developed on the idea of what I wanted 8WheelzDown to be. One thing I knew to be true not only “if you build it, they will come” but that the skate community is family-oriented no matter what time period you visit. In this world, we could cultivate a lot more of that village mentality, even outside our comfort zones. 8WheelzDown comes from the Idiom “I’m ten toes down” meaning being solid as an individual or to be devoted & committed to something or someone. Community. That’s what I wanted to see 2 generations finding a way to bridge the gap and evolve into a new age of inclusion and Cultural appreciation, and cultural diffusion. 

In a time where there’s already so much division, discrimination, and tension, I’ve seen Rollerskating has been a major tool in the marches of 2020 the human rights of BLM and LGBT movements only mimicking the echo of histories past of human right activists with the awareness of social injustices used to fight against those that try to roll over the people of the community. 

So, it’s the mission of 8WheelzDown to be ambassadors of rollerskating and to use it as a means to draw in funds for events and public services that can help people in need. Groups like disenfranchised youth and education, or the houseless, food insecure, domestic abused, women children, LGBT, immigrants, people expericing addictions, and other marginalized people. Making rollerskating accessible people afflicted by these tragedies to have opportunities to stride for self-love expression, healing, and therapy. 

We want to build found families within the community to foster deep long-lasting connections. Rollerskating has already been able to build relationships we can rely on to show up for each other. That’s what being 8WheelzDown is all about. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Some personal challenge I faced while beginning the process of starting the 8WheelzDown roller-skate classes at the Columbus recreation centers was this year, I had recently gone to the doctor for an MRI of the knee I had dislocated and found out I have arthritis. 

That news at age 27 with future plans that required full use of my body definitely made me pace myself. I have been doing physical therapy for a couple months a couple times a week and have felt some relief to stay ready for the upswing in response to the new classes were getting for this coming spring. 

Alot of the adult students who take the class are years older than myself ranging from 30-50 years old. So, when it comes to pain and the safety of skating, I don’t exceed my pain threshold and try to make sure the students can gage that and listen to their bodies as well. Because if there’s one thing I know, is that there is an addictive side to rollerskating. 1 of two things is gunna happen when a newbie hurts themselves severely while on skates, they either A. Never put skates on again, or B. Rush the healing process to get back out on skates as soon as possible. 

One thing is for sure Noone will ever make it out of the skate journey never having fallen not once, as it goes for most athletic sports. Teaching classes that focus on safter of how to fall and how to attempt risky things safely builds confidence and awareness of one’s style pace, and level of enjoyment of roller-skate at any age. 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
8WheelzDown roller-skate classes began the second fall session of 2022 for a duration of 6 weeks 1 day a week for an hr. from 5:00 pm-6:00 pm. As this was the first class, only 4 people registered, one of them being my best friend since childhood, I taught this class solo. It was around the holiday season, and we pledged to take the profits of the cost of registration per participant and donate to a cause. 

The cause we choose to support was to Star House of Columbus, a program the supports unhoused youth. We bought brand new personal items like women children and men socks underwear bras leggings hats gloves, then did a clothing drive and collected other items like coats bookbags small tents shoes, and other items. Overall, we donated nearly 800 dollars’ worth of items and was happy to be praised for the essential personal items as those were the most needed items. 

This past winter season that just concluded the most recent class, Every spot filled the week of registration! A drastic turn around compared to the season prior. I enlisted the help of my best Skate/business friend and partner Jevon, talented in his own right as a musician and skater but was one of the first people I bonded deeply with for the passion of skate. We taught this new class together working closely to fine-tune the mechanics of how to approach the curriculum we were developing to a larger group. After some deliberation we decided that the proceeds of this past winter season and the future funds of this coming spring would go toward 8WheelzDown organizations goals to meet by end of 2023 (or earlier): 

1: become a nonprofit organization 

2: Open Free Youth Summer Open Skate Program (possibly also after school by the fall) 

3: Raise funds for free rental skate options (all ages and sizes) 

4: create a Youth Beginner Roller-skate and an Introduction to Intermediate Roller-skate classes 

The 8WheelzDown mission is to create a safe inclusive learning space for the fundamentals of rollerskating, including balance training, strength building, and technical footwork, which will be the foundation for inspiring interest in different styles of Roller Skating as well as how we can better serve our communities with awesome and exciting fundraisers social services and events. 

Pricing:

• Adult classes are 100 dollars for all 16 1 hour classes over the course of 8 weeks or a drop in price of 12 dollars per single day admission
• Open Skate is 60 dollars a for all 8 weeks 1 day a week for 2 hours

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/8wheelzdown?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/567642547094512/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT
• Other: https://linktr.ee/8wheelzdown

Image Credits
PotatoClips Media LLC