On a volleyball court at Geiger Park in Ewa Beach on a recent Thursday afternoon, a few people gathered to let the good times roll. As hip-hop music blared from a digital boombox and disco lights cast colors on the stage, the band skated some elegant dance moves — “crab walking,” side-sweeping heel-to-toe moves. and “crazy legs,” a move whose name alone best describes its appearance. Fueled by pandemic conditions, fueled by nostalgia and fueled by social media, roller-skating is returning to Oahu. Every month, from East to West Oahu, from Kailua to Mililani on the North Shore, more than a dozen skating sessions are held on a regular basis. Kapolei Inline Hockey Arenas, a skating rink that previously focused on hockey, offers public skating on weekends, drawing crowds. Skaters move around local parks and neighborhoods. “It’s so much fun and it’s really therapeutic,” said Harmony Moses, 33, one of the organizers of the Geiger Park session, which is held the first Thursday of each month. “And everyone is so supportive and helps you learn.” Moses played rollerblading as a child, but relaxed as he got older and started a family. Two years ago, she contracted a severe case of pneumonia that put her in the hospital for six weeks, dropped her weight to about 80 pounds, and required a walker to help her get around. She started skating again about a year and a half ago and now does it regularly at Mililani Skate Park, usually with her brother, who likes to skateboard its ramps and bowls. “When I skate I kind of forget about all my problems,” he said. “It gives my family and I a reason to get out and exercise our bodies instead of just sitting around the house (looking at) screens.” Victoria Wonsowicz, 26, co-organizer of the Geiger Park skate sessions, usually brings the music, finding hip-hop to be the best dance-skating beat. “I’ve been skating since I was 8 and dancing since I was 5, so that’s kind of how the whole dance skating thing started,” she said. When she moved to Hawaii in 2017, she hadn’t skated in quite some time. He then bought a pair of skates, initially planning to use them at local skate parks, but eventually returned to dance-skating. It wasn’t easy. “Everyone who skates with me has seen me fall, at least once or twice,” he said. She did every day for about nine months and now skates effortlessly, even teaching her dance moves to others. Wonsowicz and Moses began their Geiger Park sessions earlier this year. At the time, most of the organized skate sessions were held on East Oahu and places like Magic Island, where skaters often met on weekend nights, or at the skate parks in Kailua or Hawaii Kai. “There’s a lot of people in the military here (in West Oahu) that didn’t have a place to skate, so we brought it to this side to make it convenient for them,” Wonsowicz said. Keeping it rolling While there are basics to all forms of skating, there is also variety. There is “jam-skating” and “artistic-skating”, inspired by disco dancing and figure skating, and “aggressive skating” on ramps and bowls in skate parks. There is speed skating, street skating and trail skating. Here on Oahu, people also compete in a roller derby league. Skaters say they enjoy the sense of freedom and creativity they get from the sport and that they also feel a sense of accomplishment. Barbara Delaforce, 46, a sergeant with the Honolulu Police Department, has embarked on a “365-day challenge,” attempting to skate every day for a year. “I started on January 1st and I think I’m on day 186 or 187 today,” he said recently. “I just needed a goal, something to be accountable to. Come rain or shine, I can skate at work or at home.” She was an ice athlete and took up roller-skating during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I think like everyone, I was bored and looking for something to do. COVID made you come out,” he said. “For me it was exercise, good cardio, easy on the knees and not that much money. And you never stand still. As soon as you learn one new skill, you’ll be doing another.” She made fun of her colleagues about skating at work. “In Pakistan, they have a skating (police) unit,” he said. In its heyday during the World War II era and into the next decade, roller-skating was the most popular participatory sport in America, according to the book “Skate Crazy: Amazing Graphics from the Golden Age of Roller Skating.” Interest in skating waned during the 1960s, but revived during the disco era of the 1970s, and while it may appear to have fallen back, it remained popular in urban areas such as Detroit, Chicago, and Atlanta. More recently, dance skating has been boosted by Marcus and Michael Griffin, aka The Griffin Brothers, whose slick dance videos have gone viral and earned them appearances on “Today” and “Good Morning America.” “Skating hasn’t really made a ‘comeback’ to the mainland because it’s been popular forever,” said Melissa Garvey, 40, who runs a pop-up skate shop in the Lokahi Kailua Market and lists skating events on her website. , rollerskateoahu.com. Over the past year, she has sold dozens of skates and skate parts — rims, bearings and accessories — helping her customers find boots that fit just right. Most of her clients were middle-aged people who hadn’t skated in decades and were trying to get back into the activity, she said. “I really enjoy talking about skates, and it’s nice to meet people, and it’s nice to sell them skates and throw them and keep them rolling,” he said. Garvey has participated in roller derby and dance skating, but she especially enjoys street-skating, taking to public roads in large groups. He has skated with a group of about 6,200 skaters in New York and another group of about 400 in London. “It’s like a rolling party,” he said. “Their music is playing, everyone’s wearing lots of flashing lights, whatever you want, and you’re skating the streets for two hours.” Learning to skate On Oahu, roller-skating has had its ups and downs. Old time skaters remember a handful of rinks on Oahu, but today the main rink is the Kapolei Inline Hockey Arenas, or KIHA. Owner Richard Pentecost originally planned to limit the two-rink facility to hockey, but began offering public skate sessions in 2018 and found a welcoming audience. While KIHA had to close during the pandemic, public skating sessions now attract about 1,500 skaters a week. Jerry Anderson from Florida offers free classes at KIHA on Sunday evenings for those 18 and older. Teenagers often skate recklessly and can be “dangerous” to adults, he said, so he asked Pentecost to limit the evening to adults. About 100 people usually show up on Sunday nights, many receiving advice from Anderson. He expects the crowds to grow. “The more people find out, the more people will come. I have firsts every week,” he said. “And as long as they can get up, I’ll teach them.” Anderson brings a lifetime of skating experience to his colleagues. He is 74 years old and has been skating since he was 9, in cities like Atlanta and Detroit. He now skates in memory of his mother, who taught him to skate when he was a child. He remembers it vividly because he actually wanted to quit skating and had thrown out his skates. “Cook Christmas dinner. He closed everything and said, “Come on,” he said. “He took me back outside and went to the sidewalk with me, and he stayed with me, helping me learn how to stay awake until I could skate on my own. I always felt that if I stopped skating, it would be an insult to the effort he put into teaching me.” Social media has become the most convenient way for skaters to meet. On Facebook, there’s CIB Oahu, for people who find “community in a bowl” at skate parks, and Hawaii Master Skaters, for skaters on the island of Hawaii. Kathleen Pi’ikea Hicks, 33, of Kaneohe is co-administrator of the Hawaii Roller Skating Facebook page, where members offer tips on places to skate — the newly paved roads on Sand Island are a big hit now, for example — while others post videos on the site showing the moves they are learning. Newbies starting the 365 day challenge also love to share their journey on the site. “It’s kind of encouraging when you can see the progress they’re making in a very short period of time,” Hicks said. Hicks skated as a child, but stopped in high school and became a volleyball star at Kalaheo High School. He decided to take up skating again during the pandemic because it seemed more affordable than surfing — he researched online and found skates and protective gear for about $150. Now, as a flight attendant for Hawaiian Airlines, she travels with her skates, bringing them to places like Venice Beach in Southern California, where a bike path beckons skaters. She created her Facebook page in September 2020 and has since grown to over 1,500 members. “I was amazed when people would join and they didn’t even have skates,” he said. “Then once they got skates and everything, they’d be really active in the group.” — Roll Stores
Roller Skate Oahu: Melissa Garvey’s online store, includes information on upcoming skating sessions. Info: rollerskateoahu.com Retrospect Skateshop: Mainly focused on skateboarding, the tiny store on Kapiolani Avenue also provides wheels, bearings and kits that turn shoes into skates. Info: retrospectskateshop.com Social media On Facebook: CIB Oahu: For those interested in bowling and skating…
