Has the Pandemic Changed Roller Skating?

You could argue that the pandemic hasn’t changed roller skating, but it gave it (and, by default, roller skates) a popularity boost. It’s also produced a new generation of skaters.

People wanted skates in bright colors, badass skates, serious skates, custom skates, professional skates. Locked up and scrolling, people wanted an activity that took them outside or safely into their garages— something that would make them forget what was going on in the world.

They wanted to jam like German influencer and jam skater Oumi Janta, who posted a video of her smoothly dancing on skates to “In Deep We Trust” in the summer of 2020; it’s received millions of views.

Minnesota-based Riedell Skates, founded in 1945, has seen record demand for its skates over the past couple of years. “That was crazy,” says Tyler Havens, Riedell’s marketing manager. “Sales tripled and quadrupled.” In the early days of the pandemic, the company struggled to manufacture and ship skates fast enough, mainly due to supply-chain issues.

Current mainstream popularity notwithstanding, roller skating has been around for a long time. And it’s important to remember that roller skating has played a supporting role in Black culture, from the civil rights movement to hip-hop to Black Lives Matter.

“United Skates,” a film that debuted a few years ago, documents some of that culture, along with the loss of roller rinks across the country and why those spaces are so important to the African American skating community. When I contacted Tiffany Fisher-Love, one of the film’s producers, to discuss Sacramento’s skating culture, she said I should talk to Richard Humphrey and Michelle Noble. “They are the heart of the skating community and skate action in Northern California,” FisherLove wrote in an email.

Richard Humphrey, the self-titled Rollerdance Man, started skating as a kid in the ’50s. Later, he says, it became “a passion, a hobby and a career.” Now 70, he has had both knees replaced, but he can still do the splits—just not as low. He’s taught people how to skate—his own style of roller dancing—since 1990. When the pandemic hit, he started holding classes outdoors at tennis and basketball courts. Suddenly, there were 60 to 80 people a week learning Humphrey’s signature moves.

Janta posted about meeting Humphrey (she called him an OG) in 2021 and noted that, decades ago, he was perfecting some of the moves skaters are obsessed with today. For example, “downtown,” where you cross your skates over one another while going side-to-side, was called the “the long” by Humphrey—he showcased it in his first instructional video.

“Skating has always been popular,” Humphrey tells me. “It didn’t come back. It’s just that the pandemic made more people aware of how much fun roller skating is, what it always was. What has really helped skating a lot now is the technology, the equipment—that makes it much more fun, much safer.”

Humphrey advises beginners not to be intimidated by skaters on social media. “They were not always good. They were in your shoes at one time,” he says. “It gives you hope that you can be like that yourself if you put in the time, the hours.”

I think about his advice as I skate with what looks like thousands of children at The Rink on Bradshaw Road. I stick close to the wall, but after finding my skate legs, I feel some of my old confidence. Most of the younger skaters hold onto rolling walkers. Despite their skate aids, the kids careen and wobble, all jutting elbows and flying skates. One falls and then another and another as I dodge flailing limbs.

Michelle Noble, one of the skaters in “United Skates,” is passionate about preserving skating rinks and culture—like so many of her skating peers. “These spaces have been safe places where we raised our kids, where we’ve met our spouses, where we’ve built lifelong friendships and community,” she says.

While Havens says the roller-rink business is strong (Riedell also supplies rental skates to rinks), I wonder, strong in which communities? In California, where property prices are high, it’s likely more lucrative to build another big-box store than preserve a roller-skating rink.