Ball State’s rollerskating club offers students an escape from schoolwork
“[Our mission is] to build unity through skating, teach people how to skate and [teach] the dance techniques [of skating]. We also like to describe [the club] as something for students to take their mind off of school and meet new people,” he said.
With workshops scheduled roughly every other Wednesday, room 310 of the university’s L.A. Pittenger Student Center is often filled with students gliding across the linoleum floor on their roller skates learning new tricks.
The workshops typically begin with some form a of warm-up exercise, and from there, members can spend the meeting time as they see fit.
“We just let [students] skate, and then we’ll start doing our own routine or dance moves that we’ve already practiced,” President of “8 Rollers” Aubrey Myers said. “The skaters will ask us, ‘Teach us this,’ or ‘Show me how you do that.’ It’s really up to the skater and how they feel. We don’t want to force them to learn anything. They can just come in and do their own thing.”
Marissa Wadleigh, a member of “8 Rollers,” shared why she joined the club and what she enjoys about it.
“I really like rollerskating, and I hadn’t really learned [in] this type of style before,” Wadleigh said. “It gives me a way to skate and to try new things.”
The executive board members said they believe their workshops are what their members value most about “8 Rollers.”
“Even if [students] don’t have their skates, they can come in, sit down. There’s some people that do that all the time. We always just say ‘come vibe,’” Cook said.
This style of learning skating techniques and flexible meeting times is appreciated by first-year club members like Aimee Martinez.
“I like how [“8 Rollers”] is not like other clubs where you always have to be there. With [“8 Rollers”], [you] just come out and have fun, that’s the whole point of it,” Martinez said.
“8 Rollers” occasionally practices outside the campus’s Multicultural Center when the weather is nice. Myers said the center’s outdoor space is also ideal for the club to host its fundraising events, the most recent being the club’s October bake sale.
Apart from meetings, workshops and events, “8 Rollers” also performs and showcases— both on and off campus. In April, Myers said three of the club’s members participated in the Royal Elite’s Annual Spring showcase.
“8 Rollers” has also been invited by Ball State’s RedPrint Step Team to perform in their upcoming “Lights, Camera, STEP” showcase Nov. 9 in Pruis Hall.
Executive board members of “8 Rollers” said they have also considered hosting a skating party or their own performance showcase in the near future, possibly collaborating with other campus clubs to expand outreach in the coming years.
“I’d love to try to do more showcases and performances and just different types of events that bring more people out,” Myers said.
Vice president of “8 Rollers” Zanyah Seals and Myers both said they feel the team has progressed over the years due to an increase in campus popularity, more performance opportunities and overcoming challenges such as struggling to find spots on campus to rollerskate.
“It’s grown a lot because when I first joined, we were just going to workshops every Wednesday, and we probably did, like, one showcase a year— so we didn’t really have much exposure,” Seals said. “I’d definitely say we upped our game because people know us now.”
Students interested in joining “8 Rollers” or learning new skating techniques can check out the club’s Instagram page, the Ball State Student Organizations page or attend one of their workshop meetings, held bi-weekly on Wednesdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the student center, room 310.
Contact Gracie Parkhurst via email at gracie.parkhurst@bsu.edu.
This article is republished as part of a collaborative content-sharing agreement between Ball State Unified Media and Indiana Public Radio, established to expand access to high-quality journalism and to better inform and serve the public through trusted, in-depth reporting.
