The Homewood-Brushton YMCA filled with the sounds of roller skaters of all ages doing laps around the gym while the first snow of the season came down outside last Thursday.

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The PGH SK8 collaborative works to provide accessible and safe spaces for the skating community. Rico Rucker, president of PGH SK8, has been devoted to finding these spaces for the last three years, and hopes to turn the Greater Pittsburgh Coliseum into a roller rink.

“I know the change it would bring to this community to open up a skating rink that will be Black-owned, for us, by us,” Rucker said.

Dozens of skaters and community members came to watch the screening of the 2018 HBO documentary “United Skates.” The film follows roller skating culture and communities and the devastation of sweeping roller rink closures in cities across the U.S.

“To show this movie tonight was a way to show my community that, ‘Hey, look what Los Angeles did,’” Rucker said. “They turned that roller rink that closed down to a community asset.” 

After the screening, PGH SK8 held a panel featuring OG skaters Marlo “FloJo” Jones and Darryl “Dangerous D” Meadows. Together, Meadows and Jones host adult skate nights at the Pittsburgh Indoor Sports Arena, in Cheswick. Meadows, who has been skating for 56 years, hopes PGH SK8 will succeed in opening a rink in the city. 

“We need a rink that we can call our own,” he said. “We are gonna keep on rolling no matter what.”

Anastasia Busby is a photojournalist with PublicSource who can be reached at anastasia@publicsource.org and on Instagram @abuzzbee_photography.

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The Glimpse: ‘Keep rolling no matter what’ says PGH SK8 in face of roller rink shortage

by Anastasia Busby, Pittsburgh's Public Source
November 26, 2024

<h1>The Glimpse: ‘Keep rolling no matter what’ says PGH SK8 in face of roller rink shortage</h1> <p class="byline">by Anastasia Busby, Pittsburgh's Public Source <br />November 26, 2024</p> <p>The Homewood-Brushton YMCA filled with the sounds of roller skaters of all ages doing laps around the gym while the first snow of the season came down outside last Thursday.</p> <p>The PGH SK8 collaborative works to provide accessible and safe spaces for the skating community. Rico Rucker, president of PGH SK8, has been devoted to finding these spaces for the last three years, and hopes to turn the Greater Pittsburgh Coliseum into a roller rink.</p> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP7EHi_NV6U </div> </figure> <p>“I know the change it would bring to this community to open up a skating rink that will be Black-owned, for us, by us,” Rucker said.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://www.publicsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/11212024_pghsk8_AB_121.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1313276" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Rico Rucker, president of PGH SK8, skates with friends on Nov. 21, at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA in Homewood. (Photo by Anastasia Busby/PublicSource)</figcaption></figure> <p>Dozens of skaters and community members came to watch the screening of the 2018 HBO documentary “United Skates.” The film follows roller skating culture and communities and the devastation of sweeping roller rink closures in cities across the U.S.</p> <p>“To show this movie tonight was a way to show my community that, ‘Hey, look what Los Angeles did,’” Rucker said. “They turned that roller rink that closed down to a community asset.”&nbsp;</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://www.publicsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/11212024_pghsk8_AB_041-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1313279" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Marlo “FloJo” Jones speaks with Darryl Meadows after a screening of the HBO documentary "United Skates" on Nov. 21, at Homewood-Brushton YMCA. Jones and Meadows host adult skate nights at Pittsburgh Indoor Sports Area. (Photo by Anastasia Busby/PublicSource)</figcaption></figure> <p>After the screening, PGH SK8 held a panel featuring OG skaters Marlo “FloJo” Jones and Darryl “Dangerous D” Meadows. Together, Meadows and Jones host adult skate nights at the <a href="https://www.pisausa.com/">Pittsburgh Indoor Sports Arena, in Cheswick</a>. Meadows, who has been skating for 56 years, hopes PGH SK8 will succeed in opening a rink in the city.&nbsp;</p> <p>“We need a rink that we can call our own,” he said. “We are gonna keep on rolling no matter what.”</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://www.publicsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/11212024_pghsk8_AB_611-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1313281" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">“AJ” Jones skates on Nov. 21, at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA. (Photo by Anastasia Busby/PublicSource)</figcaption></figure> <p><em>Anastasia Busby is a photojournalist with PublicSource who can be reached at </em><a href="mailto:anastasia@publicsource.org"><em>anastasia@publicsource.org</em></a><em> and on Instagram </em><a href="https://www.instagram.com/abuzz_photography/"><em>@abuzzbee_photography</em></a>.</p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-roller-skate-hbo-documentary-united-skates-screening-roller-rink/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org&quot;&gt;Pittsburgh&#039;s Public Source&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.publicsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cropped-ps_circle_favicon_blue.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=1313273&amp;amp;ga4=G-CCLXQK5C14&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-roller-skate-hbo-documentary-united-skates-screening-roller-rink/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/publicsource.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

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