Skating is My Therapy: Ms. Yvonne Shares Lessons From The Rink

At ten years old, Ms. Yvonne was learning to skate backwards. Her father introduced the hobby to her four years prior and the two regularly went out to Bridgeville, Pennsylvania to skate.

“The more we went, the better I got,” Yvonne recalls. 

Getting good comes at a cost. The price of learning to glide is being slammed onto the slicked wooden floor of the rink. 

“I remember falling on the skate floor and I was like, ‘Wow…’ I got right back up and did it again,” she said. 

Yvonne was so enamored, so unafraid of falling, she took her education to the harder, less forgiving concrete. 

“I’d skate in the street more than in the rink,” she explains. “That’s how I learned how to skate backwards. On the corner from a pole that I used to push off from.” 

Away from the rink, there was a certain sense of freedom. 

“There’s no rules in the street. You can jump, maneuver. That’s a good way to learn,” she said. 

The rink had its charm though. It was in the smoothness, both in texture and the style of the people Yvonne studied as inspiration. 

“Being able to dance, to network with the people and watch how they move and pick up some of the moves that they have, it was awesome to me,” she said. “I would sit there and watch people do things and then I would go try it.”

There’s no rules in the street

As an adult, the rink would become more than just a place to observe and socialize. Today, well-seasoned at 57, Yvonne describes it as her therapy. 

“I’m a traveling CNA (certified nursing assistant) so I see a lot,” Yvonne said. “Skating, is like letting go of all the baggage, all the weight. Just being free, forgetting about the issues and situations of this world. There’s no confusion. No noise. Just enjoying the music, the way I would when I’m dancing. I’m just free, getting in a good exercise and a good sweat.”

Even though Yvonne has spent decades rolling, teaching her children and still going 4-5 times a week when she’s home in Atlanta, there is still the risk of falling. 

Recently, Yvonne was injured skating at Cascade in Atlanta. She’d had a premonition that something would happen to her there. Still, a rough week at work convinced her to go anyway. 

“I worked four fourteen-hour-[days],” Yvonne remembers. “And I said, ‘I need therapy. I’m going skating.’ But God said, ‘Be mindful. This is the space where you’re going to get hurt.’”             

Skating, is like letting go of all the baggage...

Sure enough, as Yvonne was moving in a trio with two other skaters, Skate Fantasy and Memphis, a boatload of other skaters attempted to enter the rink. At the same time, Skate Fantasy left the trio, breaking the hold the three women had on one another. 

“Skate Fantasy didn’t let me know that she let go,” Yvonne explains. “She didn’t let Memphis know and we were still holding. All of these people were getting on the floor with these rentals.”

Somewhere in the melee, Memphis and Yvonne lost their balance. 

“My whole right ankle did a 360,” she explains. “Memphis was trying to keep me from falling but he ended up landing on it.”

Yvonne instructed her skating partners to carry her to the side of the rink, thinking she’d eventually be able to collect herself and exit on her own. She couldn’t. People carried her to her car. Then she realized she couldn’t drive it. 

“I’d never broken anything and my whole body went into a shock while I was driving. [I thought] I’m going to need surgery. I could hear my body say, ‘What did you just do?!’”

‘What did you just do?!’”

 Eventually, Yvonne’s daughter got her to the emergency room. After some hesitation, doctors confirmed that Yvonne had indeed broken her ankle.

Yvonne’s recovery was long. But she believes had she followed doctor’s orders, it would have been even longer. 

“It took me 6-8 months to recover because I was moving every single day,” she said. “Never sit down when they tell you to take it easy. Don’t. My friend took me to lunch every Sunday. She’d buzz in the gate and we’d go skating. I didn’t skate. I just went to the rink.”

Even though Yvonne couldn’t stay away from the rink, she still had to work–physically and mentally–to be ready to get back on it. 

She walked around her house in her skates, strengthening and preparing her ankle. 

Mentally, she developed a mantra. 

“I said I divorce fear right now,” Yvonne repeats. 

It’s advice she would offer anyone who’s scared of falling, in any area of life. 

“Divorce fear. Get your mind right,” she urges. “Fear has held us back from so many things that God has in store for us. Serve fear notice.”

Divorce fear.

Today, Yvonne is back out on the rink, her signature accessory, a fan, in tow. 

The fan was a prop she started using in 2020. A woman from the group the Skate Sisters gifted her with one and then three more after the first one was stolen. Yvonne got another divine message about the gift.

“I was sitting in the house and I heard the Holy Spirit say, ‘Take the fan skating.”

Yvonne pushed back. 

“I said, I already blow a whistle. I have a rag. I heard the Lord say, ‘Take the fan.’”

Yvonne, a music lover and self proclaimed “beat person” popped her fan in time. 

“I thought, ‘Let’s make a sound.’” 

She started to enjoy it. And it certainly helped her stand out even more on the rink. 

Let's make a sound.

“I like the fact of listening to the beat but also, it’s a warning,” Yvonne said, getting serious. “For those that don’t know, I protect my ankle. It’s a warning to let you know that I am here.”

We see her. Yvonne’s presence on the rink is exuberant, memorable. Videos of her skating, smiling, popping and gliding radiate joy. Whether you witness her in person or through the phone screen, she elicits a level of intrigue. 

“I got some ingredients that somebody else might need,” Yvonne says, confirming the notion. 

And she’s clear about her source. 

“The word says, ‘The joy of the Lord is my strength,” Yvonne quotes. “Just knowing that God loves us makes me smile. Just knowing that He stopped by and thought about us, tapped us on our shoulder and said, ‘Okay, get up. Let’s go again.’ That’s major.”