Speaker 1: 0:09

Hey there, welcome to how Do you Skate, the ultimate destination for all skating enthusiasts. We cater to everyone, from beginners to pros. Whether you love inline and ice skating or prefer quads and skateboarding, we have it all covered, and we bring you exclusive interviews with professionals, talented amateurs and influencers in the industry. So sit back, relax and get ready for an exciting journey into the world of skating.

Speaker 2: 0:40

Welcome to this week's episode of how Do you Skate. I'm your host, Sean Egan, and my guest this week is Chuck Birch, and he's got a very special organization which we'll get into after we find out more about his skating. Welcome to the show. It's my pleasure to be here. So how old were you and when did your whole skating career begin?

Speaker 3: 1:03

I started skating at the age of four. Now I'm 64 now, so we are really celebrating my 60th year of some type of skating. But of course every skater has their own unique story. So you know, I wouldn't say that my four-year-old skating was something that would be noteworthy, because it was the time when if you think about the old skates that had the metal skates that used to fit over gym or tennis shoes, I had those skates and I lived in Detroit, michigan, so we could roller skate in the basement with the metal skates at the age of four.

Speaker 2: 1:48

Nice, that was my first pair of skates too, so I understand where you're coming from. So now was it only in the basement, or did you start going to roller rinks at that age, or did you kind of wait till later before roller rinks?

Speaker 3: 2:07

later, before roller rinks. It was later, it was later in life that I went to roller rinks, um, even though I got my skating. Honestly, my mother and father back in the 60s met no, I'm sorry, back in the 50s met at a roller skating rink and it was their commonality and I never saw them skate together, uh. However, my mother always had these precision skates at the time, uh, and on occasion she would go skating. Uh, didn't take us as kids, uh, until we were in, um, I would say, about sixth grade or so, and then you'd go to the skate, you'd go to the church skating party, you might go to the family night where you had the organ music, and so I beat myself, but you know, that was. That was my early rink experience, as you know, as an adolescent going skating just every now and then.

Speaker 2: 3:11

Yeah, so now, when did you become more serious about skating, doing like, are you a jam skater or what's your style of skating?

Speaker 3: 3:21

I'm a rhythm skater, so I'm the guy that goes to the adult night at your local place. I live in Dallas, texas. We are blessed that we have a number of great skating options as an adult. But I like I can go to family night. I can go to. I can skate around the kids. I don't mind skating around the kids, I'm not too cool to skate around kids, but I enjoy the family, I enjoy the adult nights and in Dallas you have choices of adult nights five nights a week, tuesday through Sunday, and in some locations multiple rinks that have adult night opportunities.

Speaker 3: 4:11

But I really got serious about skating and there were two areas One, when my mother did invest in skates for myself and I had a younger brother and sister, so we were the kids that could go to the skating party and had our own skates, which was one thing.

Speaker 3: 4:26

And that was when we were early teens. And then I was an athlete in high school so I was told falsely by coaches that roller skating would mess up my athletics and so I shouldn't do it and somehow I fell for that. So as a teenager I got too cool to skate and stop skating for whatever individuals who are from my hometown of Detroit, michigan, got together and we planned a roller skating party. That ended up being the hit. And so in my sophomore year of college we threw skating parties like other groups through regular parties and we outdrew any of the other groups so that it really became a hit. That was in the state of North Carolina, at my alma mater, which is North Carolina A&T. So I got serious about skating at 19, and then they unleashed the beast and I've been rolling ever since.

Speaker 2: 5:44

Nice. Now, what sports did you do in high school?

Speaker 3: 5:46

that said, skating would interfere with with your athletics well, I, I actually showed a little promise in football at least that's what they said, uh, and because I played football since little league and by the time I was in high school, uh became like all these, all district, all league, and and and did pretty well in that. But you know, coaches said, hey, look, you're going to mess up your college chances for uh, no, don't mess up your college chances by roller skating. Going out there roller skating, I'm like oh, okay, okay, okay. And then I played basketball, ran track. So, yeah, I was a busy high schooler and put down the skates for a while, even though I went to high school less than two miles from one of the most popular skating rinks in the area Wow, which was now. I look at that. I said what was I doing?

Speaker 2: 6:46

yeah, have the coaches not seen the size of the quads on skaters? I don't, they didn't, they didn't know and think about this, though just the lateral movements you do in football or basketball, skating strengthens all those muscles. So they were were, I'll have to say. Sports training and science has come a long way since then.

Speaker 3: 7:10

Oh yeah. Well, I would just say, just, you know, looking out for their own selfish interests versus my interests. Yeah, they were selfish about what they could do with myself and other athletes and really didn't know. They didn't know the physical science of that. Knowing what I know now, because what happened is when I went to college and did not play football, however, I was all world intramural because we could play intramural sports amongst clubs and organizations and since I had played football that way and had started skating, I was in shape more than any of the kids. I didn't get the freshman 15. Yeah, it was really nice.

Speaker 2: 8:01

Yeah, and now with skating. Did you ever compete, or were you just like the club promoter for skating?

Speaker 3: 8:07

No, I was really the club promoter for skating. Um, you know, there were people that I ran into that uh did compete, Uh, when, when, when you go to a school and people started coming from all over around, they bring all of their experiences. So I met people who did artistic skating. I met people that back in that time had did some version of derby. You know, you meet people who were rink rats at that time and so the prospect of skating, you know, just lit them up and lit them on fire and they became my promotional team because it brought back to them something that they were serious about in some realm of life. And some of those people are my friends today.

Speaker 2: 9:01

Nice, now after college, how did the skating go? What like, still with the rhythm, skating and promoting more parties and stuff, and then yeah, a little bit.

Speaker 3: 9:11

Um, after I graduated from college I went from north carolina to houston, texas, uh, as a young professional and back, uh, in those days in the early 80s, uh, there were uh rinks, there were still rinks that were very popular. If you think about the ebbs and flows of skating and skating rinks, when you're in a larger city you actually have more choices and we had choices. So as a young adult I did go skating a couple nights a week so it became kind of a regular at the skating rink, so it became kind of a regular at the skating rink.

Speaker 2: 10:33

Very cool. And now I know for me I was skating in the late 80s, early 90s, through most of the 90s, and someone made me give up skating because they thought it was childish and re-got back into it during the pandemic. So how do you think the pandemic actually?

Speaker 3: 10:56

affected like the resurgence of skating. Well, I think that for those who never stopped skating, like myself, you know it, it didn't do anything but bring a lot of news. It brought a lot of new skaters, uh, a lot of new people to skating because, even though for a short amount of time, depending on your location, rinks were closed, uh, but the cameras were on, and so, yeah, people made their following by putting some, by putting on skates, uh, and skating around wherever their living room, their basement, you know, if they had a facility that they could skate themselves, you, you know, they, uh, they were able to uh, highlight themselves, whereas people like me never stopped skating. I mean, uh, in Texas, um, things shut down for a small amount of time, but then, uh, after they had protocols that allowed skating to come back, people like me and others, we kept on skating. And then, when we came back, then you had this whole era of new people who had found skating, and they found us, who had never stopped skating.

Speaker 2: 12:10

Yeah. So I mean, for me it's just been amazing and it's like I'm sorry I ever gave it up. This is why you never listened to your first wife. So yeah, yeah, yeah, but now you started an organization, and what is your organization called?

Speaker 3: 12:26

okay, uh, well, there's a couple of things, um, from a skating standpoint. Uh, I am the executive director of a scholarship fund called the Chuck Birch Scholarship Fund, where we raise money for students to go to school, to go to college in particular, and we have a few waves of raising that money, but one of the waves that we raise money is by a roller skating party, and so this will be my 12th year of skating for scholarships, where we have grown from one night to five nights, and during those five nights we have different themes, but the consistent thing is that we give on-the-spot scholarships to students that attend, and it has really become the hit. Because I'm an OG in the skate world and you'll become an OG just by being around, surviving, not stopping skating and I'm well respected in the skate world. I'm a CPA, an accountant, by education, and so I have a great following and a good reputation, and so I have a passion for scholarships.

Speaker 3: 13:51

The only way that I got to college from Detroit, michigan, was on a scholarship, and so I have always found being around scholarships as a very noble cause, a very impactful cause and a way to intervene your love, your recreational love, for something that's important, because I was going to be skating anyway, so why not get people together and raise some money and then give it away? And so that's what we're doing, man. At our last skating party, which is now a five-night event, in December, we raised and gave away over $12,000, actually $13,000 in scholarships over a five-night. I called it love affair on skates.

Speaker 2: 14:46

There you go. Now. Are scholarships like kids have to attend these things to earn a scholarship or is there other ways to go about the scholarship?

Speaker 3: 14:54

yes, well, for this, this sleeve of scholarships, you must be present to win, okay, and and so, and you're randomly drawn. I mean, the only rule is that you have to be in college when you come, uh, that to be your semester, and you have to be going to school the next semester, okay, and it doesn't matter where you go to school, it doesn't matter who you are, but if you're in school and going to school, you're in the random drawing. And we draw at least four scholarships every night of the five-night event. And then on the last night, which we call Salute to the Old School and OGs, we have special scholarships that we award to skaters who are students who do the above and beyond. You know, maybe they are very impactful in the local community.

Speaker 3: 15:53

Okay, maybe they are very impactful in the local community. Maybe they are, maybe they work at a skating rink, but they really stand out. We've had two skaters that have passed and we named those skater that scholarship, those special scholarships for those skaters. So they really embody the heart of someone who's very enthusiastic about skating. That's one special scholarship. And one who really is committed to skating, and that's another special scholarship. So the combination of those and the randomly drawn scholarships allow us to really make a difference for a number, a large number of students along the way.

Speaker 2: 16:35

Okay, and now are these events only held in Texas?

Speaker 3: 16:40

This event? Ah, good point. This event is only held in Texas, However, it's 2025. I've been doing this for 12 years.

Speaker 3: 16:49

I've developed a little following online and I have had offers that I am taking up and considering in 2025 of bringing skating for scholarships to a local location. For example, I have a son that lives in Atlanta and I visit him often. I visit him often, so there is an individual who's on the Atlanta skating scene who I am collaborating with to add a scholarship component to his multi-night event, so we're probably going to have skating for scholars of Atlanta. I'm a native of Detroit, michigan. Talk to some of my home people about doing that. I get out as using platforms like this and thank you very much for having me on You're welcome.

Speaker 3: 17:39

Creative juices goes, and I would love to talk about how I can help bring skating for scholarships to your or a local location. If nothing else, we are bringing the awareness of roller skating and the need for scholarships.

Speaker 2: 18:00

Nice because I know Denver has a huge skating scene. And it's funny because I'm from the Bay Area in California and we only had one rink and I'm here in Denver, which the whole state has less people than where I live in California, and there's at least five or six rinks that I can think of off the top of my head that I have the option to go to. We have the adult skate every night of the week. So we got multiple options and in the future I'm planning on bringing bigger skating events and we're actually planning an event in Victoria, texas, to actually make the city more aware for just bringing more people into skating and the passion of skating.

Speaker 2: 18:47

So you have a passion and I have a passion and I took it a little different route with a podcast and bringing all forms of skating together. And you're bringing skating where people can actually get scholarships, and I know I have a 17 year old that's getting ready to go to possibly see you Boulder next year, so, and he worked at a roller rink.

Speaker 1: 19:07

He plays hockey still.

Speaker 3: 19:11

So well, it's funny because I actually have individuals who come from Denver who come to my party.

Speaker 2: 19:18

And.

Speaker 3: 19:18

I have had in the past an individual who, well, every year I have more than one individual who goes to school wherever. They just happen to be in town, or they've heard about the event and they've come down, or even sometimes they just stumbled into the event, which is, hey, I just came here with my friends and I want a scholarship.

Speaker 2: 19:42

you know, that's, that is how it certainly works um, but you know, their friends set them up oh, yeah, they did.

Speaker 3: 19:48

Yeah, well, well then, that's the right. Hey, the friend set them up, they invited them. They got the scholarship, the friend did, and but what they'll do at? They got the scholarship, the friend didn't, but what they'll do at a multi-night event they'll come back again and again and again, which actually helps to promote skating, because then you get people who may normally only go one night and they are motivated to go multiple nights. And then we do some other things to encourage people to come multiple nights. We have raffles, we have, I call it, we have TVs that get bigger every day so we may start off. We start off the first night. It might be a 38-inch TV, a 36-inch TV, and those are random, they're raffled off, so it allows us to raise money. We have vendors there.

Speaker 3: 20:45

We have what's called the Skaters Showcase, where it's a skate competition. It's a competition, but it's not a competition. It really showcases and highlights individuals who have different skate styles, different, different skate grooves. We film it and, by audience participation, every night we pick a favorite male and female skater and the winner of every night gets to advance to the final on sunday. So then we basically have four groups of and you know, if you win one night you can come skate the next night. You just can't win the next night so that by by the finals you really got, theoretically, four favorite skaters in the male and female genre who are battling it or actually just competing, and then we, we invite others to come and and, uh, demonstrate their favorite style, uh, and so it's highly, it's highly popular. We actually get one of the local TV stations behind us by that final event. It really becomes a great vibe and a great build.

Speaker 3: 22:07

We do some things outside of skating. We promote some of the local businesses. We have a skate shop that actually hosts kind of our skate happy hour event where people we call it tune up and turn up, where you can tune up your skates along the way, get equipment, get swag and be ready for the next night of skating. Juice Bar that has a perfect setup that you can come and wear your skates and enjoy healthy eating options. They were actually one of the vendors at my last event. So we have lessons on Saturday morning. We actually give lessons where we give lessons in various styles of skating. We give lessons where we give lessons in various styles of skating, everything from beginner and basic to artistic, to ballroom and middle work and a bunch of other styles. So all of those events allow us to attract over a thousand people over the week and again raise some great money, raise some great awareness and, of course, reward skaters that come via scholarship.

Speaker 2: 23:27

Nice Now with the scholarship, is that last while they're all the way through college, or is it just like for that semester? It's only for one semester.

Speaker 3: 23:43

We want individuals to come back. Uh, and and I really and I really want to facilitate this this idea of other locations uh, considering adding a scholarship component. I mean, wouldn't it be a great thing? I mean, you're going to go down to victoria, texas, and you're going to bring your love for skating there. Uh, there are going to be people going to hear about they're going to come out. Uh, they're good people who are going to walk into it and then, if you can leave the community and a greater good there's there's a university of houston at victoria. I know that because one of the scholarship awardees actually last year goes to U of H Victoria. So when you're going down, when you go down to Victoria and we're in contact, oh, I'm going to help be an ambassador for that. I'm going to make sure skaters that I know there and they bring people.

Speaker 2: 24:35

Nice, yeah, because it's one of my guests, she's from there and they don't have like an adult night and like the adults aren't. But I thought it would be like cool to like set up a whole event, maybe like have some old cars, old school cars there, make it like a whole thing and try to get the whole town involved and then that way we can really bring awareness and that just not only does it for community's sake but also for the rink and that's a local business down there. So I mean we can like you, I'm a skate ambassador and we can create more skating, because more people skate, the less problems we have with fights. Like you know, the community is. The community is so awesome that we don't.

Speaker 2: 25:17

When you go to a roller rink, you bump into somebody, you say oh sorry, and they're like, oh, that's okay and everything. If they fall, you help them back up. It's not like a bar where you bump into somebody and next thing you know you're getting hit in the face or something. So it's a totally different environment and community and I think we're a lot more family than we are, you know, just people that show up to skate. So we welcome everybody, we help everybody. So now the next question is do you get out there and do a demonstration for everybody on on how the OG does it?

Speaker 3: 25:53

I've been, I've been encouraged uh, many times, many nights, because because of my longevity and skating and some may say that I'm a pretty good skater, whatever that, whatever pretty good is. Uh, that, yes, I, I, I will, you know, I'll, I'll rise to the occasion, Uh, and someone will say, or some someone will say, hey, chuck, show me something. And then the next thing I look behind me and then there are a group of people doing exactly what I'm doing. So, uh, yes, I am, I am, can, I can be that guy sometimes where I start a group skate, uh, or, uh, I might be that guy because, uh, I'm from Detroit, um, I, I admire all styles of skate skating and can usually pretty quickly emulate, uh, that style, uh, and, and it's a, it's a compliment, you know, it's really a compliment that you know you're.

Speaker 3: 26:53

If you're a jam skater and maybe someone new comes and they start jamming with you the same way you're jamming, you know, that's, that's the ultimate compliment. And so I, I'm pretty good, I'm good enough to be able to do that, or to pick up things fairly quickly. And when I pick it up down, you've got two people, then you may have four people. Now you've got a whole bunch of people in line doing whatever we're doing.

Speaker 2: 27:19

Yeah, it's always awesome to see that, because a lot of the times you'll get people out in the middle of the rink, especially at my rink, where they start doing the dancing, and next thing you know, you look out there and there's 10, 15 people out there and they're all just trying to learn. And the cool thing is is everybody's teaching everybody. So it's, you know, there's no, it's all inclusive, there's no exclusivity. It's like oh no, you can't join us. They whoever wants to do it can do it. And that's one of the things I love about skating, and it doesn't matter what your style is, it's you're there to have fun and have community and it's uh, it's probably one of the most awesomest things I could be part of.

Speaker 3: 27:58

For real, and that's universal. That's universal all over the country. I've been fortunate to be able to skate internationally. I've been able to skate on cruise ships. Um, I had a. I went on an 18 day cruise last uh fall and chronicled those 18 days of skating because that ship had a skating rink on the boat and so what cruise line is this.

Speaker 2: 28:24

Let's promote them too.

Speaker 3: 28:26

Absolutely this is Royal Caribbean. So Royal Caribbean has four ships in a class. My particular boat, ovation of the Seas, has a skating facility called the SeaP, open as long as I wasn't in the way of people doing other things. And then there were lighter times when there was no one out there but me, and of course you become a hit amongst the cruise staff because here you are, you brought your own skates and you're roller skating and you're pretty good, uh, and you are a hit amongst the cruisers because it's like hey, there's that guy, he's a tall. Look, he's gonna skate today. We're gonna go see him skate today. Hey, I wanted to learn how to skate like that. Uh, and I even have people who said, boy, are you part of the staff and part of the crew? And someone said, no, he just loves skating. Nice, it's real nice.

Speaker 2: 29:40

And now they have skate rentals on the cruise too for people to get skates. Absolutely, that is awesome.

Speaker 3: 29:45

On those boats they have skate rentals that people can rent skates and it's really a skating party. On a short cruise sometimes it's one or two nights. On a longer cruise it's really a skating party. You know, on on a short cruise it's sometimes one or two nights.

Speaker 2: 29:57

On a longer cruise it's definitely three nights well, maybe we have to get one of the ships and just commandeer it and have just a giant skate festival on it. Hey, I was close.

Speaker 3: 30:06

I, I was this close. I was down the road with uh forming a skating party. Uh, I couldn't get the. I couldn't get Royal Caribbean to kind of agree upon my terms, which was to allow a larger number of people on the skating surface at the same time as well as agree to the times that we would. We, as skaters, would need to skate and and some other terms, so we weren't able to do it on a large scale basis. Would need to skate and some other terms, so we weren't able to do it on a large scale basis. But I haven't given that up yet because of that boat, that favorite boat of mine, which used to do the Alaska run. They would go from Seattle up to Alaska and back. Then that cruise repositioned to Australia and I got on in Hawaii and cruised to Sydney, australia.

Speaker 3: 30:59

Well, that same boat is coming back to Los Angeles late this summer, and as that boat then starts to do the Mexican Riviera, going out of LA down to Mexico and back out of LA down to Mexico and back, that's when there may be some great opportunities to put together an event or people who skate and cruise. You're going to start seeing that, because this will be the first time that that boat goes out of Southern California and you don't have to be subject to a longer cruise to enjoy it. So watch me, because I might be doing it, but I am sure someone's going to get the same idea and it's going to be a great time for everyone.

Speaker 2: 31:47

Nice. Now, one of the things with a lot of my past guests is that, just like the mental health aspect of skating too and it's helped so many people and with me, it helps me deal with a lot of things Between skating and the gym. I'm pretty strong mentally, so have you seen a lot of that with a lot of the people that you've mentored over the years, and I mean even kids getting scholarships from skating. That's got to. That's got to boost your health, mental health too, or your ego At least that?

Speaker 3: 32:21

Oh, absolutely. I'm a finance guy, I'm a tax guy. This is my tax season, yes. So if anyone knows accountants, you know accountants can be pretty, can some can can be pretty stuffy people. So for me, I'm a lively guy. Skating keeps me lively, keeps me cool, keeps me hip, keeps me physically in shape, keeps me mentally sharp so that I can get through the things that I do professionally and I encourage others to do it. I have clients, colleagues. I invite them out, they invite me out. I'm the tax guy that does a lot of work for the people at the rink and the skate rink owners and things like that. But more importantly, it is a mental outlet because it is therapy. You can go skating and you can either be in your own world or you can be in everyone else's world, and each one is greatly accepted.

Speaker 2: 33:21

Exactly. And now do you get to skate a lot during tax time? I know because, like sometimes, during tax time you're working 12, 15 hours a day. Do you make time to still get out there and skate?

Speaker 3: 33:35

I do. I do that If I don't do anything else, if I have to get up from the desk to go and I'm a rink skater and go to the rink and get an hour or two or three in. It allows me to continue to keep my physical and mental sharpness, and sometimes it's the only thing I do, because it's the only thing you have time for. But you can establish a routine. You can go and get a little sweat on, get some social interaction, get some things other than behind the desk and then get back to it. So yes, I do it and a lot of other people do it for the same reason.

Speaker 2: 34:17

Nice. So now, growing up, who was one of your biggest influences for skating?

Speaker 3: 34:26

I had growing up, you know, because I had this unique situation where I had skates and we had siblings that we could skate in the basement and then we could take those same metal skates, and we had siblings that we could skate in the basement and then we could take those same metal skates and we could skate outside.

Speaker 3: 34:38

Matter of fact, we turned uh, roller skates into like hockey skates, um, again we play, we play hockey on the with the roller skates uh, and then I kind of lost the rink thing coming up. So I didn't have any idols, uh, or anyone that I, with the exception of my mother. My mother was a good skater. My mother was the one that would pack us all up and we'd go on occasion to these skating parties or we'd go to the skating rink on occasion. So she was probably my hero in skating. And then when I got back to skating, hero in skating, and then when I got back to skating, I wasn't one that was a regular at any particular place until I became the regular at the place, if that makes sense.

Speaker 2: 35:28

Totally makes sense to me.

Speaker 3: 35:30

Now, yeah, nowadays, with the proliferation of social media, there are some people that I see skating and I've met skating that I admire at 64, almost 65. I admire them and sometimes I get admiration because of kind of how I position skating and the fact that I can skate and the camera will see me and they'll say well, chuck, you're from Detroit, can you do that slide thing? And you know I can, I can slide, you know, in when I was 20 to 40, I could slide in what's called drop, which is this move that basically you slide and then you go down on two legs. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Matter of fact, I stopped at 40 because my body wasn't going to let me get back up anymore. Running joke, but not a joke. Hey, I've torn a meniscus roller skate but I've recovered from it, but I use skating to recover from that. I have torn a quad tendon. Look, I tore a quad tendon running and I said, well, man, if I was running I should have just went skating.

Speaker 3: 36:50

But I'm skating as the rehab. Right that night I should have ran, I should have went skating as the rehab. Right that night, I should have ran, I should have went before skating. But then it was an important part of my rehab because I got my orthopedic doctor. Well, she ice skated, so she understood what skating was and she said hey, yes, if you do it this way, then this can be an important part of your therapy and this will help you. And so I did what my doctor told me and I recuperated much faster than I would have had I not stayed.

Speaker 2: 37:25

Yeah, skating has helped a lot with injuries and just movement in general, especially as we get older, especially as we get older, so what is your skate setup?

Speaker 1: 37:42

What am?

Speaker 3: 37:42

I rocking with. We're on online. I just happen to have my skate set up and my skate set up is a little different and it's kind of custom, because I've broken plates, I've torn up boots, you know, I've torn out tongues, and so I've put together something that actually my local rink owner actually helped me with based on seeing me go out there. So I have a boot that's almost like a hockey boot.

Speaker 3: 38:19

It's an iron horse boot, composite plate which allows me the skate to be light, yet, you know, yet firm. I'm from Michigan, so I wear toe stops, and toe stops allow me to do things that some people, without toe stops, can't do. And then I have FOMAC Premier wheels. Wheels and fomac premier wheels are hard like the wood surface of any great wood floor, which allows me to slide. So that's my setup and it works out. Now I keep an in sole. Yeah, make it comfortable.

Speaker 2: 39:09

And what kind of bearings do you use? Do you just use? I like all the nitty-gritty.

Speaker 3: 39:16

I've gone through yeah, I've gone through a number of bearings in sole. I can't tell you I think they're Reds and I don't know what version of Reds. They are Okay, but you know they. They again. I'm blessed. I'm great with all of the local skate owners. Hold on a second, this is going to stop me. I'm blessed to know all of pretty comparable replacement, literally on the spot.

Speaker 2: 39:57

Nice. And now, what is your advice to up-and-coming skaters, just in general, like what's your best advice you can give them?

Speaker 3: 40:08

My best advice is there. There is no substitute for time on the wheels. There is no substitute for time in those skates, whether you're a rink skater or an outdoor skater, uh, or you know, if you skate in facilities or if you're skating your living, you're skating your garage, um, get on those skates, move, move around, try things, give yourself some grace, because no one becomes a video skater overnight. It will help you. All you got to do is ask or be receptive when people may want to help you. It's not like they're trying to be creepy or it's not like they're trying to do anything odd. They just want to share their love of skating with individuals. So, with new skaters, come, come again, try it, go out, come on on and give yourself some some patience, because, uh, for those who escaped it, you know we can tell you that we didn't get here overnight, uh, and we didn't. We didn't learn anything new, uh, without trying it many times. Don't be afraid to fall. Everyone fall.

Speaker 1: 41:27

Uh, you can learn how to fall you.

Speaker 3: 41:29

But again, once you get it, once the light comes on, the light's on. Do it until life tells you that you can't do otherwise. And when life tells you you can't do otherwise, try to come back to it.

Speaker 2: 41:45

Yeah, I actually enjoy the skating videos of people that are chronically in their skating journey and they include the falls, they include the mess ups, they include the mistakes, because you're just watching them grow as they get better. And if they only put the good stuff, it would be like regular social media. It's just only showing you the good stuff, like, oh, I never make mistakes. So I appreciate that they show all the falls and the trials and tribulations that they go through. So it's a huge thing.

Speaker 3: 42:15

I agree Again. It's the place where you can really be honest with yourself and you can be honest with others, and that honesty brings emulation and hopefully that emulation brings someone along the way. And I know that there's no way that I would have thought that I would be a skate party coordinator. There's a group called the Skate Coordinators Group and I still ask myself how did I get into this? But it's great to be included amongst some of those that people can. When they dial in a video, I can say well, I know such and such and such and such or such and such will come to my event or when I'm in XYZ town. And when you're in XYZ town, if you bring your skates, you are automatically accepted.

Speaker 2: 43:11

Yeah, I mean you can't leave home without them. I mean, it's like it should. You should have a separate carry on just for your skates.

Speaker 3: 43:22

As a matter of fact, that's a cardinal rule. Carry on your skates, don't check.

Speaker 2: 43:29

Apparently there's some airports that you can't skate in, so somebody posted that and I'm like I gotta find out what these airports are, because I definitely know they're probably not in the bay area that's right.

Speaker 3: 43:41

Um, what skating rink? Uh, I mean, I know I've been to the church bay wheels, uh, in in the bay area, um, and I've been to some outdoor facilities, uh on the oakland side of the bay area. Um, what was the place? Uh, unless you had to go up to sacramento or down to stockton, or it was actually san ramon, it's uh, the golden skin, ramon.

Speaker 2: 44:06

Yeah, and I actually heard many years yeah, I've heard for many years that it was closing and one of my previous guests is actually from my hometown and it's still open, which surprised me because I thought like after the pandemic they were done. But I'm happy to hear they're still open. And when I go back home to visit I'm bringing my skates and I'm hitting the rink, so I gotta bring both pairs. I gotta bring the speed skates and the my skates and I'm hitting the rink, so I got to bring both pairs. I got to bring the speed skates and the indoor skates.

Speaker 3: 44:32

So Absolutely I. One of the one of the hits uh a few years ago is I skated in a parade, uh in San Francisco. Uh, so that was a blast uh to to be able to skate in the parade. Uh, I have a good friend. His name is David Miles. He runs the Church of Eight Wheels, okay, and he's very entrenched in the San Francisco skate scene. The mayor of San Francisco actually roller skates. I've skated with the mayor. Yeah, really nice. So I've got some pictures of a trip that I made there last summer where I'm helping her lace them up and get on out there. But you're right, whether it's Northern California in the Bay Area, southern California, denver, colorado, texas, the East Coast, west Coast, victoria, texas and every place in between, you can find skate.

Speaker 2: 45:33

Absolutely, because when we were growing up, we went to Golden Gate Park all day, went home, switched to our indoor wheels and then went to Golden Skate, but you got to take BART out there just so you don't have to deal with trying to find parking and traffic, and it's way worse now. True, deal with trying to find parking and traffic, and it's way worse now. So now how can my listeners follow you and find out more about your events and possibly even show up to your events?

Speaker 3: 45:58

Absolutely Well, I'm Chuck Birch, c-h-u-c-k-b-u-r-c-h. I'm the guy with one syllable names. You can find me on any means. You may have to go Chuck Birch, cpa, because I am a CPA. Or now you can look up Skating for Scholarships on Facebook, instagram, tiktok, blue Sky Threads. I'm everywhere.

Speaker 3: 46:27

I've been encouraged to be on all means and what I try to do is try to post the same information to both, to all of those on the skating for scholarships, on all of those things it's always roller skating things. On some of those other means you may see some of the other stuff that I do for for scholarship, but when it gets toward the event, then you will see nothing but skating. You'll see unique skating things. I'll have some unique people that might be speaking for me, since people come from all over the country to my event.

Speaker 3: 47:02

I turn about, turn about fair play, reciprocate, and I actually may help to promote some other skating events for some of my friends because I may go to their location to either help promote the event or just to roller skate. Yeah, they do and they do this. They do the same thing for me. So, chuck Birch, you can find me there and usually from there I always have a direct way, because I do have a website and and some other ways that you can get in contact with me, and hopefully this podcast is just going to continue to spin and go viral all over the place and you'll see all of us here.

Speaker 2: 47:43

Absolutely, I appreciate it. I appreciate you coming on the show tonight, so I look forward to actually working with you in the future on projects too.

Speaker 3: 47:52

It is my pleasure. Anytime. I'd love to come back because you know we skaters are, I like to say we're kind of great people in our own right. So we hear our message of our love for skating and sometimes our love for the other good stuff around skating, skating and sometimes I love for the other good stuff around skating and for me, um, oh, there will be a way as you follow me, there will be a way that, no matter where you are in the country, you can participate in skating for scholarships, because what I'm going to allow, uh, and encourage, I have what's called a virtual ticket. You can okay, you can, purchase a virtual ticket for the skating event Submit your video, your 30-second or 60-second or less video I'll probably cut it to 30 seconds and I will play one.

Speaker 3: 48:42

I'll play that video at the event, because every facility has its own projection screen and then I am going to run those videos on my social media pages both before, during and after the event. So that is the encouragement that anyone, everyone, can participate in Skating for Scholarships and then you're part of my skating family and then let's keep in contact so that we can help each other. You know, I got 5,000 friends and following. I got the maximum on Facebook and then I don't know how many I got on Instagram and other places. But it's great to be part of this community, that we can help each other, and that is one way we can help each other and everyone can participate in Skating for Scholarship.

Speaker 2: 49:34

Absolutely Thank you, you, thank you, thank you.