Today we’d like to introduce you to Sutherland Beever.
Hi Sutherland, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My name is Sutherland Beever (AKA Sutherland Skates on the internet) and I’m a professional roller skates and certified skating instructor.
My parents divorced when I was really young and through elementary school, I spent the summers with my father in the rural town of Franklin, Indiana. He was always thinking of fun ways to keep me entertained and we’d regularly spend our days taking long walks around the neighborhood and enjoying ice cream cones at the local Dairy Queen.
One summer he decided to take me to a lesson at the local roller rink in town. It was at the Franklin Skate Club that I first laced up a pair of four-wheeled shoes and it was there that my passion for roller skating was born. Each weekend during those precious summers as a child, my dad would sit behind the metal railing and watch me zig-zag across the wooden skate floor. Over time I learned how to skate forwards and backward and would frantically try to beat all of the boys in class every time the instructor allowed us to race. I didn’t know it then, but those summers were preparing me for a higher purpose.
I didn’t skate much through high school or college but in 2016 for some unknown reason, I dusted off my old roller skates and ventured to my local roller rink in Jacksonville, Florida where I now live. It only took a few laps before I realized how much I’d missed skating and the community of incredibly kind and passionate people that come with it.
At the age of 26, I began to roller skate several times a week and over time my skills began to improve. Instead of simply skating forwards and backward I began to dabble in various styles of skating from jam skating to house skating and pretty much everything in between. I ventured from the smooth floor of local roller rinks and started skating on the streets and even at skate parks. These days I’m even able to land a cartwheel on a half-pipe (yes, on my roller skates!).
Every time I travel, I pack at least one pair of roller skates. So far, I’ve skated in 8 countries and nearly 1/3 of the United States. My skates have rolled across mountainside roads in Wyoming, cobblestone streets in Guatemala, and even in front of the Louvre in pairs, to name a few of my favorite adventures.
When COVID hit and the world shut down countless people all around the world began to suddenly pick up my favorite hobby in the world, roller skating! My entire life I’ve had people give me confused looks when I’d tell them that I roller skate – they couldn’t understand why as a millennial I’d want to take part in something that was trending at the same time as the rubix cube. Boy, how times have changed!
Thanks to TikTok and social distancing, roller skating is now more popular than it’s EVER been in my lifetime and it prompted me to become a certified roller-skating instructor. I knew that the best way to keep these new skaters interested in their fresh hobby was to teach them as much as I could and that’s exactly what I’m doing these days.
Every single week I’m helping new skaters learn how to gain confidence and balance on their skates, and I offer a variety of classes both online and in-person. I regularly teach adult skating lessons for Skate Station Mandarin, and roller dance classes for the Canadian skate academy, Roller Skate Victoria. Additionally, I’m an admin for the Jacksonville Community in Bowls (or CIB for short) chapter, which helps roller skaters get comfortable at skate parks and on-ramps.
While I generally work with adults, this summer I’ll be teaching my very first kid’s summer camp for a local non-profit, Lady Skate Day!
In my free time, I also organize a ton of events for roller skaters of all levels – both on flat ground and ramps. So much of my life now revolves around the incredible activity and sport that is roller skating and I wouldn’t have it any other way. My dedication to the sport and increased skills have landed me sponsorships and so many incredible and humbling opportunities so far. I’ve roller skated on TV several times, been in a few magazines, and have even been a guest on a podcast to talk about teaching helps to build and strengthen the skating community.
Who would have thought that 8 wheels could have such a positive impact on my life and so many others!? Skating has a way of making people feel powerful, strong, beautiful, and creative, but can also be humbling (we ALL fall). I’m proud to be a professional roller skates and instructor and I love helping the world skate!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As soon as COVID hit and new skaters began to pop up everywhere (to the point that roller skates became back-ordered for 6+ months for the first time in HISTORY), I knew that I wanted to start teaching but I wasn’t sure where to start.
At that point, I did what any person in the 20th century would do and began scouring the internet. Thanks to Google I found Roller Skate Victoria, a Canadian roller-skating academy that, pre-covid, offered in-person roller skating lessons for all levels. Luckily for me, once the pandemic began and the lockdowns followed shortly after, all of their in-person classes became virtual so anyone in the world could join.
With butterflies in my stomach and nervous fingers, I typed out a message to Roller Skate Victoria (or RSV for short) asking if they were looking for any new instructors [keep in mind I had never actually taught a roller-skating class up to this point, nor had I taken a class to become a certified instructor so my teaching experience was non-existent]. Within a few days, there was a response in my inbox and I had my first call with the owner of RSV. They wanted me to teach a “trial class” to see if I’d be a good fit!
I was asked to teach a roller dance class for beginner roller skaters (think dancing on roller skates) and I still remember how nervous I was turning on my computer in preparation for the class. I’d spent hours preparing for that first 30-minute class and had choreographed a simple routine to the song “Black Velvet” by Alannah Myles (she’s from Montreal Canada … I was hoping to score major brownie points with this song choice, which I did thankfully).
There were about 12 people who attended that first class and to my great relief, the dance routine was a smashing success and RSV offered me a permanent position as one of their instructors. I’m still teaching for them today and am planning a trip next year to visit them in Canada and teach some in-person classes for a change.
I like to hope that this story will help inspire others to take risks and put themselves out there. It’s tough to be vulnerable and rejection is hard, but you’ll never know what you can accomplish if you don’t try.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a professional roller skates, certified instructor, and all-around 8-wheel enthusiast!
My upbeat personality and unrelenting positivity help to make me a great roller-skating instructor. I truly care about each of my students and want everyone to walk away from my classes not only having learned something but also feeling more confident in their skates.
Roller skating is inherently dangerous and it takes a lot of guts to strap on a pair of roller skates. It’s my job as a teacher and coach to help give my students the foundational skills to help them grasp the fundamentals of skating and also help ensure they stay safe while doing so. One of the first things that I teach during my beginner classes is how to safely fall and stop. It may not be the most glamourous or cute to learn, but those skills are crucial in a sport like roller skating.
I teach to help keep the roller-skating community alive and THRIVING!
Who else deserves credit in your story?
There have been countless people in my life that have helped shape me into the roller skater that I am today and I’m so grateful for each and every one of them.
My fiancée, Miles has been one of my biggest supporters throughout my roller-skating journey. My hobby takes a huge chunk of my time and it’s wonderful to be with someone who understands my passion and doesn’t mind the countless hours that I put into my various skating ventures.
Mike Seibert taught me arguably the largest lesson that I’ve ever been taught on 8 wheels: the importance of slowing down. As a kid I always wanted to go super-fast on my skates – it was all about speed – which was a mindset that I carried into adulthood. Thankfully, Mike showed me how to slow my skating, which allowed me to continue trying more and more advanced moves and make my skating overall much more elegant and smoother.
Andrea Boyes is the owner of Roller Skate Victoria and the first person who gave me the opportunity to teach a roller-skating class. She’s an incredible leader and supporter of the sport; I’ll be forever grateful to her for the chapter she plays in my story.
Everyone needs a great mentor, right? Otto Edward Herrera has been the equivalent of my roller-skating mentor for several years and he’s frequently the first person that I go to when I need advice. When I was younger, I’d watch Otto teach others how to roller skate, and following his example has helped mold me into the instructor, teacher, and human that I am today.
Takia Agresta is the manager of Skate Station Mandarin and is such a great role model for roller skaters of all skill levels. She’s a world-class roller derby player who pours her time and energy back into the skating community in such a selfless way. Thanks to her partnership we’ve been able to start a weekly adults-only skating session and lesson, and several other events that help strengthen the skating community in Jacksonville.
Contact Info:
- Email: sutherlandsskateco@gmail.com
- Website: www.sutherlandsskateco.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sutherlandskates/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SutherlandSkates/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sutherlandskates
Image Credits
Sarah Cebulski
