Roller skating guru makes special appearance at South Side Chicago elementary school
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's known as a classic Chicago pastime - good old-fashioned roller skating.
You may have visited a neighborhood roller rink, even CBS News personnel took a few spins around recently. However, a lot of them have closed, but there's a movement to keep the art form alive.
It's made its way into schools, and on Tuesday a South Side elementary school along with a Chicago roller skating guru joined forces to keep Chicago rolling.
Myesha McCaskill, also known as Smooth Goddess, has been described as a master, a legend; an all-around guru of the art of skating.
"I would say that I am community-based. I'm about love, I'm about diversity, and bridging the gap for all humanity," she said.
That's what inspired her to go beyond mastering the art. She also teaches it through her organization - Inspired By Favor.
"At one point I was really about self-building, and I realized I wanted to be able to use the tools and information that I've learned over the years to be able to share freely," she said.
What better place to share than at a public elementary school?
"And I think is really good for kids to be able to express themselves. and I really think that it should be included in all schools," McCaskill said.
At Poe Classical Elementary School in Pullman, skating's been on the books for years. First and second graders pull on their skates with confidence as McCaskill joins them for the afternoon.
David McCann, health and physical education teacher at Poe Classical, says you can learn a lot from skating.
"The confidence that comes with it - self-esteem, physical fitness, the hand-eye coordination, the body control, the balance," he said.
The whole program is the work of McCann - who is also a lifelong skater. He knew it would come with a slew of benefits when he proposed adding it to the curriculum.
"It just instills a level of confidence that is insurmountable to anything else," He said.
"This is good for just the youth in general, that they can find something, that they can just get their frustration out, whatever it might be," McCaskill said.
"The parents love it. My coworkers, they come here, think it's the best thing that they've seen in school. the students, of course, I just can't get enough of it," McCann said.
For those of us not lucky enough to go to Poe Classical Elementary, Myesha's organization - Inspired By Favor - offers both private and group lessons.
She's starting a new class coming on Thursday with the Roosevelt Collection for anyone ages 10 and up.
