Butler College Prep's Sanders Skating to Success
While other kids grew up playing baseball, basketball, football and other sports, Darius Sanders had his own favorite, and since the day he got into roller skating, he hasn't looked back.
With help from his parents, Cassandra and Phillip, who have backgrounds in the sport, Darius has achieved success as a young roller skater.
Darius Sanders will compete at the 2018 USA Roller Sports National Championship start July 21 in Lincoln, Neb., with his skating partner, Samantha Krusza.
"This was it for me, just roller skating," Sanders said. "It's a sport that has a lot of similarities with ice skating, a lot in common, and it's a pretty cool sport."
Heading into his junior year at Butler College Prep, 821 E. 103rd St., Sanders, 15, lives in Washington Heights. He first started roller skating when he was 5 and entered his first competition just a year later.
His mom, Cassandra, was a competitive roller skater, bringing Darius along to events, while his dad, Phillip, skated just for fun.
"Darius would travel with me to events to different rinks. At first, he wasn't interested in competing," Cassandra said. "Then, he said that he wanted to give it a try, and he was really good at it. He's practicing hard."
Darius and Samantha have been skating partners for four years and have established quite a resume, including finishing first in the 2015 Figure National Championships.
Trust is the key for the duo, according to Sanders. With the potential for some acrobatic moves during the performances, Darius and Samantha know they have each other's back.
"We have a lot of trust in one another," Darius said. "Other partners have trust, but not as much as we do. When I throw Sam into the air, she knows I'll be there and catch her."
Sanders said routines typically last from three to four minutes. As far as choreography for the routine, he usually writes down ideas, practices the moves and sees where the routine goes from there.
He's practicing and working out five to six days a week, mixing in roller skating with plenty of cardio and upper-body strength exercises.
"When I was younger with my mom, I'd see people doing jumps, and I knew I wanted to do it, too," Darius said. "I'm really starting to get all the elements down and improving all my skills. I'm starting to get more consistent."
Competing at the Great Lakes regional championship June 23-26 in Appleton, Wisc., Sanders rolled to the age-division win.
He's preparing to compete in Nebraska, but the big date on his calendar is this October in Paris at the 2018 World Roller Skating Championships at Disneyland.
The competition welcomes 1,500 athletes representing 35 countries.
"I think I'll do pretty good, hopefully as good as I did at regionals," Darius said. "It's pretty exciting to travel to a place I've never been before like Paris. I'm excited to see all the other skaters."
Roller skating is potentially going to be added to the Olympics at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the 2024 games in Paris.
For Sanders, he wants to keep promoting the sport he loves so it continues to attract new athletes.
"It's a growing sport. Not a lot of people know about it," Sanders said. "We're always trying to get more kids out and try it. They usually like it when they see us spinning, jumping, skating backward. We try and show that there are other sports out there and something new you can try."
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