Massachusetts roller skater Ashley Holtkamp dominating sport after years of injury challenges
BOSTON – After eight years off the rink, Ashley Holtkamp is back and now a champion.
"It doesn't matter how old you are, it just matters how much you like it and how much you're willing to put in the work," she told WBZ from her new rink.
After suffering from compartment syndrome in her calves and needing a surgery, the New Bedford resident wasn't sure she'd roller skate again.
"The last time that I competed, I literally almost got disqualified because my legs gave out and I couldn't continue skating. Basically my legs would cramp up to a point where I couldn't move them," Holtkamp said.
But now at 35-years-old, in only her second competition after being back on skates in eight years, and only training since March, she placed third in teams, a category she had never even skated in before and second at nationals in the solo category.
"Actually, we found out the day after I competed that I was tied for first and they had to go into tie breaker to figure out who won," she said.
The worry of another incident with her legs still lingers.
"You get anxiety because you're like 'Oh no is it going to happen again?' Because you really don't know if it could happen again," she said.
Her former coach passed away recently, which motivated her to come back to coaching. Despite the worry of another incident, when her new coach asked her to compete again and to dance with them in the teams category, she agreed.
Ashley first learned how to skate when she was seven at a roller rink in Fairhaven. She had a knack for going fast and started competing two years later.
"I just like to go fast. I'm known for going fast. I would see all of the older kids doing the turns and they looked so fancy. I wanted to be a part of it," she said.
So when she was asked by a rink in Taunton to come coach the newly popular learn-to-skate classes that saw an increase in attendees during the pandemic, she knew she'd get pulled back into the competition world.
"I knew that once I bought those new skates it was going to be back to competition all over again," Holtkamp said.
All of the top three spots in the solo category at the national competition in Nebraska went to competitors from Massachusetts. Holtkamp has been competing with the woman who beat her since they were children. She told WBZ it was an honor to still be at the same level as her.
"I don't think I would be thought I'd still be skating all these years later," she said. Now she's back and aiming to be better than ever.
