‘Born into it’: Hampton mother, daughter excel at competitive roller skating

Every four years, the winter TV schedule is dominated for a few weeks by competition among the world’s finest skaters.

At least, that applies to the ones who take to the ice.

“We’ve been trying to get into the Olympics for as long as I can remember,” Hampton resident Kathy Frombach Miller said about her chosen sport. “We’re allowed in the Pan Am Games, as long as whatever country it’s being held in has roller skating.”

Yes, the rink floor serves as a showcase for top talent on wheels, and that includes two members of the Miller family.

At the national championship for USA Roller Sports — held in Lincoln, Neb., hometown to the 86-year-old organization, during July — Kathy earned a silver medal, and daughter Karissa, gold and bronze.

The previous month, both took home silvers, Karissa two of them, from the Roller Skating Association International American championship in Hermitage.

“My parents were both coaches,” Kathy said. “So I was kind of born into it, as Karissa was born into it.”

Kathy began skating in her native Johnstown when she was a year and a half, actually a bit later in life than the start she gave her daughter.

“She put me on skates at 14 months,” Karissa said. “I’d go to the rink with her all the time. I saw some of the other people who were competing out of the club. And once I turned 7, I decided that would be something I’d be interested in doing, as well. That was the first year I skated in a meet, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Karissa competed in the USA Roller Sports championship at age 11, and since then she’s racked up seven medals.

And that’s besides her dedication to a second sport: She played tennis for four years at Hampton High School, from which she graduated in 2020, and continues to do so at Carlow University, where she studies human biology.

She is a member of Island Skate Club at the Neville Roller Drome in Neville Township, where she and her mother work on honing their skills for high-level meets.

“Right now, we’re practicing about three or four days a week to get ready, just continuing with it all year ’round. Sometimes it’s a little bit difficult to fit in between classes and everything,” Karissa acknowledged.

Spending a lot of time on skates basically is a family tradition.

“My father helped run the rink in Johnstown. So we had a key to the building, and we were able to go there pretty much seven days a week,” Kathy said. “That rink got sold, and I started driving from Johnstown down to Donora. And I skated out of Donora, which is where Karissa started, as well.”

Now that they’re skating closer to home, the arrangement is working well.

“The owner there has been really good with us,” Kathy reported.

For more information, visit nevillerollerdrome.com, www.usarollersports.org and www.rollerskating.com.