KHARMA FOUCHER
Researcher on a Roll
“It is awesome to use your strength and your physicality in a way that has nothing to do with being sexy. I love how everyone can play an important role, no matter what your shape or size is.”
Most days, you can find Kharma Foucher in the Biomechanics Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago, working toward her goal of implementing physical activity in the lives of women with hip osteoarthritis. In the center of the windowless lab is a sort of treadmill. The graduate assistants attach markers to the test subject’s main joints and have her perform a series of exercises. They usually have their subject walk on the treadmill, but since it is broken today, they improvise, asking her to do jumping jacks and the "Y.M.C.A." dance. The markers track the subject’s movement, which Foucher will later analyze for her research.
But other days, she is getting physical as a blocker for the Chicago Red Hots roller derby team or a recreational derby league in Lombard, Illinois.
With both brains and brawn, Foucher seems unstoppable. She has earned a degree from Harvard University, enjoyed a successful musical career as a cello player, conducts important research as an assistant professor in the kinesiology department at UIC, is a loving mother and wife and has found success as a roller derby player.
Written by Analisa Trofimuk, Edited by Courtney Wolfe, Photographed by James Tinsley
One of the things she loves most about being involved in a sport that requires so much physical strength is using her entire in body in a way that she otherwise wouldn’t in her everyday life.
“It is awesome to use your strength and your physicality in a way that has nothing to do with being sexy. I love how everyone can play an important role, no matter what your shape or size is,” Foucher says.
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Having always an active person despite her asthma, Foucher was growing tired of Zumba, the fitness class she resorted to after finishing college. She first became involved in roller derby through Derby Lite, a fitness class offered at the Park District of Oak Park. Foucher attended roller derby games with friends, and when one of her friends decided she was going to try out for a team, Foucher figured she would give it a shot too. They practiced over the summer and trained for tryouts, which required a score of 26 out of 30 to pass. When Foucher was deeply upset about scoring just short of the cut-off, she realized this was something she wanted more than she thought.
Not letting her defeat stop her, Foucher found inspiration in a TED Talk about Olympic runner Jackie Joyner-Kersee that encouraged those who get close to their goals to go after them again. Foucher began training with the Windy City Rollers and landed a spot as a blocker on the Chicago Red Hots team.
At her first game, she had a large crowd of family members in the stands cheering her on, including her husband, daughter and Great Aunt Ruth. Great Aunt Ruth’s attendance was especially meaningful, as she kept telling Foucher how proud she was of her toughness on the track.
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At that first game, Foucher met a player on the opposing team who would later be part of one of her proudest roller derby moments. Just last year, the player nominated her for “Blocker of the Game” after seeing how hard she works. Typically players are nominated for “Blocker of the Game” or “Jammer of the Game” if they have very flashy moves and are able to do things like sweep over other players.
“I was so surprised! I’m not a flashy player so I thought it was really touching,” Foucher says.
Foucher’s husband, Matthew, likes watching her play because it’s when he sees her tough side come out.
“I like hearing the frustrated grunts people make when trying to get past her and they can’t,” Matthew says.
Frances, Foucher’s 9-year-old daughter, loves being at her mother’s roller derby games because they inspire her to be tough.
“Nobody can get past her — like nobody!” Frances says.
Foucher says she wants to inspire women who don’t have an athletic background to play a contact sport. She is able to instill these principles in Frances, who combines her parents’ love for music and her mother’s passion for physical activity by taking on the large stand-up bass, dancing and skateboarding.
Not only does Foucher want to inspire women of all ages to be physically active, but to do so in an atmosphere with the support of teammates. She says she’s an introvert, but she’d much rather be a contributing member to a team rather than in a gym lifting weights by herself.
“It’s never too late to try something new,” says Foucher. “Whether you are 12, 50, 70 — just go for it.”
And while it may seem bizarre for a scientist to spend her spare free time competing in a rough sport like roller derby, Foucher says that playing a contact sport helps her be a better professor and researcher.
“Being a professor, at least 50 percent of my job is research. You need to be a tough person because there is a lot of rejection involved. Being strong physically and being able to pick yourself up when you fall is so important,” Foucher says.
While the researching process can take years, Foucher says that having the potential to help somebody some day makes it worthwhile.
“Ultimately, we want to take what we learn from this and develop therapies to help women be more active,” Foucher says.
Helping women be active is incredibly rewarding for Foucher. She says women’s lives are changed after increasing their mobility.
“It gives you confidence,” she says. “You’re amazed at what your body can do!”