Bring Skating Back To Our Town

If you used to roller skate, then you likely have fond memories of going to the skating rink every week, maybe several times per week. In fact, it might have been the highlight of your week because you knew you’d be seeing your skating friends, having fun, and showing off your skating skills. Remember how being called a “show off” was actually a complement?

So where have all the skating rinks gone? The short story is that they became influenced by sources other than their “roller skating” customers. So, does this mean that skating is “dead” or, that rink owners simply lost touch with what skaters want? Trust me when I tell you that skating is definitely not dead.

When you go visit a skating rink, it’s obviously because you want to skate. But, what really makes you want to come back to that rink? Logic would tell us that it’s because you want to skate again. But that’s not the whole story. Skaters are social creatures by nature, they like having fun and making friends.

So, when a skating rink stops promoting activities that require you to skate with someone, that kills the friend making aspect of roller skating in that rink. The way most rinks are ran today, you could spend two hours inside one, and not even introduce yourself another person!

Let’s just “turn back the clock” and make skating fun again. It would be great for our community, great for skaters and allow skating rinks to prosper again. Below are my thoughts on what would be involved, and things we could do better.

For a skating rink to be successful today, it needs to:

  • Play skating music rather than “radio music”
  • Create an atmosphere that promotes making friends
  • Do those fun skating activities that skaters enjoy
  • Be clean, well maintained and well managed
  • Give you “team” discounts on skates, accessories and services
  • Provide skating classes that help you skate better
  • Have healthier snacks in the snackbar, since skating is a form of exercise
  • Create a safe and secure “community” for the whole family
  • Support roller sports like speed skating, roller derby, figure skating and dance skating

Things That Make Going Skating Fun

Skating music: It’s important for a skating rink to play music you can move to because skaters like to move and dance when they’re skating. Skating is a fun way to exercise, it’s easy on your knees because it is a “low impact“ activity, and when you get in trouble you can simply sit down!

Making Friends: When you have lots of opportunities to meet other skaters, friendships can begin to develop.  Skaters are social people who like making friends. That’s where skating activities make a huge difference in a skating rink’s success.

Skating Activities: Skating in a circle with music playing is ok for getting some exercise, but if that is all there is to do, then you will end up getting bored. Besides being social, skaters also like a challenge.

How many of these skating activities do you remember?

  • Rex Skate
  • Backward Skate
  • Advanced Backward Skate
  • Fast Skate
  • Races
  • Scooter Skate
  • Scooter Races
  • Couples Skate
  • Advancing Couples
  • Snowball Couples
  • Trios
  • Crazy Trios

Originally these were all called “specials” because that’s what they were - Special. Skaters looked forward to these special skates, for both the challenge and for the oppotunity to participate with other skaters.

You can make a difference!

Investors are only going to commit to building a skating rink where peple have demonstrated a strong interest toward skating indoors.  And here’s a way that you can show your support without spending a dime!

Take our survey so we can let potential investors know that you are serious about bringing skating back to our area.  As soon as we have enough surveys completed, we’ll show potential investors your comments, and so they can see that there is enough interest for them to invest in a skating rink in our town. Take a few moments now, to show your interest and support today!

By completing this survey, you are giving potential investors reasons to invest in skating in our community. When we can demonstrate that there is enough interest in skating in our area, then investors can justify building a skating rink here.  When they are convinced, then we are going to see a skating rink here in our town again. But, we need to show that we are going to support skating, before they are going to invest here.