How roller skating enthusiasts are keeping the sport alive

Amandah Necker-Brown discovered her passion for roller skating during the pandemic in 2021 as she looked for a way to connect with new people while staying safe. 

The Calgarian chanced upon the local skating community and was pleasantly surprised by what she saw.

"It's been really amazing to get immersed in that culture," she said. "I didn't think there would be such a huge community, but I've met so many cool people and there's so many events every week."

Necker-Brown was one of the participants at the roller skate festival that ran from Friday until Sunday.

Necker-Brown was pleasantly surprised when she got the opportunity to meet and learn from her skating idols at the festival.

"I thought I'd only see [them] on Instagram, but I've actually [been] meeting them in real life and getting to learn in person from them," she said.

The event, which was held at the Junior Varsity Volleyball Center, included multiple skating workshops for beginners and experienced skaters, skating parties, and an array of performances.

Still going strong

Theresa Tucci, who is the co-founder of Calgary Roller Skate, lamented over the loss of Lloyd's, a legendary roller rink that was widely popular among the local skating community. 

The rink shut down in February 2018 after hosting skating enthusiasts for over 50 years.

"When Lloyd's closed, the skate community didn't go away," Tucci said. "There was still skating. But in the public perception, skating was over."

Tucci added that skating shot to prominence during the pandemic as people started searching for recreational activities and experimented with roller skating. 

Social media platforms like TikTok also played a role in shining the spotlight on skating, according to Tucci. She said that many more skating enthusiasts are giving the sport a shot.

"People are really excited to come out," Tucci said. "We're talking six generations of birthday parties … family gatherings."

As far as Tucci is concerned, this is an exciting turn of events. She said that her team is working extra hard to arrange monthly pop-ups for skating enthusiasts in the city.

"We're doing our best along with other companies here in the city like clubs that are trying to keep skating alive," she said.

The roller skate festival is believed to be the "only one of its kind" in Canada, something that Tucci is proud of.

Over 150 people have attended the roller skate festival so far. The event isn't limited to locals and has attendees from the U.S., Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and more. 

'Skating is therapeutic'

Tanya Dean, the founder of Skaterobics in New York City, decided to attend the festival after receiving an invitation from Tucci.

"The skate community is small, but it's big," she said. "We all basically know each other or know of each other and we interact a lot of times on Facebook and different roller skate workouts."

Dean added that the festival was a good opportunity to show off different styles of roller skating.

"There's so many different styles, so we wanted everybody to come together and to get snippet of all the different styles so they can just come together and have fun," she said.

For Dean, skating is a great way to meet like-minded people and bond over their love for the sport.

"You could do it in a group or you can do it by yourself. It's creative," she said. "Skating is therapeutic."