Latest news with #rollerskating
ABC News
4 days ago
- General
- ABC News
How Perth's king and queen of skating keep rolling back the years
When Peter and Barbara Rye get into their rollerskates, they move in a kind of unison that only comes after five decades of marriage — three of them on wheels. Now aged in their seventies, the pair first fell in love with rollerskating when they competed in a couples' dance event in the 1990s, a time when the category was overflowing with skaters. But the event has since died out. In fact, Peter and Barbara were the only couple in the rink at the state championships in Perth this year. Despite the challenges, the couple have maintained the same commitment to the sport as they have to each other, in the hope artistic rollerskating can be revived. Peter and Barbara picked up the skates by chance when they were in their forties, and have been hooked ever since. Despite their age, the couple trains about three times a week. "You can trip each other up and we do sometimes have falls," Barbara said. The joy of coming up with choreography and keeping the beat of the music has kept the pair engaged in the sport, even if there isn't much competition. "It's still fun. It's still rewarding to go out there and compete, to push yourself," Peter said. "So many people our age sort of just vegetate rather than push yourself and keep achieving. "Even if sometimes you can't achieve what you used to be able to achieve." When rollerskating first hit Australia in the 1980s, it was a booming sport for social and competitive skaters. But participation declined over the following decades, as trends moved on and more options entered the market. "Couples skating like [us] have really gone out of fashion, there are very few left now," Barbara said. "It's a real shame that the young skaters aren't still doing it because they can do so much more than we can now." Many of Peter and Barbara's peers have either given up the sport or died, but for those still committed to rollerskating, the competitions have become an opportunity to reminisce. "The national championships isn't so much a competition as a reunion," Peter said. "It's unfortunately becoming less and less so as our friends have faded away one way or the other." The couple are now an anomaly in Perth. But they don't mind standing out from the crowd and have no intention of slowing down while they are both willing and able to keep skating. "You get some quite amazing feedback from the audience when we skate at competitions because we are quite unique," Peter said. The fluctuation of rollerskating's popularity, particularly in a social capacity, has often been tied to popular culture. Barbara said that cycle has kept her hopeful that up-and-coming skaters will start walking through the doors again. "We've had ups and downs, but it's never stayed that way," she said. Morley Rollerdrome owner Ozzy Kilgallon said the end goal was to get rollerskating to the Olympics. "World sports are best when you watch on TV and then you can go and do it … it's accessible," he said. "If they can get rollerskating to the Olympics, like skateboarding did, everyone will want to try it and that's a good thing. "That will keep us going."
BBC News
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Nottingham rollerskating venue closure will have 'huge impact'
The owner of a unique Nottingham entertainment venue says it is "incredibly sad" it is being forced to close due to planning rollerskating arena, in Lenton, was set up nine years ago and has hosted parties, theme nights and skating there was an understanding that when nearby land was developed for housing, the venue would need to be soundproofed, something Joy Cotton says is confirming the closure on social media, Ms Cotton said the public reaction "really hit home how much of a huge impact this is going to have". Ms Cotton said she set up Skateland after her then teenage son struggled to find anywhere convenient to practice his has since grown into a popular venue which is partly run by when they looked into the cost of soundproofing the venue it came to "hundreds of thousands" of business has been given a deadline of 31 July to vacate the building but clearance work means they will close on 6 July."It is incredibly sad," said Ms Cotton."We only told staff and volunteers on Monday and then we shared it on our socials to let customers know."The amount of people who have reached out to us is amazing."It has really hit home how much of a huge impact this is going to have for some people."It's really going to affect their well being, because this is somewhere they come together with their friends and there is nowhere else they can come and do this." Affordable fun She confirmed the team would like to continue elsewhere but they need a suitable building at the right price."We'd love to move to another venue but that is easier said than done," she said."We need about 8,000 sq ft, parking and no houses nearby and those tend to get snapped up quickly."People have been saying 'Oh it was so cheap, you could have charged more'."But one of our key principles was to keep skating affordable for Nottingham."There are so many events or venues that people struggle to afford so we wanted to make sure this was for everybody."Ms Cotton said the next few weeks were going to be busy with planning final events and putting items into storage."I'm not sure when it will hit home it's not there anymore," she said.
