Roller skating at a purpose-built roller skating rink is the perfect activity on so many fronts. It’s a fun activity that is suitable for everyone in the family. It’s more affordable than many other leisure activities and because it’s a physical activity, the health benefits are obvious. Most roller skating rinks permit both quad and inline skating.
Quad Skating in Popular Culture
Roller skating, especially the quad variety, was hugely popular during the 80s. I competed myself as a youngster in all manner of quad skating competitions, from freestyle and doubles through to speed and figure skating.
During the last twenty years, the popularity of quad skating has declined whilst that of inline skating has increased. However, in the last couple of years, quad skating has experienced a renaissance due to the increasing popularity of roller derby, a sport that has been plucked from obscurity and pushed into the limelight of popular culture. If those not familiar with roller derby, watch Hollywood film, Whip It, starring Drew Barrymore and Juliette Lewis.
Roller Skating is a Fun Activity for the Whole Family
There aren’t many sports that are as much fun for everyone in the family to enjoy and participate in, as roller skating. And a skating rink is the perfect environment for the whole family to learn to skate. Even very young children can don a pair of skates and skate around with the help of adults.
One thing that is noticeable when you are taking a break is that almost everyone has smiles on their faces. Admittedly, smiles and laughter briefly disappear when one takes a fall, but generally the shock seems to be quickly forgotten.
Roller skating is a fun way for families to bond when family members are learning or teaching each other to skate. Individuals can compete in fun speed-skating competitions that are often held during the session, and for those who are quickly excelling in the sport, it becomes fun to dodge, duck, dip and dive in front, behind or to the side of many of the human obstacles that come rolling into your path from all directions.
Roller Skating is a Physical Activity with Health Benefits
It’s easy to have so much fun roller skating that you can forget what great exercise it also is. Actually, the amount of exercise one gets is hugely deceptive. It’s obvious that once you get good at it, more effort is required to go faster. However, even if you spend most of the time falling over whilst you are learning, the very act of getting up and down will ensure that you get a good night’s sleep.
The typical duration of a public roller skating session in New Zealand is two hours. That’s plenty of time to get a good work out if one is a proficient roller skater. And even if the kids aren’t breaking a sweat, two hours of learning to roller skate is exercising dexterity and all manner of coordination skills that they wouldn’t be getting the benefit of by sitting in front of a computer game or television screen for the same period.
Roller Skating is an Affordable Activity
Unlike many other physical activities, roller skating at a roller skating rink, even with skate hire, is affordable, especially for an activity that involves participation of the whole family.
A two hour session at Skateland in Mt Wellington is NZD6 for entry and NZD3 for hire. For this cost an individual can roller skate for two hours and swap their quad skates for roller blades or vice versa as often as they wish. Most skating rinks also have discounts for families.
Skateland in Auckland, New Zealand also has a loyalty card that entitles the bearer to one free session after nine sessions are purchased. If you like roller skating, check with your local rink to see if they have similar deals.
Roller Skating is a Fun, Fitness-Filled and Affordable Activity
Roller skating is a fun activity for the whole family. It’s also a form of exercise that you don’t really notice that you are doing. It’s affordable so there is no excuse to plead poverty no matter how large your family.
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