Roller Skating

Yep, we are a church that roller skates. We offer roller skating for families on Tuesdays from 6:30 – 7:30 in our fellowship hall. Roller Skating typically takes place from October to March every year. $1 Donation requested from all skaters. We have roller skating rental available (included in the $1 donation).  

Interested in the history of roller skating and why we roller skate at Bethany UMC? Check out an article about our skating legacy.

Roller Skating Safety Rules

Every one of these rules exists to create a safe and welcoming roller skating community where the entire Clio area can come and learn to roller skate.  These rules are non-negotiable. When you enter the roller rink, you agree to follow these safety rules or you will lose your skating privileges.

If you break one of the safety rules, you will be asked to remove your skates and be done skating for the evening.  Repeated violations across multiple skating nights will open up further conversation and the possible loss of skating privileges for the season.

Rule # 1 – No skates outside of this room.  If you have to go to the bathroom, you must remove your skates and you’ll find the bathroom down the hall.

Rule # 2 – No gum chewing, food or beverage in this room besides water. You’ll find the water fountain right near the skate shack.

Rule # 3 – No sitting on the rails.

Rule # 4 – Use caution when going under the rails. Try not to go under the rails in general. To access the water fountain, it is preferred to exit the floor and go around. NEVER fly under the railing skates first, ESPECIALLY near the water fountain.

Rule # 5 – No playing games of chase or tag or having races on the floor during all skate time.

Rule # 6 – Keep your hands and all limbs to yourself.  No more than 2 people holding hands are allowed. Having more people holding hands disrupts the flow on the floor. No kicking, hitting, tagging, etc.  Our safety goal is to keep some distance between skaters to prevent accidents. 

Rule # 7 – This is a one way skating floor. We skate in a counter-clockwise direction unless we announce a special skate.  Do not circle back to meet up with friends or to reverse towards the exit.

Rule # 8 – Be kind. Use ONLY kind language. No cussing, no swearing, no teasing, no bullying, no name calling.  This rule is for all people in the skate area whether you are skating or not. 

Our volunteers watch the floor for safety rule violations. If you have a safety concern, please speak with one of our volunteers.

Good Roller Skating Manners

We only have one hour of skating so good manners helps us make the most of it! The roller rink at Bethany UMC is quite small so good manners makes it much easier for us to share the space. Skating with a  group of people all practicing good manners is very enjoyable and keeps our skating community welcoming and inviting to new, inexperienced skaters.

Here’s some good skating manners to be aware of. 

1. Slower skaters should stay closer to the rails.  This keeps 2 lanes of traffic flowing around the floor. Slower skaters who want to use the railing can move at their pace and more experienced skaters can take the inside of the floor to move more fluidly and a bit quicker.
2. If you are an experienced skater – give EXTRA space to inexperienced skaters.  They can’t move as quickly or as fluidly as you.  They will get scared if you get your skates too close to them and that can make them fall or lose balance.  Give inexperienced skaters a wide berth. 
3. We reserve the skating assists for new and/or inexperienced skaters.  These work best if you go slow.  Make sure that you are keeping all of the wheels engaged with the floor when using them for best results and to keep others from being entangled in the assist.  Make sure you aren’t running the assist into other skaters.  Keep an eye on where you are going. Parents if you have a small child using an assist, you may need to help them! 
4. All skaters – pay attention to the speed of the floor around you. You want to flow with the floor. Good rule of thumb – If you are skating faster than Bryan our referee, you are skating too fast for floor conditions. 
5. Good manners for Entrance/Exit of the floor –   If you want to exit the floor on this time around move towards the outside of the floor and SLOW DOWN. You are going to encounter slower, inexperienced skaters and also potentially other skaters who are entering/exiting. If you are skating through and going around, move towards the center to skate through and give space to those entering and exiting the floor. 
6. When there’s a disagreement in our skating community – we practice healthy conflict resolution skills. We take a deep breath. We remember that every person in our skating community has good intention and wants all skaters to have fun and be safe.  We pray for God to come into the midst of the conflict and we CALMLY approach the other person involved in the conflict, with a mediator (one of our volunteers) as necessary. We do not shout, scream, yell or escalate. We ask adults to help model to the young people around us a better way to handle our disagreements.  Please take serious disagreements to one of our volunteers for help mediating. If discussions need to be had, we must have them OFF of the skating floor.

If you aren’t practicing good skating manners, one of our volunteers might give you a warning.  Repeatedly not practicing good skating manners will bring further conversations and the possible loss of skating privileges.