by Mel @troubleon8wheels
It was the course interrupted by lockdown.
We started with twenty fabulous individuals back in February, who were all making fine progress through our Roller Skate Fundamentals course. This is a tried and tested 6 week course, designed to get you rolling with confidence, with little or no prior experience.
Lockdown stopped everything and is a situation that none of us could have ever planned for. We did offer a couple of online sessions for this group - which is hardly the same - but it meant we could check in with everyone and support them remotely as best as we could.
Coming out of lockdown in August, we felt it was important to offer physical sessions again.
It has also been useful to test our COVID safety measures with a small group who were familiar with us - thanks ladies - and a huge well done for completing the course despite what the world has thrown at us!
We say to all class participants that roller skating is a very individual journey - while we would love to see you at every stage of your skate journey, in reality it is important that you are influenced by many individuals, so watch those videos, go to workshops, meet other skaters. We do love to be a part of your skate journey however you choose to involve us - a social media tag, a visit to the pop-up shop, meet-ups when you can, or classes for life! We will simply be pleased for you and the progress you make, no matter how slow you think you are (pretty much everyone thinks they are the world's slowest learner on skates).
What will classes look like now?
Our physical sessions are not the same as pre-lockdown, they simply cannot be. Our class sizes are at the smallest possible number we can manage to allow us to pay the venue and our costs, while observing social distancing rules and ensuring everyone still gets the energy boost from roller skate classes. (Half the number or less).
We are also using different venues, each with slightly different COVID arrangements. The latest announcement on Wednesday 9th September banning groups of more than 6 meeting up do not currently affect us, as we are considered 'planned activity and exercise'. We had relaxed the meet-up limit of 6 people outdoors, but will re-instate this from Monday 14th September should anyone wish to organise an informal meet-up.
We require all participants of taught classes to complete our new registration form . Some venues additionally have their own track-and-trace protocols and you may need to give your number and email address again.
Should the rules change again, we will continue to comply, as keeping everyone safe is vital.
Please do not attend any classes or meet-ups if you are feeling unwell or have any symptoms of coronavirus. If you are attending a course, we have provision to join you by camera so you don't miss out on our session. Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide refunds for non-attendance.
New Instructor Team
We have new instructors (in training) and are extremely proud of the women who have joined the team. They are dedicated to supporting you to make the best progress they can. The whole team learned to roller skate as adults, so really understand the journey you are going through.
Roller skating is easy and hard at the same time.
The hard bit is telling ourselves that we can do this, that we will fall but it will be okay. Once we get past the initial mental block and the first few falls, it gets easier as we know what to expect.
After that, roller skating is as easy or hard as you choose to make it, including the goals you set yourself.
So, where and how do you want to skate?
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