THE SKATE CONNECTION - an outdoor skate project
- The Skate Sanctuary
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
Huge thanks to The National Lottery Community fund for choosing our project. The Skate Connection is an outdoor project that aims to encourage skaters of all ages to enjoy roller skating, by taking the skating to more outdoor spaces.
Having been in our new home, The Skate Sanctuary, for almost 2 years, we have learned a lot about the habits of skate curious folks. Lots of people want to learn to roller skate, but the unknown factors of
who are the people running the sessions?
who else will be there?
how do I compare?
will I be the worst one in the room?
all become big enough barriers to hold people back. We recognise the huge amounts of courage it takes for skaters to be brave enough to fall over in front of people they don't know!
Outdoor roller skating is one of the greatest pleasures of roller skating. With no walls to limit you, the feeling of rolling on wheels is truly liberating. However, feeling confident to deal with the many obstacles within public outdoor spaces is much trickier than a controlled environment indoors.
By holding outdoor sessions, skate curious folks can chat to our coaches and other skaters and see for themselves that we can learn to roller skate at any age.
We will complement this work through our existing programmes of Outdoor Confidence workshops and socials.
Why we exist:
Social connection is one of the most important factors in our lives. Feeling that we belong somewhere, that people care about us and value our friendship is something that humans are wired for. Not having this can feel incredibly isolating and lonely and can lead to mental ill health. We can only play a small part in bringing more joy and connection to the world, but by roller skating in public, you'll be sharing that joy both with yourself and others - you can't help but smile when you see someone enjoying themselves on skates.
Helping people feel that they CAN achieve their ambition of learning to roller skate is one of our key motivators and it drives our approach to coaching.
Make sure you are following us on our social media channels or subscribed to our newsletter for all the updates about where we will be during Spring and Summer.
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