by Mel Blackwood
Many of the skaters come to us at the very start of their roller skate journey and we are delighted to see their confidence blossom in just a few weeks. We often hear folks talk about skills in binary terms, but there is no 'good' or 'bad' in these activities. Only more or less experience. At the start of your roller skate journey, of course, you will have less experience. Your body will not know what to do. Your mind may be excited or anxious. We will gently hold space for you and supportively push you (figuratively) out of your comfort zone, into the learning zone. You will develop new skills you never thought you'd be capable of achieving. You will develop a sense of confidence and pride that will spill out of your roller skate life, and cross over into your regular life. How do I know? Our skaters have shared it with me, hundreds of times.
Whether you're skate-curious, returning to roller skating after an injury or prolonged time away from skating - RGG is here for you. Our core participants are folks aged 30-60, though there are younger and occasionally older folks too.
We've seen people make life changing decisions, from choosing to wear more colour - proud to stand out - to applying for new jobs, moving house, city or country, and a whole lot more, because roller skating has given them confidence in themselves.
How we can support you
If you've decided learning to roller skate is the activity for you, we would love to welcome you to one of our sessions. At the moment, we learn on Sunday afternoons and offer a roller disco style session called Friday Night Social, on, er, Friday nights. The vast majority of our classes and sessions are for adults only. We've found that children learn in a very different way, so have spent years teaching thousands of adults to roller skate, improving and refining our program.
I'm a qualified, experienced teacher and coach and have designed our program of skills. I'm also reviewing and improving our offer based on my ongoing development. All our coaches are carefully chosen and trained in our programme and delivery - we have a very specific way of supporting folks.
We offer:
spaces where our participants tell us they feel safe. No judgement here, ever. If you show up, it's always enough.
a high coach - participant ratio
tips and techniques that allow participants to make the most rapid progress
mental wellbeing coaching
All genders and identities are warmly welcomed.
Accessibility stories to support folks who want to know more about what to expect. You can find these on our website here.
Can't attend every week? Don't worry, just come when you can. Whenever you can make it down, we look forward to skating with you. Our sessions are intended to meet your needs.
I just want the time you spend with us to be one of the best decisions you feel you have made - full of joy.
I appreciate you reading the blog, so here is a video dance-along tutorial to Beyonce's 'Love on Top' - a repetitive choreography that works to a lot of songs at this tempo. This choreography was designed to support folks to drill crossing their feet, as it's a fundamental skill in roller dance. I created this choreography over 5 years ago and it is still an RGG favourite!
Do you have high anxiety, whether it's diagnosed or undiagnosed? What is your experience in starting a new activity? Tell us in the comments section below.