The only rollerskating rink on the Gold Coast and Tweed Coast is bringing indoor fun back for adult skaters now that they’re hosting more adults only sessions.
I attended Epic Skate Rink’s first adult (16+) skate night event since the new owner took over just last year.
That 3-hour long disco session on the 14th of Jan 2023 was one of the best I’ve enjoyed to date!
Here are the top 5 reasons you should check out an adults only night at Epic Skate Rink.
1. A fantastic place to socialise
My favourite part about visiting the adult skate night at Epic Skate was the opportunity to hang out with like-minded people.
At a certain age options for fun social activities on a night out are limited (more so if you don’t drink) and visiting a rollerskating rink can feel stale or childish.
Adult skate nights are the perfect solution.
With the energetic atmosphere, entertaining music and the fun of actually skating, you’re guaranteed to have a great night out with friends.
Especially if they’re passionate about skating too!
Going to the rink alone? Rollerskating rinks are reliable meeting places for anyone with a love of skating, which makes them a great place to make new friends.
You’re guaranteed to have at least one thing in common with anyone also wearing wheels on their feet!
2. The exciting atmosphere
The vibe at the adult skate night felt very different to a general all-ages session. The flow on the floor was noticeably smoother.
Most skaters were respectful, aware of their surroundings and generally skilled enough to manoeuvre around others when they needed to.
Plus, there weren’t any kids suddenly going the wrong way for dodgy games of tag!
There were dazzling disco lights, games, speed skates (separated into inline and quad skaters instead of age), and classic dance songs like Y.M.C.A and the Macarena.
Roughly 160 people came to Epic Skate’s first adults only event.
The skating floor felt busy, but not crowded in that nail-biting “if the person in front of me goes down, I’m screwed” kinda way.
The rink was packed with people who truly love skating and that created a mature yet exciting atmosphere that reminded me of a nightclub (minus the drunk idiots).
3. Better music to dance to
Adding to this nightclub-like atmosphere was the music.
It was an energetic mix with a few different beats, perfect for different types of skating and I thoroughly enjoyed dancing to it all night.
So much so that I almost forgot to take notes for this article!
Without young ears listening there was no need for radio edits and the music was tailored for the older audience.
For the special event Epic Skate secured DJ Mister P, the official DJ for the Gold Coast Titans rugby club. This meant the songs blended seamlessly from one to the next and fun remixes spiced up the session throughout.
4. No kids to dodge
It’s always fantastic to see new generations learn to skate, but rollerskating sessions without kids are undeniably more free-flowing and enjoyable for mature skaters.
After a little research I found studies that show young children have much poorer peripheral vision than adults.
This seems obvious at rollerskating rinks. I can’t count the number of times I’ve dodged kids who suddenly decide to skate across my path or change direction without checking it’s safe to.
I skated way more confidently without these unpredictable little obstacles and noticed far fewer sudden falls on the rink at the adult skate night.
5. So much to learn
Rollerskaters of all styles cruised around the rink. I spotted speed, artistic, slalom, jam and rhythm skaters, plus a few that I guessed were roller hockey trained.
If you’re looking to improve your skating or play with a new style, these are the sessions for you.
With the adult skate night attracting a more mature audience, the wide variety of developed skating styles on show was honestly inspiring.
There were a mix of beginner and experienced skaters, many of them members of the Gold Coast Rollout group; a community that meet regularly for outdoor rollerskating around the Gold Coast.
After the event Tamara Carney, an artistic skater with 11 years of experience, commented on how being around so many other skilled skaters encouraged her to play with different skating styles.
‘It was great to meet people and try out different types of skating. I usually only train artistic so trying to jam and dance was really fun.’ – Tamara
Epic Skate aims to further encourage jam and rhythm skating in the Gold Coast and Tweed Coast area. The rink’s managing director, Julio Espin said:
‘We want to show people what that’s about. There is quite a hunger for it now.’
Professional jam skater Dion Luis, from RollFam, was asked to teach interested skaters new moves at the event.
The DJ played songs perfect for dancing and rollerskaters were invited to the centre of the rink to learn several well-choreographed jam sequences from Dion.
Skaters also naturally gathered in the middle of the rink throughout the night to share their favourite moves and learn from each other.
At one point there were even some spectacular hula hoop displays!
That sort of thing is likely to happen a lot at Epic Skate and that’s my favourite reason to visit their adults only sessions.
Why Epic Skate Rink?
I sat down with Epic Skate’s owner Nik Petricevic, and the managing director Julio Espin to chat about their new plans for the rink.
You can read more about that interview here: Exciting changes for adult skaters at Epic Skate rink.
Nik told me, as a casual skater himself, he was often deterred from visiting the rink during sessions full of kids.
‘I want to make it somewhere I would come skating.’ – Nik
Because of this, Epic Skate now hosts age restricted (16+) skate night sessions every Saturday at a general session price, and special ticketed event nights (like the one I visited) once each month.
These are just 5 reasons you should visit an adults only rollerskating session at Epic Skate Rink.
Based on the enthusiastic crowd I saw, these sessions will be a fantastic addition to the Gold Coast rollerskating scene.
Epic Skate rink can be visited at 20/23 Enterprise Ave, Tweed Heads South, NSW or check out their website.
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