Maitland Roller Derby excited by proposed skating facility concept plan

On Tuesday, June 13 the council carried a motion to develop a concept plan which will include finding a suitable location and an estimate on how much it will cost to build.

The plan is for an outdoor facility similar to the pop-up events the council held at the Maitland Athletics Centre and Maitland Station during the past 18 months.

The skating facility plan could be a huge boost for Maitland Roller Derby who train locally but are forced to take their bouts on the road due to a lack of a suitable venue.

Casey Wood from Maitland Roller Derby said the group have put their requirements forward to the council for consideration. She said while no promises have been made, it is a step in the right direction in finding a permanent home.

"Even if it is a venue that we're not able to use as a facility for hosting bouts it's still something that we'd potentially be able to use as a training venue," she said.

"Anything that brings new people to the sport is always going to be a positive thing, roller skating is certainly kicking off in a really big way and seems to just continue to grow.

"So that's really exciting for roller derby."

The league hosted round three of the Five by Five Roller Derby Championship on Sunday, June 4 at the Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium.

Hosting their first roller derby championship round, the league joined forces with the New England Roller Derby, playing under the banner of the New England Jerks.

"They are an excellent league (New England) and we have a lot of fun with them...roller derby is very collaborative obviously with being such a niche sport, there's not a lot of competitiveness," Wood said.

"That was a fantastic game, it was really good and we managed to raise a little bit of cash and everything went off without a hitch which was incredible."

Mayor Philip Penfold said the council was responding to the community push for a permanent home for roller skating.

"There's an appetite in our community for an outdoor roller skating facility, especially from local roller skating groups who have been real champions for this idea," he said.

"It would be great to give local skating enthusiasts a more permanent space, which is why we've agreed to investigate this idea further."

Last week a roller skating group called on the council to turn the bowling greens at the former Maitland Park Bowling Club into a permanent skating venue.

The council are seeking input to help guide the future use of the bowling club site, with group the Maitland City Rollers suggesting the club's bowling greens could be transformed into a space free to the public.

A popular outdoor activity in the 1980s, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics roller sports participation numbers have more than doubled in the last 20 years.

The Australian Sports Commission reports an estimated 282,000 Australians aged 15 and over participated in roller sports in 2020-21.

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