It’s February, which means that it’s our birthday! We’ve officially entered teenage territory, hitting the big 13. As a small business, we’ve accomplished a lot in our 13 years of sharing the joy of roller skating. We like to think that birthdays are a sign to pause for reflection. There are so many new skaters joining in on the RollerFit fun, so we thought we’d share some history and insider info that you might know about us.
1. How your RollerFit Instructor became a coach
Did you know that a bunch of RollerFit instructors have been competitive artistic skaters, many from childhood, who have gone on to learn new skating styles? As for the rest of the coaching team, many started their skating journey with RollerFit and continued learning our program till they had the skills and confidence to teach it themselves. On top of regular practice, every 2 years, our coaching team get together for a weekend of sharing and training. We update and run through our instructing manual, drill skills, develop games and bring new ideas to the table to keep things feeling fresh. We even bring in external coaches to absorb diverse skills and ways to teach from the many disciplines of roller skating. We love all of our instructors, past and present, they make RollerFit possible!
2. The classic skate GIF
We love a GIF as much as the next person, which is why we uploaded our classic skate design as a GIF to social platforms in 2021. Since then, this GIF has been used over 339,000 times. We see it pop up all the time for all kinds of roller skating content, and each time it still gives us those warm and fuzzy feels. To use the GIF, search @rollerfit and don’t forget to tag us so we can see what you’re up to!
3. It was slow growing
RollerFit kicked off in our home on Gadigal land in Sydney in 2012, and we kept it local for a while. The first venue we opened outside of Sydney was on Darkinjung country at Woy Woy on the NSW Central Coast in 2014. We decided to take things interstate with roller skating powerhouse, RollerFit coach and VRDL All Star player Amy in 2016 when RollerFit opened in Narrm, Melbourne. Bonus fun fact: Amy started her skating journey at RollerFit on a fateful Valentine’s Day 💖
4. RollerFit keeps you young at heart
Roller skating is a sport, but we like to keep it fun and foster a positive relationship with movement, play and exercise. It’s all about building confidence and community at our classes and events. That’s why we have a big age range from the youngest skaters starting at 4 years old right up to our young at heart adult skaters, one of whom is in their 70s.
5. Notorious Instagram Lives
During the COVID lockdowns, we kept on rolling by running free classes on Instagram Live. We were able to connect with skaters, new and old, from around the world with our very own RollerFit team and guest coaches such as Oumi Janta, Skate Fantacee, Kiana, Queer Girl Straight Skates and Shove at the helm. Our Insta live coaches are still recognised by skaters whenever we travel to events. Special shoutout to Brisbane RollerFit owner and coach Nicola for having the best, most chaotic and legendary live classes. Were you one of our COVID-era Instagram live skaters? If you feel like reminiscing you can still find these live classes on our insta profile.
6. Your favourite coach's coach
Roller dance has been a part of the RollerFit program since 2016, thanks to the mentorship and coaching of our dear friend Tony Limtiaco. Tony and Stacey met on a fateful trip to Skate Love Barcelona in 2014, and ever since then, Tony has been coaching our coaches, meeting up both here and overseas to keep the learning going. This year Tony is turning 60, and who knows, we might be having some celebrations with him on this side of the globe.
7. We've got disco fever
Every roller skater loves a disco! RollerFit has run plenty over the last 13 years, but did you know that we got our disco and event chops by running regular roller discos at the UNSW Roundhouse under our sister business, Roller Promotions? These discos drew in over 600 people a night with live DJs and skating. It’s how so many of our early RollerFitters found out about us, including the darling duo Matt and Amelia of Two Wheelers fame. Were these discos your gateway to RollerFit as well?
8. The skating bizz hurdles
Running a small business in a niche sport and hobby comes with plenty of challenges. The biggest challenge we come up against regularly is finding suitable indoor venues that will allow us to run classes. In the beginning, it took us 8 months to find our first indoor venue, only to have to find another 6 months later. These days it can be even harder to find new spaces for more locations, but we have great relationships with many of the community sports centres where we host our classes. This is one of the reasons why we even have our own space now, RollerMart in Sydney, where we can run as many classes as our legs will allow us. Thanks to all those venues who’ve taken a chance on us, with special mentions to our longest running venues at Tempe and on the Central Coast.
9. We're always Skate Dreamin'
Designing new skate merch is one of our fave things because who doesn’t love a little treat that shows off your love of skating to everyone? Our first merch drop back in 2016 established our go-to phrase, Skate Dreamin’, and we keep bringing it back every now and again to keep those feels going. We’d love to shout out our resident designer, Julia Rich, formerly known as Zeke’s Lunchbox, who’s been helping us bring our merch visions to life since 2016.
10. Teamwork makes the event dream work
RollerFit has organised and been a part of running plenty of big skating events over the years, and we’ve been lucky enough to partner with friends and fellow skate businesses in the process. We’ve teamed up with likes of Chuffed Skates, Moxi Roller Skates, roller derby leagues, other independent skaters and local councils. Roller skating is about the community, and we’ll take any opportunity to bring the Australian community and dedicated international skaters together for some fun. You may have been around for events like Skate Fest 2019 or RollerFit Retreat in 2022 or 2024, but do you know we coached at Skate Love Barcelona way back in 2015?
11. We've started thousands on their roller skating journey
RollerFit is a program that’s designed to share the joy of roller skating by teaching the foundational skills that will set skaters up for success with continued progression and the confidence to explore other skating styles. Over the last 13 years we’ve had the absolute pleasure of getting thousands of skaters rolling, but we’d love to give a shoutout to our day ones who’ve been rolling with us since our early days at Mascot. Hands up if you remember the good old Mascot days!
12. Sharing is caring
Whether it’s our time or hard-earned dollars, we love to show that the skating community is generous. As a team, RollerFit has been a part of organising and running community events and outreach programs. We’ve teamed up with plenty of local councils, Aboriginal health organisations, charities and causes like Dry July and The Black Dog Institute, and other sporting clubs like Queer Sporting Alliance to share some skate fun. You’ve even helped us to raise money for worthy causes and those close to our hearts with things like the Where I Skate program supporting Black Rainbow and Seed Mob and the Rollerthon supporting the Cancer Council. Big shoutout to Kiesha from Cause/Affect Studio for being the best collaborator for Where I Skate. Thank you to all our skaters for always getting behind a fundraiser and community awareness program!
13. We might seem big, but we're small
RollerFit is a big presence in the Australian roller skating scene, but we’re a really small business. We run a 4 pronged business between RollerFit classes across 13 locations, Roller Promotions, the RollerFit Skate Shop and RollerMart. Making all of this happen is 1 female founder who started this all from her share house in Newtown in 2012, 1 full-time staff member juggling lots of plates, our state licensees holding down the fort in their locations and our fabulous coaches. On occasion, we bring out the big creative guns with graphic designer Julia Rich and our resident photographer Linda Coy. RollerFit is an independent, skater-owned and skater-run business, and that’s something that will never change!
If you’ve been a part of this wild RollerFit ride at any point in the last 13 years, the RollerFit team just wants to say a HUGE, MASSIVE THANK YOU! It’s because of you that our skate dreams continue to come true. Let’s keep making more memories in the years of skating to come 💜
