Seeing a need for roller hockey expansion in Douglas County, the Parker Recreation Center built a rink last year. Little did they know the expansion would lead to a roller boom in the area.

Almost immediately the youth participation was evident. Leagues formed and tons of youth were able to flood the floors of the rink in the summer of ’07. Since then the programs have really taken off, putting Parker Rec on the roller map--not just for youth.  

There were no adult leagues when the rink opened last year and now the center must juggle all the youth teams with 40-plus new adult teams. Not a bad problem to have.

“The rink was established to provide a new venue for roller in the area and now it’s pulling youth and adults from Aurora to Castlerock,” said Ryan Justis, the adult sports and youth inline coordinator.

“It’s been an amazing year,” he said. “It’s exceeded our expectations across the board.”

That may be so but the sport of roller hockey continues to expand for a number of reasons. It’s a great way to start learning the basics of hockey and it’s got a financial upside that ice hockey sometimes doesn’t offer.

“I see inline hockey as kind of like pond hockey,” said Justis, who grew up playing ice and roller. You can learn the basics and the game of hockey before making the jump and moving up to ice.”  

That’s exactly the kind of people Parker Rec wants to target. They want to be able to teach the basics, stress fundamentals and have people move through their programs and leagues as they get older. But starting at the bottom is something they’re looking to expand.

“We’re looking into doing some camps and clinics in the future. We’ve been around for a year and established the center as a great place to play roller. Now we want to start teaching,” Justis said, with hopes of starting the programs as early as the fall. “That way we can run them through fall and winter and really prepare for the spring season.”

The rink itself is the newest in the area and patrons, according to Justis, often comment on the rink surface and the lighting in such a big venue.

“Things like that really make a difference when you’re playing inline,” he said, “and we hear it all the time.”

As the programs continue to expand, Parker Rec would like to make available skating opportunities to everyone. They’re still working out a Friday co-ed league and a Sunday 14-and-up women’s league. It’s just a matter of getting it started.
“Once we have the interest and participants the first year, it’ll only take off from there,” Justis said.

Parker Rec saw a need for another roller rink and now everyone sees a need to use it.