Rise of American Roller Sports

The Rise of American Roller Sports and the Upcoming American Championships

Five years ago, the board of directors for the RSA had a strategic planning session that included many of its members. One of the goals was to look for a way to have the rink owners more involved in running roller sports.

A majority vote decided that it would put its own program together with the goal of hosting championships that would boost rink involvement and get rink sports more in the public—and Olympic—eye.

Bobby Bentley, former president of RSA, was elected president of the newly-named American Roller Sports, and the plan was set in motion.

Initially, it started developing programs for the Inline Hockey Association and five years ago, it held the first-ever American Inline Hockey Championships and American Roller Speed Skating Championships.

“The importance of this is we had these beginner skate programs and achievement programs, and these kids were participating in them, but they would go nowhere once they finished with them,” Bentley says. “We felt like we needed to develop programs that would continue on the achievement program to better the sport.”

Plus, it gave the rink owners a turnkey program they could run themselves and gave them a path to get certified to teach.

After three years, COVID interrupted the 2020 event, but it was back in 2021 with the Rink Hockey Championships added to the mix, and this year, the Artistic Roller Skating Championships will make its inaugural bow.

Today, American Roller Sports has a base of more than 1,000 skaters in roller hockey, ball hockey, speed, artistic, freestyle and style skating.

“My best advice for coaches and skaters is to come in with an open mind,” Bentley says. “You want to teach your kids to participate in roller sports and learn all the disciplines of roller sports and know it will advance your classes that you’re teaching in your local roller rink.”

THE UPCOMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

From May 26-30, the American Rink Hockey Championships will take place at the Xfinity Roller Sports Arena by Skate City, in Colorado Springs, CO. This will be followed by the American Rink Hockey Championships from May 26 - 30, the American Inline Hockey Championships from June 3-12, then the American Roller Speed Championships from June 15-19, and the American Artistic Roller Skating Championships, held July 23-28.

All of the events will be streamed live on Rollerplanet.net.

Larry Bishop, vice president of American Roller Sports, owns Skate City rinks and donates his facility for the events, knowing what a great thing this is for the industry.

“It’s an opportunity for rink owners to have their sports participants compete in an event that is dedicated to their customers,” he says. “This is for the rinks and their skaters. It’s an association run by their roller skating association and it’s clearly the best event run in their disciplines. It’s always an impressive showing.”

His facility meets all international specifications for each sport, whether it’s the rink hockey floor, the hardwood floor for artistic skating or the stall-mat interlocking tile floor for inline hockey.

Plus, he’s boosting the rink up for the championships by adding a brand-new, state-ofthe-art digital flat screen that will be available.

“We’ll have four dressing rooms for the athletes, all with pine-wood locker stalls, and flat screens for them to watch,” Bishop says. “We’ve got brand new air conditioning on the skating floor and it’s just going to be an amazing event all around.”

For those taking part in the events, medals and trophies will be awarded, and the speed skating championships has a prize pool of $10,000.

Among the notable skaters who have attended the American Championships in the past include inline skating USA World Team members Kelsey Rogers and Kayla Duque; inline star skater Jazmyn Foster; national speed champion Jeilyn Godin; youth inline skating star Michaela Renick; and two-time national inline skating champion, Mackenzie Robinson.

On the men’s side, notable names include Team USA speed skaters Christian Keesler, Justin Stelly and Herbie Harbison III; and professional inline skaters Gabriel Lyons, Dustin Hebson, Colton Miller and James Sadler.

Many of these fan favorites are expected to appear at the 2022 championships as well.

These names will help in bringing more notoriety to the event and hopefully take these championships to the next level.

“There’s a long-term plan to help spearhead some energy in roller sports here in Colorado Springs, known as Olympic City to many,” Bishop says. “We’re trying to bring roller sports to their attention and at the very least, we want to be a demonstration sport in 2028 for the L.A. Games.”