Let the good times roll
Skating Mamas of SCV has hundreds of members, including men, kids
What began as a local mama looking to create a skating group has turned into a roller-skating community wheeling across the Santa Clarita Valley.
In less than a month, Skate Mamas of SCV has garnered nearly 450 members, with dozens gathering in socially distanced meetups to skate around the SCV.
“It’s just exploded,” said Dawn Walker, the group’s founder, adding that members range from women in their 40s and 50s who used to skate when they were kids, to kids learning to skate for the first time, along with everyone in between, including some men and children.
The SCV is not the only place this trend has emerged, as roller skating has, in fact, made a major comeback during a pandemic that only safely allows for outdoor, distanced activities.
‘It just blew up’
Walker got the itch to pick up skating again after her daughter purchased some skates a couple of months ago.
“It was more like an inner-child thing — I wanted to do something that I did when I was a kid,” she said.
After skating for a few weeks on her own, it occurred to her that there might be other moms out there trying to relearn skating, so she posted on a Santa Clarita community page, asking just that.
Walker was immediately flooded with responses, deciding then to create a group for anyone interested.
By that evening, Skating Mamas of SCV had been formed, and soon, members were suggesting
the group get together and skate at Central Park.
“The first big one, there was like 30 people that came out and skated,” Walker added.
The group has continued to grow, with other members hosting their own skate meetups across the SCV.
“They’re skating in Castaic, they’re skating on the paseos, they’re skating at Central Park,” Walker said.
A revival of the roller rink kids
For some, it’s the nostalgia that brought them back to their skating days, and most of the group are, in fact, returning skaters from their childhood, but for others, it’s the community they’ve found.
“It’s just brought this community of skaters together that no one even thought existed,” Walker said. “People are just so excited and happy. Happy to get out, happy to have other people that are into the same thing they are. It’s just sweet.”
Nadine Romero, another skater who’s been part of the group since its inception, agreed, adding, “I hadn’t really considered that there might be hundreds of other women or people in Santa Clarita who would be interested in doing the same thing.”
That is until she was tagged in Walker’s post.
“There are all levels of skaters, from beginner, intermediate to advanced and expert,” Romero said of the group. “It’s been fantastic.”
She, too, was a roller rink kid, recalling skating daily back in the 1970s with metal wheels and across Venice Beach.
Skates have been flying off the shelves, so much so that Romero waited months before deciding to splurge on a marked-up pair for her birthday.
For Romero, who has been skating every day since, it’s like she’s rediscovered a passion.
“I have been roller skating in Valencia just on the streets and whatever paved surfaces I can find that don’t have too many cracks or crevices since October,” she said.
Romero’s even been able to get her 23-yearold son into skating, after she purchased him his first pair of skates for Christmas.
“That was his first time ever being on roller skates, and he’s already doing 180s in the air jumping off the stairs,” she said.
While skeptical at first, her son joined the group for the first time last week and had a blast, according to Romero.
Get out, get rolling
Skating has provided a source of exercise, socialization and respite for many, as the community approaches the one-year mark since a stay-at-home order was implemented.
“It’s so nice to get outside,” Walker said. “It’s a way to be social, and we’re distancing but still have fun together. It’s also bringing my family closer because everybody’s trying different things on wheels.”
Now, Walker and the group are hoping to convince the city of Santa Clarita to create a rollerskating rink so they can have a safe place to skate.
In the meantime, she encourages anyone who’d like to join the group to come out and give it a try.
The group meets weekly 4 p.m. Saturdays at the Central Park basketball courts. For more information on Skating Mamas of SCV, visit bit.ly/ SkatingMamasSCV.