Rollersport athletes in Vancouver, and rest of Canada, would lag behind the international pack if their sport were to make it into the Olympics, say rollersport experts.
The reason: Canada has few roller rinks left.
"If you wanted to roller skate you'd be lucky if you could find a roller rink," said Wayne Burrett, president of Roller Sports Canada.
Concerns over Olympic-ready athletes follows the International Olympic Committee's July announcement of rollersports as one of eightalongside wakeboard, squash, sport climbing, karate, the martial art wushu, baseball and softballbidding for a single open spot at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.
While rollersports has made headway at international competitions like the Pan American Games, Canadian roller athletes are falling behind countries like Mexico which Burrett says have instilled a series of year-round roller arenas.
"The problem for us is that municipalities have supported mainstream sports, and the minor sports and Pan Am-only sports have not been given help to create facilities for people to go to," Burrett said.
The Lower Mainland has two year-round roller rinks: Sportsplex in Langley and Central City Arena in Surrey. Vancouver has none.
Vancouver's roller derby league, the Terminal City Rollergirls, finds each winter season a grind for space. The league is spending the summer practicing in an empty curling rink in New Westminster.
"Especially in Canada, that is our biggest struggle, because of the prevalence of ice sports," said Lucy Croysdill, Terminal City coach. "Any rink space is an ice rink. You dont have rink spaces that are either just roller rinks or just don't have ice all year round."
This winter will be the first time the league will be heading indoors for practice since the club's 2006 inception. In years prior, Croysdill said the teams would practise at an outdoor space at the University of British Columbia.
"Going into our winter seasons we go from seven to eight practices a week in decent spaces, down to three practices a week in parking lots," Croysdill said. "It's fricking cold. We all get sick."
The move indoors only now comes with the fairly recent opening of Surrey's Central City Arena , formerly known as Stardust, that has provided a space, and an easier reach for the Vancouver-based league.
But there's a catch, Croysdill said. The slot open to the team is 10 p.m. to midnight.
Roller hockey is primarily dominating the two indoor arenas. The odd hours and tight schedules at Central City Arena is the product of high demands for indoor rink space, said rink manager Darrel Guigueno.
"We're sold out every season," Guigueno said. "From what I understand [leagues] skated in parking lots, so the minute we opened they came knocking on our windows."
For Burrett, competitive rollersports still has a ways to go.
"You dont necessarily need to go to a roller rink. You can put on the in-lines and go to the park," Burrett said. "But the competitive sport side of rollersports needs certain conditions for it to flourish."
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