Coach Ebene Montgomery (centre) with artistic skaters Kendall Apolloni, Shari Johnston-Price, Harper Apolloni, Ava Kelly, Hayley Coperland and Mia Beynon. Photo: Zoe Cartwright.
An Illawarra sports club has been revived and is on the hunt for a new home.
Artistic roller skating in the region ground to a halt after beloved coach Gordon Homes was diagnosed with cancer in 2019.
When he died in 2021 the club collapsed, and passionate skaters like 15-year-old Mia Beynon had to travel to Sydney for coaching.
She was devastated.
“Gordon was the sweetest, kindest man I have ever met,” she said.
“It’s a unique sport, and it was gone so long, I feel really emotional to see the club being rebuilt.”
The rebirth of artistic roller skating in the Illawarra is in large part thanks to Ebene Montgomery.
The former international competitor, official and accredited coach moved to Wollongong to study marine science.
She connected with Mia and began coaching her locally before other girls asked to join.
The club now has seven members, including coach Ebene, and hopes to grow the sport in the region.
“I skated six days a week as a teen, so to go from competing at nationals to officiating and now to have kids competing at nationals as a coach, I’m just as excited as them when they land something,” Ebene said.
“I love the team aspect of it, whether it’s watching your friends skate or competing in team divisions, but often it’s a sport where it’s all on you to use your strength, skills and mental toughness to present what you can in that moment.
“It takes a lot of physical and mental work – luckily the girls are pretty tough.”
The club’s main challenge now is finding a permanent venue in which to train.
Without a permanent home they’ve had to shift between indoor venues like the Illawarra Sports Stadium in Berkeley, which is most similar to a competition surface, skating rinks and outdoor netball courts vulnerable to bad weather.
It makes it hard for the girls to get the training they need, and even harder to attract more people in.
Ebene said in addition to the rarity of finding an indoor venue that had a free weeknight for training there were some misconceptions about the sport.
One, that skates will damage timber floors, and two that it’s high-risk.
General Manager of the Illawarra Sports Stadium, Tim Fares, said neither of those were true.
“We fit in the Illawarra Rollerskating Club when we can, but at the moment we’re booked out every night,” he said.
“Their skates have not damaged the floors; it’s no more impact than what we would get from basketball.
“These guys are dancers, it’s artistic. We get worse collisions on the floor in basketball or netball.
“We are screaming out for an expansion so we can have more room for clubs like this.
“We’ve had great support from Wollongong City Council but we need all three levels of government to come together.”
In the meantime, the Illawarra artistic roller-skating team are working towards a competition in Sydney in late February.
Mia hopes to continue further – onto the national and international stage.
“I got my first pair of skates before I could walk, I was two; I remember my brothers pulling me around the house,” she said.
“I love this sport so much; I just want to put it out there for the world to see.”
For more information, or to join the club, check out their Instagram page.
Loading ...
