A local roller derby team is looking for a new venue following the announced closure of the Eldridge Community Center and Skatepark.
The Eldridge City Council voted on Monday, December 15th, to close the facility due to budget constraints. Quad City Rollers Vice President, Melissa Conway, says the team is disappointed to hear the news.
“They do a lot of really great events, and they've also been really awesome and gracious about hosting us,” Conway said. “People love to come see the games there. They've got a really awesome setup. So it's really disappointing.”
She said the team already signed a contract for the 2026 season. However, it is not deterring their mission to find a new home rink.
“We are such a strong community of people on the Quad City Rollers from different backgrounds, different areas in the Quad Cities. We feel confident that we will find a new place to call home,” Conway said. “We just don't know quite when it has to be yet. So we've got our board of directors and we've got our official venue search committee all kind of looking.”
Conway shared some of the factors the team is considering in their search.
“[A]s far as a new location we're looking for somewhere in the Quad Cities or immediate surrounding cities. Eldridge is not quite in the Quad Cities, but we love Eldridge. And so that worked for us because it was near something affordable. We do fund everything for ourselves. We don't get money to pay for practice space or game space,” Conway said. “So something that's affordable. We also have size requirements. The legal size for a derby rink needs to be 108 inches long, 75 wide for the lane for practice. So that is also very important. There have been a couple places that reached out and said, ‘Oh, you could play here,’ but they're very, very small. We wouldn't even be able to have a game there, which is really disappointing. But we do appreciate the community support.'
"We also need extra space for our new skaters to practice. Space for gearing up, locker rooms, benches, penalty boxes during the game, a space for equipment storage. We store a lot of our equipment and game day supplies, currently in the community center in Eldridge. So, just a closet would be perfect. A space for audiences to come, especially our themed games, big games. At the beginning and end of the season, we see a full house. So space for people to actually sit and be able to view the game is really, really important. And then also a skate surface that's in fairly good condition. Something clean, designed for skating or gym floor, sport court, even concrete would be perfect.”
The team is gearing up for its boot camp starting in January. Those interested in joining the team or curious about roller derby can find a sign-up form on their website. The boot camp starts Sunday, January 4th.
According to the Eldridge City Council minutes, the following steps for closure will be addressed at future meetings. The next meeting is Monday, January 12th.
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