Grown-ups have the hardwood to themselves during Adult Skate
Usually the Boulder Crystal Palace Skating Center at 4680 Boulder Highway staff plays Top 40 tunes. Two mornings each week it plays a different tune, often organ music or Top 40 from 40 or 50 years ago.
Adult Skate is scheduled from 9 to 11 a.m. every Monday and Thursday at the center. Participants must be 21 or older, but in practice the demographics skew on the significantly older but decidedly young-at-heart side.
"I started coming down here 15 years ago, and I brought my old skates," Irene Diehl said. "They told me I couldn’t skate with wooden wheels here. So I had to get new skates. Skating keeps me healthy."
At 82, Diehl is the senior female skater among the session’s regulars. She’s also the one who organizes the potlucks, handles emails, takes photos and posts on the group’s private blog.
Rink co-owner Tonya Poole married into the family business more than 20 years ago and said Adult Skate was running strong at that time.
"It’s not a money maker," Poole said at a recent Monday session. "Today there are 13 people here, but it’s important to have it open. It’s a good thing for them to get out of the house. They get their exercise, and they get to socialize."
Walter Spurlock, 85, the eldest skater in the group, came down even though his arthritis was acting up and keeping him from getting out on the floor.
"I just came down to make the coffee," he said. "As soon as the arthritis goes down, I’ll be back skating again."
Not only is Spurlock the eldest skater, he also has been on wheels the longest. He started skating before he was old enough to go to school.
"My mother bought me my first pair of skates — steel wheels, clamp on," Spurlock said. "I don’t remember, but my mother said I’d learned to skate by the first day. Of course, I fell down a few hundred times."
Spurlock has lived in Las Vegas since 1977, when he and his wife moved to escape the humidity of Indiana.
"It was a nice, small town back then," he said. "There are still a lot of good folks here. A lot of them are in this room."
The group is loosely organized. Joyce Yokum, 60, is a former skating coach, and she offers pointers to her fellow seniors when asked. She comes down for most sessions before she heads off to her day job.
"Some of these skaters are in their 70s or 80s," Yokum said. "I tell them, ‘I don’t do stupid.’ If you want to keep skating, you’ve got to use your common sense."
Jerry Ireson, 77, not only skates at Boulder Crystal Palace, he’s also a member of a roller hockey team that plays at the Las Vegas Roller Hockey Center at 953 E. Sahara Ave.
"We play carefully, but we’re serious about it," Ireson said. "The skating here is a more social event. It’s still a workout, but everyone goes at their own pace. We’re here to see our friends and keep active."
Yokum believes that roller skating is on the decline because it never became an Olympic sport.
"They said it was too close to ice skating," Yokum said. "It did get in to the Pan-American games. There are still a lot of European countries that do artistic skating, which incorporates dance figures and free style just like ice skating."
Diehl is one of the skaters who prefers to skate with a partner and perform elaborate dance moves. Her husband can no longer attend the session, but she always finds several willing skating partners.
"People come here from all over the valley," she said. "It’s nice, but we need more people to come down."
Admission to Adult Skate is $6 or $7 with skate rental included.
For more information, visit skatevegas.com or call 458-7107.
Contact Sunrise/Whitney View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 380-4532.
