The New York City Inline Skating Guide
Clubs and Leagues: Recreation, Fitness, Speed and Dance
Following is a listing and brief comments about various area clubs which are interested in the rec/fitness, speed and dance aspects of inline skating.
![[photo]](/nyc/pix/nyrsaa.jpg)
Group Skate!
There are separate pages describing group skates and roller hockey clubs and venues.
Central Park Dance Skaters Association (CPDSA)
14 Washington Place #11F, New York, NY 10003
212-760-4848
www.cpdsa.org
A union of inline and quad skaters, the CPDSA was originally organized to fight the 1995 ban on amplified music in Central Park's dance skating area. Now, in cooperation with the Parks Department, they set up a sophisticated sound system and play music for quad and inline dance skaters on the Dead Road on weekend afternoons from mid-April through October.
Central Park Skate Patrol
PO Box 20416, New York, NY 10025
www.skatepatrol.org;
president@skatepatrol.org
Perhaps the oldest formally organized skate organization in the city, formed in the early 1990s and for a time part of NYRSA. They are a volunteer group who provide free stopping clinics in Central Park on weekend afternoons April through October and may tour the park loop looking for skaters and other park users in trouble.
Empire Skate Club of New York
P.O. Box 20070, London Terrace Station, New York, NY 10011
212-774-1774
www.empireskate.org;
empire@empireskate.org
Skating organization formed in early 1997 to replace the defunct NYRSA (see below). It primarily serves recreational, fitness and speed skaters, with group skates, skate tours, monthly newsletter, clinics, and discounts at several city skate merchants. The club's highlight activity is a weekend-long group skate event (typically the first weekend of August) called the Big Apple Roll.
Empire Speed
A highly visible segment of the Empire Skate Club, this is the speedskating and more serious fitness skating part of the club. Just look for a lot of skaters wearing the same skinsuit design on the Central Park loop or at Speedskaters Curb, March through October.
Although probably the majority of Empire Speed races, there is a large segment which only participates for the fitness aspect. During winter (November through March), the group moves indoor to a roller rink for fitness and technique coaching, two or three times a week. Some may also participate in USA Roller Sports indoor racing.
Long Island Road and Track Skating Association (LIRTSA)
P.O. Box 1971, North Massapequa, New York 11758
www.lirtsa.org
Group in Nassau County out on the Island who used to organize races. They no longer do so, but do still organize regular weekend clinics and summer group skates.
Metropolitan Manhattan Skate Club
www.ngos.net/mmsc
Supposedly the oldest roller group in the city, established in 1978, but they were so quiet in the 1990s that I was never sure they even really existed. Then in 2004 or 2005 came word that they were still around. They are pretty much an adult roller dance group.
New York Road Skaters Association (NYRSA)
No longer exists. NYRSA was the NYC inline organization in the early 1990s, sponsoring group skates, organizing races, and running a roller hockey league. The club was seriously in debt by late 1995 and quietly went out of business sometime the next year.