For those of us who love skating and live in Martinsburg and surrounding areas, Galaxy Skateland is…read morea true blessing. Traveling far just to roller skate isn't my thing so I'm highly grateful Galaxy Skateland is here!!! And yes, I do recommend it!!!
I absolutely love the folks who run Galaxy Skateland! Two thumbs up for their friendliness! They put on a lot of work to keep the place nice and to provide great fun and safe experience to their customers! Highly reasonable prices! Love their food and the fact that they call us via intercom when our pizza or nachos are ready! Their concession customer service is better than all rinks I've been to and I've been to many! Here are some things I personally feel deserve attention:
I'd love to see better floor supervision and an adult "in the DJ booth" at all times during sessions! Galaxy Skateland is the first skating rink I attend that leaves its floor unsupervised. Obvious liabilities and risks aside, I trust this alone discourages and drives away both potential and established patrons. I often see skilled teen skaters cutting off other skaters. This type of behavior wouldn't fly in other rinks! Injury risks in skating are true without the presence of reckless show off's! Other "firsts" here involve teens playing basketball during skating sessions, teens jumping (while wearing skates) to pull basketball nets and unsupervised small children running in the midst of skaters! These things reflect true serious risks and liabilities and serious recklessness + poor management here. I've heard folks say "It's what teens and children do!" To me, this type of attitude and low expectations are the true root of behavior issues among our youth. If we expect less than proper behavior, disrespect, no consideration, & no skating etiquette from our youth, we forfeit our right to complain when they act upon such sad low expectations! Immature and reckless behavior truly spoils any skating experience. This is something all skating rinks must seriously consider and manage accordingly!
FLOOR LIGHTING: Some evening sessions go on from start to end in "permanent darkness here". I can understand alternating dimming lights or keeping it dark throughout some sessions. But during family nights and Saturday afternoons?? I don't see dark rink floors as ideal skating environments for any age or skating level. Personal opinion aside, fact is customers are the life of a business and managers are the heart pumping oxygen into the customer experience! To me, being able to see the floor and other people while skating is not only a must but also a safety matter! Not everyone cares for the old "disco inferno" skating floors! Lighting means the difference between skaters enjoying a well lit floor or tensing up while getting dizzy in a dark stroboscopic skating session! In contrast, the blinding effects of super bright lights would be (in my opinion) just as bad! Balance is truly "the essence of skating"!!!
MUSIC: let's get real: music is a HUGE part of all indoor skating experience! Music can make skating both a highly enjoyable or a highly dreadful experience. Rhythm and beat aside, this Biblical truth applies to song lyrics: Words mean the difference between life and death! Want to kill my mood in any place? Play appalling, sleazy songs! We attend what's advertised as "family nights" (Tuesday evenings). To say I wish for better music and lyrics here is gross understatement. It's bad enough that adults are subject to hearing low grade nonsense but no child should ever be subjected to degrading words from any source, especially songs played during "family skating nights"! To be fair to the nice folks running Galaxy Skateland, they welcome suggestions and they're open to song requests. I know it's difficult to cater to all music tastes. But this is why management plays vital role in balancing things out and drawing lines that ultimately define the business, its standards and the service quality therein! It's impossible to please everyone at all times! For this reason, good rinks seek to cater to different groups of people by offering various session formats and times! As a former fitness business owner, I know this is no small task. I also know that customer feedback, support, and understanding makes a huge difference for businesses and those running it! Let's not judge a business without considering how we can contribute to it!
We've attended parties and other events here at Galaxy and recently had our own. It's always been great fun and nice overall experiences. Skating is a great form of fun aerobic exercise. It certainly beats staring at devices! Skating rinks can represent great positive influences on our youth. For this to be true, all adults involved (rink owners, managers, staff, parents, etc) must consider how our individual behaviors and choices influence the next generation of adults! They mostly reflect what they learn from us!