By Neha Kirpal
ISKATE by Roseate is India’s largest and only all-weather indoor ice-skating rink located at the Ambience Mall in Gurugram. Inaugurated in 2011, ISKATE by Roseate is spread over a sprawling 15,000 square feet. Over the years, it has evolved to be a popular lifestyle entertainment destination, which offers a unique experience of skating on real ice and can accommodate up to 150 skaters at any given point of time. In addition to an ice rink, the facility hosts a training school, the ISKATE School, the faculty of which includes All India national coaches and athletes. The ISKATE School offers basic, intermediate and advanced levels of training in winter sports like ice hockey and ice skating. Professional training for Olympics sports like figure skating, speed skating and ice hockey is also offered at the school.
The School regularly hosts training sessions spearheaded by international coaches visiting from the USA, Canada, Russia, Korea and Germany. To promote and develop winter sports in India, national level ice skating and ice hockey championships are held annually at ISKATE by Roseate.
In this exclusive interview, Karan Rai, Business Head, ISKATE by Roseate talks to us among other things about the unique features of Winter Wonderland, the response they have received and their goals for the future.
Tell our readers some unique features of the Winter Wonderland at ISKATE at Roseate in Ambience Mall, Gurgaon.
The idea is to create an environment of a Christmasy feel with the holidays coming up. When talking about Christmas, people always first think of snow. Our all-weather ice skating rink is the best venue for that. To this, we’ve also added a lovely pinewood box where we are setting up a Christmas grotto where children can go and meet Santa. With this, our chefs have curated a special Christmas menu. With that, we also have a beautiful Christmas market where one can shop for gifts and trinkets.
Tell us more about its training school, the ISKATE School.
ISKATE has three aspects. One is the recreational aspect by which people can take a 45 minute session to experience ice skating and understand balance and the basics. Then there is the sports aspect. ISKATE is the only venue in India that provides regular and ongoing training for three Olympics sports (figure skating, speed skating and ice hockey) throughout the year. We give opportunities to state- and national-level athletes to come and practice. Trainers providing specialised coaching come in throughout the year from all over the world.
Our trainers include a national coach from the Indian Ice Skating Association as well as a national team member of the Indian national men’s ice hockey team. With respect to all the core sporting and training activities, we help people from the grassroots level to come in and give them the opportunity to witness the sport. For a decade, we have been hosting the all-India national championship year on year. Today, we have more than 300 kids who travel for the national training camps and championships. Sports is a huge factor and potential that India has that ISKATE is leading as the only infrastructure.
Tell us more about your clientele and the response you have received so far.
ISKATE started in 2011. Since then, we have been consistently getting a really amazing response from various people in the range from five years to fifty-five years. We have had more than 2.2 million guests till date. People have taken up the recreational aspect of ice skating in a big way. In the past ten years, ISKATE has also played a major role in developing the sport in India.
Our training activities have also done really well. Our summer training programmes and state training programmes run throughout the year. With respect to the clientele, we have kids come to learn skating. We often have birthday parties here. We also do a lot of corporate team building exercises and activities here, literally called “break the ice” sessions. With this, we have community outreach programmes and brand development programmes. And of course, it’s a great place for family outings.
What are your plans for the future?
This is the largest ice skating rink in India till date. Post Covid, this is the only ice skating rink that has been made by an Indian team. We have learnt how to run it better and more efficiently. We save on energy and have made it more feasible to run an ice skating rink in India. With this learning, we are trying to build more rinks. We are trying to make the sport more accessible all across India. We are trying to align with the Government of India on certain projects. We are also trying to align with some investors to do programmes wherein we can open up more rinks and make ice skating more common in India.
