A 22-year-old amateur roller derby league has stepped in to try to save one of metro Atlanta's oldest skating rinks from becoming a warehouse or data center. Atlanta Roller Derby, a nonprofit flat track league that has operated for more than two decades, formed a wholly owned for-profit subsidiary and signed a lease with an option to purchase the 52-year-old Golden Glide Skating Rink in Decatur, aiming to keep it open under its wing.
The league created the subsidiary to negotiate directly with the property's owner, SYKS Wesley Chapel LLC, a Norcross-based company that purchased Golden Glide earlier in 2025 from Robert Davis. The rink itself, located at 2750 Wesley Chapel Road, had drifted onto commercial listing site LoopNet as flexible space, with brokers pitching it for warehouse use, dead storage, or a data center rather than for skating.
Allison Knoch, Atlanta Roller Derby's former president and head of business who competes under the name Ruby Chaos, first spotted the Golden Glide listing on LoopNet in July 2025. She helped structure the eventual agreement alongside attorney Marie Witte, who skates as Spill Murray, and CPA Chelsea Sowers, known on the track as Bitcoin Barbie — volunteers who brought legal and accounting expertise to a commercial real estate negotiation most amateur sports leagues would never attempt, the newspaper's report notes. The league now hopes to eventually purchase the building outright before the two-year window closes.
A Rink With Deep Roots in Atlanta Skate Culture
Golden Glide's stakes go beyond one derby league's business plan. Former owner Greg Alexander bought the rink in February 1993 and, after building it into a success, used that momentum to acquire four acres of land and construct Atlanta's celebrated Cascade Skating rink, which opened in March 2000, according to a video Alexander posted to Facebook. Cascade was chosen as a site for the movie ATL, while Golden Glide stayed the quieter, unpretentious neighborhood anchor for South DeKalb County families and youth, per the same AJC account.
That grassroots identity nearly ended on April 30, 2017, when the rink held a farewell skate party amid severe financial distress. More than 1,300 people showed up, according to The Champion Newspaper. The rink survived that scare, only to land back on the market roughly eight years later.
Derby Skaters Move In With Bouts and Big Plans
Atlanta Roller Derby held its first bouts at Golden Glide on August 22, with the Black Water Reapers facing off against the Apocalypstix. Outgoing league president Megan McCoy has been directly involved in running day-to-day operations at the rink, including replacing and adding new rental skates for visitors. The league is also planning to add a food menu, pursue a liquor license, revive an arcade area, and offer rhythm skating, dance classes, and after-school programming, according to the AJC's reporting.
Golden Glide's current schedule lists Thursday for private rentals, Friday sessions beginning at 7 p.m., Saturday sessions beginning at 2 p.m., and Sunday skate from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. DeKalb County's Wesley Chapel Overlay District was established by county commissioners in 2008 to spur commercial redevelopment along I-20 after major retailers like Walmart and K-Mart departed the area, per The Champion Newspaper.
A League Built for the Long Haul
Atlanta Roller Derby was founded in November 2004 under Angela Ward, who competed as Tanya Hyde, and originally operated as the Atlanta Rollergirls. Its four local teams are the Apocalypstix, Black Water Reapers, Glamma Rays and Toxic Shocks, alongside travel squads including its WFTDA All-Star team, Dirty South Derby, which holds a global ranking of #53 and has played more than 200 sanctioned bouts since 2006, according to Flat Track Stats.
In July, the league held a bout at Agnes Scott College's Woodruff Athletic Complex in Decatur.
Golden Glide's earlier ownership history includes a $200,000 investment in 1993 and a feature in a 1997 AJC story on adult roller skating, and the rink faced financial difficulties in 2017 before SYKS Wesley Chapel LLC later purchased it — a reminder of the financial challenges facing a venue now counting on amateur athletes to keep its doors open.
