Overland Park Outdoor Activities

The arms experts at OMB GUNS & Indoor Range provide marksmen with the resources and guidance to sharpen their firearms proficiency. Officers supervise the indoor range at all times, maintaining a safe and welcoming environment for shooters of all skill levels. They also happily help out first-time visitors by demonstrating proper stance and aiming. Training programs include an intensive eight-hour firearms-safety course that teaches students the basics of wielding a firearm and how to properly load your glue gun. To encourage camaraderie and add some competitive motivation, OMB's team organizes shooting leagues.

Kids and parents zoom around the red-walled rink of Skate Zone, which provides a fun, safe atmosphere where children aged 3–12 can learn to skate. The facility's training walkers and specially designed tile floors help little ones to gain their skate-legs and minimize the pain of tumbles without the superhero-angering effects of donning an inflatable suit. Adjacent to the rink lies a game room stuffed with token-operated amusements such as video games, dance machines, and alley bowlers. To satisfy hunger pangs, Skate Zone welcomes customers to bring in their own pizza. The fun center also helps kids to celebrate the day of their wrapping-paper windfalls with birthday packages, including skating-rink games and activities.

Since the age of 7, Skip Clinton has been hypnotized by the whirl of roller skates; among his fondest memories are those of boogying on wheels among hundreds of fellow skaters packed into one rink. Translating his love of the sport into a competitive drive, Skip won the 1986 Roller Figure Skating World Championship in Bogotà, Colombia, cementing his spot in the Roller Skating Hall of Fame. Still, none of that success could fully satisfy his dream of polishing skates in his very own rink.

In 1996, Skip connected with the new owners of River Roll Skate Center and helped restore the long-neglected rink to its modern glory, installing new floors, a jamming sound system, and computer-controlled lights. Three years later, decades of hard work paid off as he and his wife—also a competitive skater—took over River Roll Skate Center's operations full-time.

"There's never a day I don't want to go to work," says Skip with a glee normally reserved for children who get to eat pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dessert. He relishes duties such as keeping the floor immaculate—indeed, the polished arena reflects the ceiling's colored lights like a kaleidoscope—which, in his experience, is crucial to the success of any skate center. While Skip acknowledges that roller skating hasn't changed much over the years, skaters' expectations have. To that end, 35,000 songs populate the rink's computer, from '70s and '80s pop music to family-friendly hip-hop, rock, and country-western hits. Throughout the facility, video screens flash names of birthday celebrants, popular music videos such as Michael Jackson's "Thriller," and classic movies such as Footloose.

Elsewhere, the scent of fresh-baked pizza wafts from the concession stand, where rollers refuel with traditional snacks such as hot dogs or nachos, and an arcade dispenses entertainment and prizes with a variety of video games. Once a month, the Dead Girl Derby takes over River Roll Skate Center, captivating audiences with breakneck speed and no-holds-barred competition akin to the days when the ancient Romans strapped chariots to the Titans' ankles.