the Get Rolling Orbit

After years of building pages, maintaining indexes and style sheets, coddling content and FAQs and learning web development skills with Dreamweaver, I had to admit that my old-school web site www.GetRolling.com was no longer cool enough in today’s fast-paced, dynamic world!

Moving my Orbit newsletter to this WordPress blog in 2010 was the first step to making my interactions with skaters around the world more immediate and intimate.

Now I’ve opened up an even more dynamic presence. I hope you Like my new Facebook page, Get Rolling with Liz Miller. All from one place, in Facebook you will be able to read the Orbit Blog and my Twitter stream (@Sk8teacher) along with the photos, links and status updates I am using to keep things lively.

The Get Rolling timeline shows the birth and evolution of my books and other milestones. Besides items from the Internet, I am also pulling the best tidbits from the old website into my Facebook page. My mission is still the same: to share the joys and benefits of inline skating with others through my writing.

Drop by for a visit soon! And be sure to click Like to if you want to keep up with Get Rolling on your own Facebook stream.

Your friendly crossing guard is here to point you to a few choice inline destinations shared from friends across the Internet.

• YouTube - A unique style of skating was all the rage in France in 1923. (Thanks to OttawaSpeedskating)
• YouTube – Off-skates training for Olympic ice skaters in 1953. (Thanks to Mike van Erp, LondonSkaters.com)
• Inline Planet – Get the latest inline skating news and views
• See how new instructors are cultivated across the globe by ICP International.
• Destination Florida! – Anybody who has just graduated from Camp Rollerblade with all of the basic skills (stopping, turning and skating at least 5 miles) will enjoy this 5-day skate tour.
• Long Beach Shoreline trail  – A classic! Enjoy harbor and city skyline views as you head up the middle of the sandy beach on this 17-foot-wide(!) bike and pedestrian path.

The Skate Instructors Association (Skate IA) is an organization that certifies passionate participants of “small-wheeled sports” to effectively teach inline skating, roller skating and skateboarding. While skating certification itself has been around in various iterations for years, the Easter Bunny has just delivered the newly hatched Skate IA member web site http://skateia.org/.

Curious about certification? Here are Skate IA’s current skate instructor examination programs. For a quick video overview of the teaching components for several basic skills, see demonstrations by Skate IA Director and owner of Skate Journeys Skate School, Trish Alexander.

Level 1 Certification. The basic certification gives you the tools to learn the  Teaching Model, some physiology, how to ensure a safe environment, how to break down the 5 key skills and learning  true skate technique. There are three exams: written, skills and teaching.  More info>>

Level 2 Certification. Utilizes the Teaching Model for advanced learning from a technical perspective. Copious time is spent on solving common student issues. Also includes teaching to a wider variety of students such as adults, kids, and differing learning abilities. There are three exams: written, skills and teaching.  More info>>

Grace on Skates. Technical learning. Whether a person is a racer, a slalom skater or an artistic skater, grace can be found as long as the skater is efficient. This course will review basic moves and help you relearn them for perfect technique and efficiency.  From there, more and more challenging moves are added so attendees can see the common threads from basic through advanced moves.  Particular attention is paid to Form, Edging and Rotation.  This will be open not just to instructors but to all skaters who want to take their skating to the next level. More info>>

Skateboard Certification. See www.skateboardia.org for details. It’s new, it’s great, it’s about time!

Ready to roll? Check the 2011 schedule to find out when a weekend certification course will be coming to a city near you. If nothing is close enough with a minimum of four instructor candidates, you can arrange your own certification weekend with Skate IA Director Trish (see the Contacts page) .