History & Why

History

Skate IA was initially formed as The United Skate Schools Group (USSG) by Janet Miller Sheehan in 2004. In 2009, Janet amazingly gave USSG to Trish Alexander hoping that Trish would continue to help grow the company, the industry and the community of skating. USSG, now called Skate Instructors Association or Skate IA, is diligently following the goals and path Janet set when she built the company. As an industry, we are indebted to the organizations RISA, IISA, ICP & USA FIT and more importantly, those movers and shakers who built the industry. Who will show up as the next movers and shakers? What about you?

Why Skate IA?

Skate IA has the chance to help build the skate community by finding more teachers to teach, instructors who will, in turn, find more skaters to bring to skating. As of 2011, we still lack instructors in some 20+ states and as such, we are not bringing in more new skaters. Skate IA receives numerous emails every week asking for an instructor in an uncovered area. What a loss!

We know that the clubs and teams that skate for distance have seen the numbers dwindle and this is an excellent way to increase your numbers: teach them and they will join. Whether you earn a bit of side cash or put it into the team for travel & website costs, just know that if you teach skaters the fundamentals, they will skate for a lifetime. Without true technique, it is hard for skaters to enjoy the effortless striding that brings joy to the trail skater.

For many, skating was self-taught but today’s demographics indicate that new skaters want instruction first. This is the very reason that becoming an instructor can help you find more people to join you on a trail skate, urban skate, hockey skate or however you want to skate. With a larger skater base, we can work with our government to open up more spaces to skate, like bike lanes and parks and recreation areas. Skating in all its disciplines has so much potential—what will you do to help build it?

While Skate IA is not the way to increase the numbers of skating, we believe it is an integral part of increasing the numbers and as such we are committed to doing our best, and then some, to make it happen. It’s always about building the community.