About Trish:
Trish Alexander began skating in 1972 on ice. She competed in both singles and pairs for 2 plus years. She took up inline skating in 1994 at the age of 34 and fell in love. She became a certified skate instructor in 1996 and in 2002 an examiner for the ICP/IISA. She co-wrote the FIT (Fitness Inline Training) manual and taught marathon training for 7 years. She was director for four years the 11 year run of the Seattle Skate for MS marathons.
Trish started Skate Journeys Skate School in 2000 which became the largest of it’s kind in the US. They offer six levels of classes, twice each weekend with 21 volunteer instructors and three staff. Skate Journeys is now a 501c3 organization with a goal of providing low and no cost lessons and equipment to the local community of kids who would otherwise not have this opportunity. She continues to be the director of Skate Journeys with a huge nod of thanks to the tireless Board of Directors.
On July 1st, 2009, Trish was given the company United Skate Schools Group. Shortly thereafter she changed the name to Skate Instructors Assn. The company is charged with certifying inline and quad skaters to become instructors. The company also offers additional levels of education such as Level 2 and Master Instructor. Skate IA is just now embarking on the Skateboard Certification Program, the first of it’s kind in the country.
Trish just loves to skate, you can just see it. She teaches others, she trains teachers, but when she laces up her skates for herself she
Colleen Clark just became an Instructor Miami, Feb, 2011
can’t do it fast enough. Often the skates are not tight enough, but never mind…. it’s about the skating.
Trish had a very well paying job as a paralegal and a private detective and the more she skated and the more she taught the more she realized she would leave ‘safe’ behind and welcome adventure instead. That was a decade ago. Fear is an interesting tool.
Trish says that when she is trying to learn a new move that has her up on her toes or she is working on a jump, that fear steps in front of her. Her heart beats heavily and that is her sign to face it, to work on the move. Often it’s done in the middle of a public rink session and no one may even know how scared she is. But she said that she now knows that stepping into the fear, the trepidation, the consequence of falling hard (without benefit of health care) is what allows her to say, “I love my life.”
She is not an adrenaline junkie, she works on the basics of the moves, building up to the point of no return and then… she… just… does it. Good or bad, fall or not. She loves her life, she has the most amazing friends, supporters, students and members of Skate IA. She is surrounded by skaters who call forth her best. At 50 she says her skating is the best it’s ever been. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Trish teaches skating at Skate Journeys in Bellevue, Washington to students who skate from Level 1 to six. Here students are as young as 4 and as old to well, 72 is the oldest so far. She teaches private lessons and is the director at Skate Journeys (and founder). She also runs Skate Instructors Association which is the company that certifies skaters to teach. Ask if your instructor is Skate IA certified!
www.skateia.org & www.skatejourneys.com to see what she’s up to.
