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Roller Skating in the Media
Page Last Updated: Friday, September 01, 2006
JESSICA SIMPSON KEEPS ON ROLLING DESPITE LOSING VOICE
HelloMagazine.com, 30 August 2006
Jessica Simpson has had no
trouble finding her feet in the world of pop, but it would seem that her latest public appearance proved a little more challenging. The 26-year-old stunner had trouble staying upright when she donned a pair of roller skates for the launch of her latest album in New York this week.
The blonde bombshell appears in skates for the video of her new single A Public Affair, but she confessed to finding it difficult to keep her balance while filming the clip. And the bubbly performer seemed to be experiencing the same problems in the Big Apple on Tuesday, as one of her minders had to step in on several occasions to stop her from toppling over.
Just last week Jessica went along to a rink in Texas because a radio listener had won a "skate date" with her, but the Dukes Of Hazzard star was no doubt relieved when the girl admitted she was no whiz on wheels either and suggested they just sit down and have a chat. There were to be no changes of plan at the Roxy venue in Manhattan, however, and the pop diva was soon rolling into action once again. After a few false starts she managed to find her balance and, with a large group of fans looking on, punched the air in delight.
Those hoping to share a few words with the chanteuse were left disappointed, though, as she was under orders not to use her voice at all. The self-effacing performer, who is recovering from laryngitis, carried a cardboard notice reading "I've lost my voice" to let people know she wasn't giving them the silent treatment on purpose.
Xanadu Set For Stage Debut
Soundbuzz, Wednesday March 29 2006
A stage version of roller disco film Xanadu, which starred Olivia Newton-John, is in the works for an autumn 2007 debut.
The music will be taken from the film version, and will include Newton-John's hit song Magic. The film flopped when it was released at the box office in 1980, but went on to become a cult classic.
Falls happen: court rejects skating payout
By Leonie Lamont / August 6 2003 / From The Sydney Morning Herald
Roller rink owner Sue Weber is spending a lot of time on the circuit these days. The legal and insurance circuit, that is, not the rollerskating one.
"I've had four solicitors and three barristers all send me congratulations over this win," she said yesterday.
"It's been a long, drawn out and very stressful case."
On Friday the Court of Appeal threw out a District Court judgement in which Julianne Tombleson, 39, was awarded $350,000 after breaking her wrist while rollerskating at Ms Weber's Skate Plus rink at Carringbah.
Although Ms Weber feels vindicated by the win, she says the combined $100,000 public liability premiums - coupled with rising property prices and lease increases in Sydney - are forcing rinks to close.
In the past 12 months rinks at Castle Hill, Campbelltown and Windsor had closed, she said. Some of the remaining rinks were lobbying governments for help in funding the large rinks, which would allow speed skating and hockey to continue as sports.
"I have been in this business for 19 years, and I had only one case in the first 15 years of the business, and we settled out of court for $10,000," Ms Weber said. "Then, within 18 months, you get 12 cases."
Having had public liability cover with the doomed HIH, Ms Weber's money from the Government and industry bail-out came only days before the Tombleson case was heard by District Court Judge Christopher Robison. She spent part of the day at court yesterday, where her business and the Department of Education are being sued by a schoolgirl who hurt her leg during school sport.
"Even if you win, you don't win. There's an excess of $7500 for each case, win or lose," she said.
The Court of Appeal found Mrs Tombleson's case should have failed.
It said: "The facts are simple enough. The plaintiff must have known . . . that falls occur to skaters, that if one falls one often injures one's wrist . . . a reasonable person in her position must have known that wrist guards were available. No one told her not to wear them."
Having had public liability cover with the doomed HIH, Ms Weber's money from the Government and industry bail-out came only days before the Tombleson case was heard by District Court Judge Christopher Robison. She spent part of the day at court yesterday, where her business and the Department of Education are being sued by a schoolgirl who hurt her leg during school sport.
"Even if you win, you don't win. There's an excess of $7500 for each case, win or lose," she said.
The Court of Appeal found Mrs Tombleson's case should have failed.
It said: "The facts are simple enough. The plaintiff must have known . . . that falls occur to skaters, that if one falls one often injures one's wrist . . . a reasonable person in her position must have known that wrist guards were available. No one told her not to wear them."
Can roller skates rehabilitate stroke victims?
Publisher: Ian Morgan Published: 13/07/2006
Can roller skates help? Volunteers are being sought for a study to investigate whether stroke victims can be better rehabilitated by wearing roller skates.
A team from the University of Birmingham has created a series of leg exercises, performed from a special chair, which are designed to improve walking skills.
Initial results show that allowing patients to move their arms or legs in a co-ordinated way can help the rehabilitation process.
Professor Alan Wing, from the School of Psychology, said: "Our preliminary research suggests that helping patients move both arms or both legs is more beneficial than exercising with the affected limb on its own.
"The activity in the brain which is driving the healthy arm or leg can spread across to the arm or leg on the affected side, which seems to help movement recovery significantly.
"By varying the exercise regime we hope to test this thoroughly so patients receive the most effective physiotherapy in the future."
Prof Wing said the treatment could be used by physiotherapists on the wards if the six-month study, funded by the Stroke Association, showed it to be effective.
Simpson's Skating Nightmarefrom teenhollywood.com
Jul 14, 2006 - World Entertainment News Network
Pop star Jessica Simpson was left battered and bruised after roller skating in her latest music video A Public Affair.
Simpson filmed the clip with pals Eva Longoria, Christina Applegate and Christina Milian and admits she may have needed a little more practice.
She explains, "Those roller skates weren't my friends! I have bruises all over, including this one on my thigh."
"My wheel got caught on the stopper of my other skate, and I totally bit it."
"I thought I'd get trampled by the skaters behind me. But I was more worried about my hair extensions coming out or my face being demolished!"
Bus spells bye bye to northern city rollers
By Alexandra Smith / June 19, 2004 / From The Sydney Morning Herald
 From pirouettes to T-ways . . . Alley Mulvey, 12, and Kevin Cheng, 15, during a figure skating lesson at the Skateworx, Northmead. Photo: Kate Geraghty |
Figure skater Lisa Weber has lost count of the number of little girls she has coached to pirouette on wheels.
Her husband, Gary, knows no other career than running a rollerskating rink - he opened his first rink a week before he turned 21 - and their two children learned to skate at the same time they learned to walk.
But in October, the couple will have to abandon their rollerskating dream when their rink is demolished and the Briens Street, Northmead business disappears to make way for the State Government's north-west busway.
The $540 million transitway, the second in the State Government's T-way network, will link Blacktown to Castle Hill, and Parramatta to Rouse Hill with frequent bus services.
Together, the two routes will stretch about 32 kilometres and include 39 covered stations, which will have high-tech features like information about how far away a bus is, emergency help points, and closed-circuit TV.
The transitway network was to open in December 2006 but the Roads Minister, Carl Scully, pushed that back a year as part of the April mini-budget, when he rescheduled several road projects because of cuts in spending.
The $260 million Liverpool to Parramatta bus transitway, which opened last year, is made up of 21 kilometres of off-road bus lanes and 10 kilometres of on-road bus lanes like those elsewhere in Sydney.
The Government, as part of its Action for Transport 2010 program, has planned other T-ways to connect Blacktown and Wetherill Park, Parramatta and Strathfield, and Penrith and St Marys.
While the huge public transport project, worth $800 million in total, will dramatically improve travel for residents in the booming western Sydney region, it will be at the expense of dozens of homes and businesses.
Over the years the numbers of rollerskating rinks have slowly dwindled. Today just three remain in Sydney.
If the Webers can not find another home for their business, which hosts at least 1000 skaters through the doors each week, rollerskating in Sydney could become extinct.
They do not own the site, but are pushing for compensation from the Government.
"But you can't be paid for your heart and soul," Mrs Weber said.
