Feature: Fighting Autism by Rolling Across America

By Amy Farnum Novin
NCAAsports.com staff writer

Amy Farnum Novin, NCAASports.com staff writer, is exploring the interesting ways student-athletes and coaches are spending their summer break.

College students are known for jumping in their cars for spontaneous road trips, but the journey Dan Tatar and his friends are taking this summer will be the road trip of a lifetime.

Tatar dreamed up the two-month, two-thousand mile trek on rollerblades from Florida to Maine as not only a way spend his final days of freedom before starting his career following graduation from Union College, but also as a way to raise money for individuals with autism.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain and impacts social interaction and communication skills.

Inspired by his older brother Ben, who has behaviors in the autism spectrum, as well as his skills as an ice hockey player, Tatar created "Rolling for Autism", a 501c(3) nonprofit organization.

"There really is a need out there to raise money for these groups that do pretty cool things out there for individuals impacted by autism," said Tatar.

The native of Queensbury, N.Y., signed on several friends, including two-year Union College hockey captain Sean Streich, as well as Carson Strang and Jason Ortolano.

"Everyone who is skating just graduated from school in June so we have a small window of opportunity to do something between finishing school and hitting the real world," said Tatar. "This was opportunity to have one last adventure, but not only that, make it one that would help people and be productive."

A lot of planning, research and fund raising had to be done before Tatar and the skaters hit the road. Tatar recruited a team of people to find corporate sponsors, have hotel rooms donated, and get the skaters' basic needs taken care of - like bottled water --- for the trip.

Union College's athletics department was especially helpful in getting the project off the ground.

"The athletics department at Union really grasped the project," said Tatar. "They helped put on a major fundraiser at one of our hockey games. They've been really supportive of this, doing everything in their power to make sure it is a success."

The group had lots of help planning the journey, but they still needed to train for the physically grueling excursion.

"We worked with the Union athletic staff when we started training in the fall, and tried to get an idea of what our days would be like skating and what kind of toll it would take on the body," said Tatar. "Over the last three months we started training with low mileage. Two weeks ago, we were creeping up to 30-mile skates to really get used what we'll be doing on the road."

Tatar and the other main skaters expect to rollerblade approximately 30 to 50 miles per day, stopping in cities along the way to meet with various groups about programs for autism. He also expects about 100 others to join the group along their route for a little as a couple miles to as long as four weeks.

"The route we constructed is one that we could work with the most organizations throughout different cities and see what we're they are doing for autism," said Tatar.

The group began driving to Florida on June 25, and will start the skating portion on June 28 in Amelia Island, Fla.

"Rolling for Autism" has gained a lot of media attention in the months leading up to the trip, most recently making an appearance on Good Morning Jacksonville on June 27.

"The media has really picked up on this and that's where most of our money has come from," said Tatar. "People see us through the media and send us checks or donate online. Not only that, it's great to raise awareness about what we're doing and the group we're trying to impact."

Individuals who would like more information on "Rolling for Autism", or follow the group's journey through their blog and photo galleries should go to http://www.rollingforautism.com.