Any other coaches here?

[backspin]

I consider myself a kind of "low level" coach, although I'm very good at teaching good solid basics. I only teach ice dance w/ my private lessons, & in group learn-to-skate classes I teach up to freestyle 4. ice dance I'll go through pre-silver. I teach 2 or 3 group classes a week, & currently have 8 private students.

Does anyone else here teach? Sometimes it would be nice to ask advice or commiserate...

I will tell one quick story: I just started working w/ an 11 year old boy last week. He's a nice kid, very quick study. Unfortunately, all my other students are girls, and the phrase "good girl" just rolls off my tongue.... I felt so bad & he was a very good sport about it (I did it twice!). I've GOT to get myself out of that habit! :?

[flippet]

[quote:01fe32b172="backspin"]I will tell one quick story: I just started working w/ an 11 year old boy last week. He's a nice kid, very quick study. Unfortunately, all my other students are girls, and the phrase "good girl" just rolls off my tongue.... I felt so bad & he was a very good sport about it (I did it twice!). I've GOT to get myself out of that habit! :?[/quote:01fe32b172]

LOL! :lol: :oops:

Perhaps you can arrange a system where you pay him a dime or a quarter every time you say it....that ought to break you of it rapidly, and keep him in that 'good sport' mood! :)

I wish I were a coach...unfortunately, I don't see that in my future unless I find some way to take very regular lessons and practice a number of hours every day to get my skills to a level where it wouldn't be embarassing to teach. I could probably manage the tiny tots, and that would be about it. :( I'm pretty impressed with the coaching you do though....you started skating as an adult, right?

There used to be a few coaches who would post at F$W...anyone know whatever happened to Camabby?

[flo]

How about a "good Job!" to all.

[garyc254]

Hi Backspin,

I'm not a coach either, but parenting covers a lot of the same territory. :)

Any way you handle it, you have to break that habit. It's hard enough for a guy to handle the stigma of "figure skating".

Flippet had a good idea. Or find some way to turn it into a joke.

First, make sure you explain to him about your habit. That will help a lot.

Maybe the next time you say "Good girl" you can follow it up with a strong "and you too, (his name)".

My coach did about the same to me one time and that's how she covered it. We both laughed.

[Chico]

=-) My old coach used to call me a good girl all the time too. Considering I'm a mom with two kids I thought this was pretty funny. I actually loved hearing it after awhile and understood this was just her saying on my positive skating moments. Saying that, as a mom of a boy I know he would have a fit if this popped out at him. =-) Try good skating, and describe what you like. Pay him a dime everytime you slip up. This will break you of the habit quick and he'll enjoy your punishment. =-) =-) Make it a funny moment and don't stress on it.

Chico

[CanAmSk8ter]

I teach. So far I've taught up to Freestyle 2, but I'm still hoping to someday teach dance. The rink where I teach has several elite teams and a huge beginner program but not much in between. I've taught private lessons too, although I'm not at the moment. Right now I'm just hoping for a little boy- or for that matter, an adult guy- coming out of Delta to decide to try dance. We have two senior dancers at the rink who teach lessons too though, so they get more of the dancers than I do, being a lowly Novice and all, LOL.

[Yazmeen]

I assistant instruct Beginner Tots, Kids and Adults as a volunteer--I've helped out at levels from Beginner Tot through Alpha Adult. Its one of my favorite parts of skating. One of my proudest "things" in life is the word "Instructor" embroidered on my sleeve on my ISI team jacket!!!

[mkcrazy02]

Iam a coach. I coach basic skills and have a low private kid. Iam just starting out as a private coach. Iam still competing and testing.

[serpentine]

though i do not coach anymore (well, i was an instructor for canskate and learn to skate for about 4 years and a lowlevel dance partner for about as long) , i thought that maybe i could post this query here, in hopes that someone can help me.

i am wondering if any of you know of anyone who coaches special olympics figureskating, and what you have seen of the programs? i have an autistic brother who i am thinking i might get involved into this program (i just havent gotten to the point of finding our local contact person yet) but i wanted to know if he must have figureskates? he has hockey skates and i understand that the basic elements for the first level S.O. in canada are mostly moves such as those performed by recreational skaters. though we dont mind getting skates for him if he likes it, we do not want to have to track down a pair of mens size 13 skates if he only sticks with the program for one season!!

additionally, any info at all on this topic (from examples of what you have seen in a special olympics session or event at a competition to personal experience of coaching such an athlete) would be most interesting. thanks!!! 8)

[footloose]

Hi, I'm not a coach, but I do some choreography for some of the younger kids in my club, especially when my own coach doesn't have time to do it herself. I'm also another of the infamous "learn-to-skate/CanSkate" coaches, but I'm working on my level 1, so when I turn 18 I can actually coach, or be a "club-level Sandra Bezic" which is my little mini-dream for now 8)

Peace&Luv
Cadi

[CanAmSk8ter]

Serpentine, I don't know a whole lot about Special Olympics, but I know that when our State Games are held at my rink, there are actually two event, figure skating and spedskating. The speedskaters all wear hockey skates, and some of them really don't skate very fast or steadily either. Maybe start your brother out doing that, then switch him to figure skating next year if it turns out he likes it? The only thing I would caution though is that switching from hockey skates to figure skates is not always easy as suddenly you have a toepick to contend with. It might be better in the long run to just get him the figure skates. Maybe you could try renting him some figure skates for the first time. Good luck, I've done some volunteering with Special Olympics and it's wonderful.

[Schmeck]

flippet, I was hoping CamAbby would be here somewhere, but I haven't seen/heard from him in years! Lee might be the best one to track him down, although he does live in the same region of the US as I do. I might still have his email address - if I can dig it out of the other ancient computer we have. I'll send him an invitation to join us here if I can find him!

Schmeck, who's 11 yr old daughter is a Basic Skills volunteer, and loves it. I think she'd make a great coach for the little ones, since she loves working with them so much.

[blue111moon]

I teach tot groups and have for about 15 years. It's my favorite age group, although I'm thinking of branching out once I can retire from my full-time job in a couple years. We'll see.

Camabby is no longer teaching, due to family issues. He and his wife live in California now. I know he threw his old computer out when they moved but I don't know if he's gotten a new one. I see his mother-in-law once in a while and pass greetings and news through her to him.

[Lee]

Thanks for the update, bluemoon! All I knew was that we hadn't seen Camabby since his old computer bit the dust a couple/three years ago. I do wish he'd find us again -- I miss his comments...

We have a 'new' coach in our family. Brat daughter finally finished Phase III of the NCCP Level I program a couple weeks ago and passed all the tests. She got her first aid certification just last week and our local club has hired her on a part-time basis for next season. It could be tricky for her -- she still would like to do some skating for herself (she just turned 18 in January), but because she's so strong in dance, she's heard several of the club's older girls will be wanting her for dance -- she's already been approached for freeskate and skills lessons. She'd like to finish off the practical requirements for 'complete' NCCP certification before she heads off to university in another year. She's quite excited about getting into coaching -- I'm looking forward to watching her grow as a coach *almost* as much as I enjoyed watching her progress as a skater! ;)

[Schmeck]

bluemoon, I second the thank you for the update. At least now I don't have to fight with that old computer to get a bit of info out of it's stubborn innards. Icy just uses it for simple games like pong and paint.

But I do miss Camabby, his coaching input was very precise and greatly appreciated. Didn't know he had moved so far away! I was always hoping to 'run into' him at a local competition here. Oh well...

Schmeck

[arena_gal]

I'm not a coach but I'm on my club's board of directors and I occasionally work as a teacher's aide for special needs kids in schools.
I've been trying to get Special Olympics into our club for a couple of reasons. Skate Canada has updated their special needs webpage at http://www.skatecanada.ca/english/programs/skating/other/special.html and specifically has a paper on autism. We have had disabled kids in our club, but all of them have been in the preschool program, and not identified as special olympics so it was a hardship to get enough PA's. They basically had to do one on one the entire session so we needed a lot of PA's.

Our local special olympics organisation will provide a support person on ice for each skater if we go officially with SO. None of the interested kids would be anywhere near to putting together a competition program, so there is no problem about having figure skates for guys. Hockey skates are fine even for girls. Our club runs a Musical Interpretive fun competition, and all skaters are invited, regardless of ability or types of skates. All competitors get an award and someone can compete even by skating in a slow circle around the rink (with great arm movements to the music).
So for us, this is where I'd like to see special Olympics fit.
From what I've seen of SO at a club nearby, (autistic/downs/frag X disorders) the kids can learn the skills, but it might take an entire year to earn a single CanSkate badge. Some kids have good body awareness, some don't. Definitely they need to have the same instructor, every session for consistency. (using circuit stations doesn't work well).Kids that are aged 10-21 did the best in the program because they can follow simple direction by that point. A set of sign language signals works for the various elements if the child is non verbal and signing, the PA and the SO person and the student can agree on a common signal for 2 foot spin, as an example. Badges are really really important.

They all want to be like the skaters on TV. Don't we all?

[Moto Guzzi]

Serpentine--I taught Special Olympics for 9 years but haven't done it for the past several years. The beginning skaters in our program wore either freestyle skates or hockey skates. Some had their own skates and some wore rentals. We had a volunteer for each athlete and worked on off-ice training as well.

When we first started the program, we just taught basic stroking and crossovers and had races at the end of the season. After several years, our athletes had improved to the point that we had three levels: lead-up for beginning skaters, speed skating for those who wanted to race, and freestyle for the ones who wanted to jump and spin. I was in charge of developing the freestyle group. In our first year my most advanced student was selected for the International Special Olympics held every four years and won the gold medal in her event! I was so proud of her. She competed in the next internationals and won a gold there, too.

The guy who started our local program was one of the most caring individuals I've ever been privileged to know. He and his wife were so motivated it brought out the best in everybody--athletes and volunteers alike. I met some wonderful people from being a part of our Special Olympics program.

Good luck with your brother. I hope he enjoys Special Olympics. Our athletes and volunteers were always sorry to see the season come to an end.

[Michigansk8er]

I coach a high school team, and have coached some low level girls privately. I'm not really interested in being a private lesson coach, however, other than to help some of the low level kids on the team get a grip on the basics, then pass them onto a "real" coach if I can convince their parents. I volunteer my time for the team, and have a great time doing it! I got the team going 2 years ago to give an exchange student I was hosting, and some of the high school girls I skated with, a skating opportunity where they could get some recognition for their sport in their school, and have stuck with it. This year I'll be involved with 2 schools (and another skating exchange student). :D

[CanadianSkater]

I am a skater, but I am also a program assistant. That is what they call it in Canada anyways. Basically, I help coaches teach the Canskate program, which is teaching little kids how to skate. I get about $3 an hour :)

[rinsk]

I'm most of the way through my level 1 (just need to get a video camera organized to film my lessons for Phase 4...). I teach mostly CanSkate/learn to skate (my local rink still runs a CanFigure program so I get to work with some low level freestyle and dance groups). In terms of privates, I help my own coach out with some of her juniors and work as a substitute for some of the local coaches. It's a good way to stay involved with coaching and still have enough time for school and skating myself.

[Mazurka Girl]

I teach group lessons & a few privates here & there. I'm a student so I like mainly teaching group lessons right now so I can keep a regular schedule & still have time to skate myself.

[dorvalskater1]

I teach, Kidskate (4 yr olds), Canskate (5+), Canfigure Skate (any who have done Canskate).
It's fun and I still get to test and compete myself!