Staying Competitive Helps Coaches Keep Their Edge
by Joanne Vassallo Jamrosz, special to U.S. Figure Skating Online.jpg){kind=avatar} |
Powley, the skating director at the Capitol Ice Academy in Des Moines, Iowa, is one of several coaches across the country who spends hours preparing skaters for upcoming competitions, and then takes to the ice himself to prepare for the adult competition season.
For these coaches, the love of competition is something they can readily share with their students and, at the same time, allows them hone their coaching skills.
"Helping your skaters deal with the mental aspects of a program and concentration once the elements have been mastered is what I learn from competing myself. It's 'getting in the zone,' so to speak," Powley said.
Powley finds keeping the fun and love for the sport helps immensely, especially when results are not always as expected.
"I try to walk away from every competition or exhibition having learned something new, made a new friend or just wallowed in the good times and the bad. I am a skater, and I try to instill that attitude in my students," Powley said.
When Jodie Maier returned to skating after years of working behind a desk, all the love and joy she felt for the sport as a child returned.
"My motivation was not just the love of the sport, but somehow my skating was incomplete," said Maier, a coach at the Yerba Buena Ice Skating and Bowling Center in San Francisco.
The highlight for her came when, at the age of 48, she finished seventh in championship masters at the 2004 U.S. Adult Championships. "It was very emotional, and it happened because I just really love to skate," Maier said.
.jpg) |
"I think because of my recent experience as an adult competitor I have a real understanding and compassion for my skaters," Maier said.
Suzie Flynn coaches at the Clinton Figure Skating Club and Skating Club of New Hartford in Upstate, N.Y. Like Maier, Flynn feels competing helps her better connect with students.
"I come up with strategies to help me warm up, deal with aches and pains, and handle mental nervousness, and I am able to share these strategies with my students," said Flynn, who began competing at the U.S. Adult Championships in 2005 in the interpretive event.
Flynn also competed and medaled at the adult sectional championships in solo dance and compulsory moves, and competed in solo dance and interpretive at the 2009 U.S. Adult Championships.
"My skating improved when I started pushing myself as an adult, and especially in solo dance," Flynn said. "The details in my skating, stroking and speed are better now than when I was a teenager."
Flynn makes it a point to master new moves-in-the-field patterns so she can get a feel for the moves her skaters may eventually find difficult.
"I learn by doing something," Flynn said. "I feel my coaching improved the most when I started competing as an adult."
During the past year, the competition bug also bit two coaches at the Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers in New York City.
"Who knew?" said Marni Halasa, a U.S. Figure Skating double gold medalist and performer with the Ice Theatre of New York. "We all felt so inspired by the ice dancing at the Olympics and thought getting back on the ice to dance would be a great way to keep in shape in a supportive, social environment."
.jpg) |
"The idea to compete originally started as a joke because I was making up my own choreography to compulsory dances, and Marc was right behind me making the same impromptu movements," Halasa said. "Now I am dreaming up ideas for music and costumes."
Coach Darlene Parent suggested the two skate together because their strengths and personalities complement each other.
"Both Marni and Marc understand what is necessary because they have been through it themselves--just in other skating disciplines," Parent said. "Because they can skate and perform, there is already a foundation to work with."
"As a coach I continually search for new ways to help my students develop their skating," Weitzman said. "Ice dancing has made me acutely aware of basic stroking and edges, which in turn I can transfer to my own athletes to help them improve their basic skating skills."
"Skating now has really enabled me to put my coaching in perspective and reminds me of what my skaters go through on a daily basis," Halasa added.
With the competition season in full swing, these coaches may just look out into the stands to find their skaters cheering them on, for a change.
Parent said, "It's not easy to come back and train as adults, balancing work, skating and family life. So, [these coaches] really should be an inspiration to their students."
