Blinded by Hair

As a coach there is nothing that annoys me more then when a skater has her hair all in her face, trying to get it pulled back by redoing her hair over and over again throughout the entire duration of a lesson. It absolutely drives me NUTS!!! Hair in a skater's face not only looks sloppy, it can be distracting,  obstruct the athlete's view, and even cause injury.  Extremely long hair can also throw the skater off balance if not styled correctly, something you don't want when you work on difficult elements.

Here a few a few options:

There are several different styles that can be done with hair.  If a skater's hair is pulled up in a ponytail and her hair can reach the corner of her eyes/eyebrows or nose, then it must be styled in a tucked french braid or a chignon (a.k.a. a bun).  As for the long bangs that are back in style and seem to always hang in a skater's face, use bobby pins!


So how do I get the skaters to fix their hair?  I try to bring it up to the skaters and parents in person.  If needed I even show them how to style the hair if they don't know how.  It is important to let the skaters and parents know the reasons why you are asking them to properly style the skater's hair.

So parents, please don't drive your coaches crazy by letting your skaters blind themselves with hair in their faces.  If you need guidance, I am sure your coach or fellow skating parents would be glad to help you out with some tips.

Check out the link!

How to make perfect buns

I don't need to warm up. I can do it on the ice!

"I don't need to warm up before skating.  I can do it on the ice!"  Does that sound familiar?  I thought so.
I estimate that up to 80% of young skaters don't warm up before they step onto the ice.  That is very worrisome because not doing so could have catastrophic consequences.  It can lead to injuries that haunt an athlete for years to come.  Is that little shortcut really worth an injury that you may feel for years to come?  I  don't think so.  Unfortunately, during my skating career I didn't warm up every single time before stepping out to skate, and one of those few times that I took a shortcut in warming up, it happened.  I tore my achilles tendon.  It took over six months of healing and extensive physical therapy to get back on track. Here we are fifteen years later, and I still feel a lot of pain.  To this day I use therapeutic exercises to strengthen my ankle.

All of that could have been avoided if I would have listened to my coach.  It only takes one missed warm up to ruin your skating career!

So what I like to tell the coaches out there.  If you are not doing so yet, start your kiddos early with off-ice warm up exercises.  The sooner the better, because it will become part of their routine early on in life.

And to all the parents.  I know you have a busy schedule and it is hard to get to the rink on time.  I must want you to make sure you keep your kids safe and healthy.  Is it really worth sleeping in that extra half hour in the morning and end up having your daughter or son injured because they didn't have enough time to prepare themselves off the ice?  Think safety first!  This should become part of their daily routine.

DeMotivational Picture

I think many of you will get a good laugh out of this one.  I found it online.

Ice Time Scheduling

Over the many years of my skating and coaching career, I have noticed some trends when it comes to ice time.  It's kind of funny, because you have two complete different philosophies when it comes to Recreational Rinks and Training Centers.

Recreational Rinks tend to have early morning sessions and afternoon sessions that may sometimes interfere with school hours.  With Recreational Rinks it's about being able to fit in all groups of skaters, such as us Figure Skaters, Hockey, Short`Track/Speed Skating, Public Sessions and other types of Groups that I may not have mentioned.
For parents, especially the ones who work, it makes it extremely difficult to get their kids on the ice.  There is a lot of scheduling involved which leads to the occasional speeding ticket, because Mom/Dad tried to get Susie to the Rink on time after School.  So what can we do about this?  One option would be to Home School, not something I recommend unless tutors are available.  The second option is to work with Management and figure out a way to get the ice time you need by showing them how they can be more profitable by changing the hours to what the skaters need.  Perhaps you are willing to pay a little extra money to skate these "requested" hours in order for the rink to make the profits they need.  With that option a big group of skating parents is needed for cost sharing and planning purposes.

Training Centers tend to have a more structured schedule and usually run more then one sheet of ice.  They tend to have one sheet dedicated mostly for Figure Skating.  You will find that sessions will be more accommodating to kids who attend regular school.  They will also showcase sessions specifically for Elite/Senior level skaters (late mornings/early afternoon), High/Low Freestyle Skaters, Ice Dancers, Pairs, Adults (Noon), and Moves in the Field/Stroking/Spin sessions.  That ensures that skating stays safe for all people involved.  
Training Centers are great for skaters, but tend to be more expensive.  This is also where you find a much bigger community of Skaters that can support the amount of Ice that is available for the sport of Figure Skating.  Without a big community of skaters, Training Centers end up going under due to lack of funds to pay for the ice/staff/maintenance.

So the conclusion I made is this:  If you are lucky enough to be training at a Training Center, then great!  But if your only option is to skate the 5am-8am and 3-5pm freestyles that may be crowded with a whole array of skating levels, then you might want to look into joining forces with other Skating Parents and Coaches to make a lucrative deal with Management in order to get the ice time you want and deserve.

Welcome to my new Blog

Hi!

I have finally decided to open up a blog about skating.  I am hoping to inform and educate people who are looking to get more out of skating.  This blog may be good for skating parents, skaters and even coaches.

The sport of Figure Skating doesn't just involve skating.  There are so many things that play big parts in this beautiful, yet complicated sport.  You have things such as off-ice training, mental training, season planning, music selection, injury recovery, and many more to deal with when you are involved in skating.  I will be covering many of these topics to share my successes and what I learned from my failures.

I hope you'll enjoy reading the posted content.