other amazing people. If a certification existed, I was required to take it. For example, the first Judge’s Certification tests came out the same year I started. I had never had a skater take any ISI tests, let alone compete, but there I was, along with 50-plus other coaches from the area, in a room with a proctor and a #2 pencil to take the timed test on all levels.
EVOLVING SKILLS
Naturally, I also had a great motivator to learn, develop and continually hone my teaching — I made my living by it. It’s very different now — from who is coaching and why, to the types of students we have, the skills they bring to the table and their expectations of the sport.
If we love the sport that has given us so much, we owe it to ourselves and future generations to maintain, if not lift, the integrity of the sport through what we do and how we do it.
However, one thing has not changed:
A skating coach needs to have a unique and specialized set of skills that continuously evolve.
If we love the sport that has given us so
much, we owe it to ourselves and future generations to maintain, if not lift, the integrity of the sport through what we do and how we do it. While I was the skating director of the Joliet Park District, a parent asked me what qualified one of my staff to be teaching a specific class. Internally, I panicked, thinking back to that first year of my teaching and knowing full well that licenses, certificates and degrees were not required to teach ice skating. Ten I realized that because of those experiences and the training I was required to do, I had put in place a training program and required credentials and education that helped my staff develop professionally. From a dress code and codes of conduct to required education and ongoing training, my staff was qualified and required to uphold and value the professional resources that were available.
Today, as the landscape of the skating
director position has changed, the onus of professional presentation and development falls on the coach more than ever. It’s difficult in a profession that is often seen as a hobby, in a world where jeans and an untucked shirt are commonplace in some of the most successful companies, and with media that send mixed signals about ethics, morality and business acumen, to really understand what professionalism is and how to embody it.
However, there is a really simple way
to start pulling together a framework. Ask yourself: Is my coaching and the way I present myself appropriate and in line with what I’m asking of my students and what I know will help them find success?
Te most humbling moment of my
coaching career came during a workshop I had held for my private students. I was trying to teach them about goal setting, and I asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up. Of the 17 kids present, 16 of them said, “Skating coach.” It was at
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SUMMER 2 019
LIVE E
LIVE EVENT:
MAY 21, 2019
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