Do You Need a Skating Coach?
Have you never been ice skating before? Do you love ice skating? Have you been ice skating for a while but are feeling a bit stuck? Are you finding ice skating difficult? Are you wanting to perform or compete in ice skating?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, consider working with an ice-skating coach. Whether you want to skate for recreation or want to compete, working with a coach will greatly benefit you and your enjoyment of the sport!
Here are a few reasons having a coach will benefit you:
Is Performing on Ice the Same as Theatre?
Christina and Mark Performing to Michael Jackson's "Earth Song" (Photo by David Paterson)
People go to the theatre to see a play to be entertained. It may be a love of the arts or maybe a relaxing night out that inspires a trip to the theatre. There are many reasons to attend the theatre.
People also go to an on-ice performance to be entertained. Again it could be a relaxing night out or love of on-ice performances. However, it could be a love of sports as well that inspires a trip to an ice event.
I’ve performed both on the stage and on the ice. I was first an on-ice performer, and that made performing on stage an easy transition and very enjoyable, too.
Here are 5 similarities that performing on the ice and performing on the stage have in common.
Ballet on Ice
Christina and Mark (Photo by David Paterson)
Do you love ice skating? Do you love ballet? Do you love dance? If you answered yes to one or more of those three questions, Ballet On Ice is the class for you! Ballet is required for most of the top skaters in the world. Russian skaters take ballet lessons from an extremely young age. Male and female skaters of all ages train in ballet to improve their skating.
If you are not training in ballet and different styles of dance for your skating, you may want to seriously consider it. I believe ballet is the basis for all dance. In a way, you could almost say it is the basis for all movement. Ice skaters require grace, fluidity, artistry, passion, and originality. The class Ballet On Ice will develop those aspects of your skating!
Ballet On Ice is:
Inspiration from the 2011 U.S. Ladies Champion, Alissa Czisny
The 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships were all about inspiring performances. As much as I love to see Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu do well, it was wonderful to see the beautiful Alissa Czisny make her comeback to win the gold medal in the senior ladies event.
After her heartbreaking 10th place finish last year (after winning in 2009), Alissa recreated her skating with coaches Yuka Sato and Jason Dungjen. It’s lovely to hear that Alissa’s coaches really believe in her and helped her find confidence in her skating.
Photo Credit: Alissa Czisny at the 2009 Fiesta on Ice. Photo by Queen Yuna at Flickr Creative Commons.
Inspiration from the 2011 U.S. Ice Dance Medalists
Mai and Alex Shibutani performing their free dance at the 2010 Nebelhorn Trophy. (Photo by Liz Chastney
Watching ice dancers perform can be a great inspiration for skaters, parents, and people in any walk of life. I’m going to discuss how the top three ice-dance teams at the U.S. Championships can inspire us!
First, we have the 2010 Olympic and World Silver Medalists and three-time U.S. Champions, Meryl Davis and Charlie White.
Meryl and Charlie are a team that can inspire us through their work ethic and through the years they’ve stayed together as a team. They are still a young team (24 and 23), but they have been together for many, many years (since 1997). This, along with their work ethic, has developed two excellent skaters into the wonderful team they are now!
Inspiration from the 2011 U.S. Men’s Champion, Ryan Bradley
Ryan Bradley was the winner of the senior men’s event at the recent U.S. National Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. I’ve been friends with Ryan for many years. We both trained at the Colorado Springs World Arena as well. I enjoyed seeing Ryan win this title!
Ryan has always been a showman with one of his main focuses to please the crowd. Watch this winning short program and how Ryan incorporates strong technical difficulty (including a quad/triple combination) with a fun, showy style. This should be remembered as one of the most entertaining programs ever for a men’s national champion!
